"The concept of Arica, both as a Mystical School and as a School of Knowledge, which correspond to the Absolute and Relative Minds respectively, rests on the basis that the School is one socially organized body or a brotherhood with the strong interrelation of an enlarged family."
- www.arica.org
While perusing the racks of used records at one of my local favorites(Permanent Records), I chanced upon this LP. Attracted by it's vaguely Native American/New Age cover and intrigued by the titles of the tracks(Water Music, Active In The Cosmos), I gave it a cursory listen at the listening station and was sufficiently impressed to make a purchase. The liner notes give a brief description of the Arica Institute's philosophy of mind/body relations and goes on to indicate that the music on Sides 1-3 was designed to accompany an Arican excercise known as The Audicion Plantar or "listening with the soles of the feet." Each section of music has a corresponding, possibly neck-breaking tutorial for optimum listening. I quickly learned that laying down with headphones on was a practical method for maximum jam-absorption.
The music is cryptically credited to "The Arica Musicians" who employ hand percussion, piano, voice, electric guitar,saxophone, bass,and vibes to ecstatic effect. Imagine Pharoah Sander's Karma-era band jamming with No Neck Blues Band. Chaotic free skronk yields to gorgeous pastoral passages seamlessly without a soloist's ego in sight. The interplay between the Guitar and Piano on side 2 is positively jaw-dropping while the rhythm runs the voodoo down. The atmosphere of the record leaves little doubt that the pieces were recorded live. Patient listening reveals incredibly nuanced performances even during the discordant freak-outs. Highly Recommended.
Oh, and please leave comments.
ARICA- S/T (1972)
1.A)Absorption B)Relaxation
2.A)Mentations B)Passive in the World C)Actve in the World
3.A)Passive in the Cosmos B)Active in the Cosmos C) The Funnell
4.Water Music
Freakform
8 comments:
thank you very much.i hope you enjoy the jams.
Listening to this right now. Sounds Pretty good so far (I'm on Side C). I looked up this band on RYM and they have a couple other albums that might be worth checking out too. Been digging the blog and radio shows for a while now. Thanks for turning me on to a lot different stuff I didn't know about. Are podcasts ever coming back?
-Michael
Listening to this right now. Sounds Pretty good so far (I'm on Side C). I looked up this band on RYM and they have a couple other albums that might be worth checking out too. Been digging the blog and radio shows for a while now. Thanks for turning me on to a lot of different stuff I didn't know about. Are podcasts ever coming back?
-Michael
thanks michael, I appreciate the support...i don't see podcasts coming back as EVR is heading into a more high-profile phase and podcasting raises some legal issues...there are programs out there where you can make yr own...try wiretap...thanks for listening!
haven't listened to it yet but seems interesting, *despite* the new age cover :D
thanks as always!
Good post.
FYI, Arica was one of many wild offshoots of psychedelically-inspired 1960s meta-thinking that grew into shaggy post-LSD "human potential" schools/movements in the '70s, & into slicker, entrepreneurial money-making concerns in the 80s-90s [EST & TM being 2 other well-known examples]. So, the current Arica web site doesn't even hint at the trippiness of the "school" in the early 70s, when these records were made. Suffice to say that Claudio Narranjo, an early researcher of native Amazonian psychoactives, was associated w/ Arica. And mad-genius director Alejandro Jodorowsky was a devotee, insisting all actors/crew his masterpiece "The Holy Mountain" first get trained up at Arica [it's one of the most mind-boggling movies ever made, so hats off to Arica!].
See Wikipedia for more historical context.
Thanks for sharing this, really really, enjoying it and such. Great blog and thanks again for the jams...
Too bad about using the headphones. That was quite a powerful meditation when played loud, out of big speakers pointed at the soles of your feet, back in the 1970s! The musicians probably would have included Arican Gordy Ryan, who worked/works with Olatunji and other African drummers. The Arica Work was quite powerful, and not rightly classified with flaky new age trips.
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