Stone Music
July 15, 2022
AUSTRALIA ROOM40 RM4224 CD (2024)
For listeners who regard the Taj-Mahal Travellers as a benchmark in the history of 1970s free improvisation, here’s a record of an anniversary / reunion performance. The caveat would be, I suppose, that only two original members of the group made it along to the celebration – the shortfall is made up here by ten younger eager Japanese players, including the very able Ken Ikeda on electronics, maker of his own very creditable solo ambient drone albums.
Tokio Hasegawa was a founding member, here adding his voice and performing on stones, and in his liner notes he remarks that remaining original members of this group are either dead, out of the communication loop, or have subscribed to a religion that prevents them from ever playing music again. In fact, we might be lucky to have Tokio Hasegawa here at all; according to one account he also gave up on music at one point, and devoted himself instead to collecting Indian art after he had a revelation engendered by the Madhubani paintings of Ganga Devi, and even opened a museum for this purpose in 1982. He also mentions how the first 1972 LP – recorded on this exact same 15 July date – was released by CBS Sony in Japan, itself no mean achievement – I mean finding a major label prepared to release and promote experimental music, which I file alongside other one-of-a-kind anomalies such as AMM on Elektra and Tony Oxley on CBS and RCA.
If we reflect on all this, there’s an underlying message somewhere about uncertainty. For this 2022 performance for instance, only 60 people were inside this tiny venue, and not even the musicians taking part (soaking wet after a laborious trip in the rain) had any clear idea of what the music they were about to perform would be like. At a time when boring rock bands keep reforming and commanding huge fees for a “reunion performance” (causing online ticket-sale platforms to crash instantly), where it’s obvious from the start they’re simply going to play the exact same tedious songs they played 30 years ago in the exact same plodding ham-fisted manner, it’s great to see this commitment to unexpectedness and true surprises still remaining intact after 50 years.
The wispy, ghostly music on here is still empathetic and fascinating. I kind of like how minimal it is. The 1970s mode of Taj-Mahal Travellers was great of course, but also freighted with undercurrents from world culture, free jazz (by way of Don Cherry), mysticism, and even out-of-body space-travel metaphors suggesting they supped at the same bowl as the Kosmische brigade. Now all we get is unearthly chants and wails, punctuated by simple bass plucks, uncertain electronic washes, and strange percussive elements, all feeling slightly lost and adrift in the cold unfeeling world. It’s great! From 10th June 2024.