Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism

Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism is a 1983 album by American trumpet player and composer Jon Hassell, released on the label Editions EG. It was co-produced by Daniel Lanois and features Abdou M'Boup on drums.[1]

Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism
Studio album by Jon Hassell
Released	1983
Recorded	1982
Studio	Grant Avenue Studios in Ontario, Canada
Genre	World, ambient
Length	44:10
Label	Editions EG
Producer	Jon Hassell, Daniel Lanois
Jon Hassell chronology
Dream Theory in Malaya (1981) Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism (1983) Power Spot (1986)

Background

The album features Hassell manipulating and looping fragments of sampled sound.[2] In the liner notes, Hassell describes the album as "a proposal for a 'coffee-colored' classical music of the future."[3]

The cover painting is by Mati Klarwein.[1]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
The Village Voice	A-[3]

AllMusic's Brian Olewnick described the album as "an insinuating blend of early-'80s high tech with ancient Southeast Asia," calling it "an early high-water mark at the juncture between world and ambient musics."[1] For The Village Voice, Robert Christgau called it "dandy background music--more fluid and organic than Dream Theory in Malaya if also more amorphous than his first Eno collaboration."[3]

In his 1995 book Ocean of Sound, David Toop writes that on Aka/Darbari/Java "the perfume of ethnopoetics was supplemented by parallels with literature and the advanced technology of hyperreality."[2]

Tracklist

All tracks composed by Jon Hassell unless otherwise noted.

1. "Empire I" - 2:00
2. "Empire II" (Hassell, Daniel Lanois) - 4:53
3. "Empire III" - 7:09
4. "Empire IV" - 5:13
5. "Empire V" - 3:40
6. "Darbari Extension I" - 13:52
7. "Darbari Extension II" - 7:23

Personnel

• Jon Hassell - composer, trumpet, keyboards, mixing, producer, synthesizer voices, treatments, liner notes
• Daniel Lanois - composer, engineer, guest artist, mixing, producer, treatments
• Abdou M'Boup - drums
• Bruno Planet - engineer
• Greg Calbi - mastering
• Wynn Dan - design assistant
• Paula Greif - design
• Mati Klarwein - artwork
• Jean-Michel Reusser - project coordinator

References

1. Olewnick, Brian. "Review: Aka/Darbari/Java - Jon Hassell". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
2. Toop, David (2018). Oceans of Sound: Ambient sound and radical listening in the age of communication. Serpent's Tail. ISBN 9781788161046. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
3. Christgau, Robert. "Christgau's Consumer Guide: Aug. 30, 1983". The Village Voice. Retrieved 30 December 2019.