https://www.holidaysrecords.it Tue, 30 Dec 2025 15:51:14 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://www.holidaysrecords.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/favicon-100x100.png https://www.holidaysrecords.it 32 32 https://www.holidaysrecords.it/product/patrick-lysaght-for-the-birds-lp/ Tue, 23 Dec 2025 14:37:10 +0000 https://www.holidaysrecords.it/?post_type=product&p=993 Cat. No. HOL-146 Edition of 250 copies, embossed cover 1984. Inside the Rainforest Birdhouse at the Rio Grande Zoo, Patrick Lysaght played flute, strings, and percussion among 150 birds of 42 species. Not recording them. Playing with them. For 18 months the scientist (and artist) has been playing music (flute, strings and percussion) in the Rainforest Birdhouse at the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque. This interactive environment, populated by 150 birds representing 42 species, has provided more than an interesting background for music; rather, the birds have contributed to the resulting compositions on an equal level with the musician. Complex clouds of point notes build to a rich density, as mutual interspecies stimulation assumes a path based on the excitement of chance and the probability of experience. The material on this record has been selected with emphasis on bird responsiveness and instrument variety within the aesthetic parameters of blending with and enhancing this unique sonic atmosphere. Mastered from the original tapes by Giuseppe Ielasi. Release date: December 23rd, 2025]]> Cat. No. HOL-146 Edition of 250 copies, embossed cover 1984. Inside the Rainforest Birdhouse at the Rio Grande Zoo, Patrick Lysaght played flute, strings, and percussion among 150 birds of 42 species. Not recording them. Playing with them. For 18 months the scientist (and artist) has been playing music (flute, strings and percussion) in the Rainforest Birdhouse at the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque. This interactive environment, populated by 150 birds representing 42 species, has provided more than an interesting background for music; rather, the birds have contributed to the resulting compositions on an equal level with the musician. Complex clouds of point notes build to a rich density, as mutual interspecies stimulation assumes a path based on the excitement of chance and the probability of experience. The material on this record has been selected with emphasis on bird responsiveness and instrument variety within the aesthetic parameters of blending with and enhancing this unique sonic atmosphere. Mastered from the original tapes by Giuseppe Ielasi. Release date: December 23rd, 2025]]> https://www.holidaysrecords.it/product/andrea-penso-organic-shelter-lp/ Thu, 18 Dec 2025 14:04:42 +0000 https://www.holidaysrecords.it/?post_type=product&p=990 Cat. No. HOL-148 Limited edition of 100 copies, bronze foil printed sleeve A single tape loop composition spanning approximately thirty-two minutes, previously released on CDr on the artist's own imprint, Invisibilia Editions. Environmental music to dream of forest-ravaged ruins. Decay made audible, inviting the listener to imagine what remains when we are no longer present to witness it. Composed with those experiencing confinement in mind. As in a phantasmagorical vision, slowed to a seemingly ecstatic collapse, the walls of the cages are devoured by trembling leaves. Outside, the sounds have become rarefied. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Release date: December 18th, 2025]]> Cat. No. HOL-148 Limited edition of 100 copies, bronze foil printed sleeve A single tape loop composition spanning approximately thirty-two minutes, previously released on CDr on the artist's own imprint, Invisibilia Editions. Environmental music to dream of forest-ravaged ruins. Decay made audible, inviting the listener to imagine what remains when we are no longer present to witness it. Composed with those experiencing confinement in mind. As in a phantasmagorical vision, slowed to a seemingly ecstatic collapse, the walls of the cages are devoured by trembling leaves. Outside, the sounds have become rarefied. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Release date: December 18th, 2025]]> https://www.holidaysrecords.it/product/henning-christiansen-kartoffelopera-7/ Fri, 19 Sep 2025 07:49:55 +0000 https://www.holidaysrecords.it/?post_type=product&p=961 Cat. No. HOL-149 Edition of 150 copies, single-sided black vinyl Festival 200 Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1969 Potato Opera 1969 Recipe: take potatoes. Tape (painter's tape) for the floor (or chalk, depending on the nature of the floor). According to the size of the room staff lines are drawn, i.e. 5 lines (ideally with tape) with equal spacing (as intended on ordinary music paper). In the spaces potatoes are placed - just as note heads. (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf-Rundgang for room 20) (Model 1) first performed at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, as part of the Lidl Week 5.5.69, cl.(=class) 15 in front of room 20 (Beuys room) Release date: September 19th, 2025]]> Cat. No. HOL-149 Edition of 150 copies, single-sided black vinyl Festival 200 Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1969 Potato Opera 1969 Recipe: take potatoes. Tape (painter's tape) for the floor (or chalk, depending on the nature of the floor). According to the size of the room staff lines are drawn, i.e. 5 lines (ideally with tape) with equal spacing (as intended on ordinary music paper). In the spaces potatoes are placed - just as note heads. (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf-Rundgang for room 20) (Model 1) first performed at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, as part of the Lidl Week 5.5.69, cl.(=class) 15 in front of room 20 (Beuys room) Release date: September 19th, 2025]]> https://www.holidaysrecords.it/product/what-we-do-when-in-silence-what-we-do-when-in-silence-lp/ Fri, 19 Sep 2025 07:05:33 +0000 https://www.holidaysrecords.it/?post_type=product&p=954 Cat. No. HOL-143 Edition of 300 copies, embossed cover Nicola Ratti, Alessandra Novaga, Enrico Malatesta Imagine a series of small movements in an empty space. Imagine their shadows on the floor, there’s a natural light sliding in from the 3 windows on your right side. There’s no silence here. There are people outside waiting for others, waiting for the people since what we do is not visible, since we do it when in silence and there is no silence here. Nicola Ratti: synthesizer, piano, whistling Alessandra Novaga: electric guitar Enrico Malatesta: percussions Recorded, mixed and mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, Monza, 26-27 February 2022. Special thanks to Centro d’Arte di Padova. Nicola Ratti is a versatile musician and sound designer who has long been active across diverse experimental fields. His sound production creates systems shaped by repetition and expansion, with a particular focus on building environments that resonate with the spaces and architectures we inhabit, and on balancing the emotional and perceptual orientations to which we are accustomed. Alessandra Novaga is a guitarist who has been exploring, for years, the possible territories her instrument can lead her to. She has crossed through the most classical worlds, reaching into intangible abstractions without setting boundaries between the two. Sound, meanings, encounters, and narratives are the elements that guide her path. Enrico Malatesta is a percussionist and independent researcher working within experimental contexts that intersect music, performance, and territorial investigation. His practice explores the relationship between sound, space, and movement, and the vitality of materials, with a particular focus on surfaces, listening modes, and the articulation of multiple layers of information through an ecological and sustainable approach to percussion instruments. Digital version available here. Release date: September 19th, 2025]]> Cat. No. HOL-143 Edition of 300 copies, embossed cover Nicola Ratti, Alessandra Novaga, Enrico Malatesta Imagine a series of small movements in an empty space. Imagine their shadows on the floor, there’s a natural light sliding in from the 3 windows on your right side. There’s no silence here. There are people outside waiting for others, waiting for the people since what we do is not visible, since we do it when in silence and there is no silence here. Nicola Ratti: synthesizer, piano, whistling Alessandra Novaga: electric guitar Enrico Malatesta: percussions Recorded, mixed and mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, Monza, 26-27 February 2022. Special thanks to Centro d’Arte di Padova. Nicola Ratti is a versatile musician and sound designer who has long been active across diverse experimental fields. His sound production creates systems shaped by repetition and expansion, with a particular focus on building environments that resonate with the spaces and architectures we inhabit, and on balancing the emotional and perceptual orientations to which we are accustomed. Alessandra Novaga is a guitarist who has been exploring, for years, the possible territories her instrument can lead her to. She has crossed through the most classical worlds, reaching into intangible abstractions without setting boundaries between the two. Sound, meanings, encounters, and narratives are the elements that guide her path. Enrico Malatesta is a percussionist and independent researcher working within experimental contexts that intersect music, performance, and territorial investigation. His practice explores the relationship between sound, space, and movement, and the vitality of materials, with a particular focus on surfaces, listening modes, and the articulation of multiple layers of information through an ecological and sustainable approach to percussion instruments. Digital version available here. Release date: September 19th, 2025]]> https://www.holidaysrecords.it/product/la-festa-delle-rane-il-lago-e-il-cielo-lp/ Fri, 01 Aug 2025 07:05:45 +0000 https://www.holidaysrecords.it/?post_type=product&p=930 Cat. No. HOL-147 Edition of 200 copies, includes color insert La Festa delle Rane (literally the frog’s party) are one of the most singular outputs from the vibrant Italian underground community of the last couple of years. Innocent, at times flawed, full of candour and tenderness and just enough spice to make things take a grandiose detour into the eerie and unsettling. “Il lago è il cielo del bosco e tutte le rane cantano in coro” originally released on tape for Ruego in 2022 and now remastered for vinyl by Matt Bordin was conceived by main songwriter Lucia Sole between 2020 and 2022. Her knack for off-kilter church melodies and yelping renditions of what apparently could be categorized as ‘feel-good’ tunes often wanders into obscurity sparked by flashes of lo-fi Spectorian pomp, campfire folk and ‘Smile’ era Wilson-isms. Recorded between Bologna, Napoli, Brussels, Benevento, and Colleverde di Leonessa, La Festa delle Rane's sun-tinged psychedelia comes with an incredible bag of tricks: dream flashes of absurdity, pillowy melodies and kaleidoscopic lollipops that are bound to melt and stick as soon as you get close. Joined by a collective of musicians that include Gianlorenzo Nardi (Lac Observation, Il Gran Diavolato, Rawarr), Simone del Deo and Francesco Esposito, Lucia Sole’s songs are laced with mystique and a raw organic sound that depends, for this chapter, on a rotating trunk of instruments (glockenspiel, flute, organ, clarinet, musical saw, melodica) where subtlety and spontaneity are often combined resulting in a bizarre and oddly functional marriage. You often get the impression that just the wind and the swaying of trees would be enough soundscape for them to create timeless melodies and woven patterns. The lyrics not only paint a bucolic setting or a nostalgic elegy but they wedge simple nuggets into the psyche, seeds of a forgotten world that still ring true in any outsider cosmos. Tempos flutter and pitch comes and goes carrying a melancholy pin-pointed across the recordings, a bewildering atmosphere permeating the 14-track collection. Medieval folklore for the dawn of AM Radio or simply a zonked out semi-pagan collective that treads the fine line between the surreal and the pastoral. Innocence and mischief flow into a beautiful collection of celestial free-form children's folk hymns. A sphere, like an eye, and a quill of light goes through the leaf. Two twin leaves, the space between them, and then it goes through me. Is that how shadows are born? "Is that how shadows are born?" I ask you, my love. The ages between a shade of green and another. I sighted species and words. The leaves, the rustle of spheres screeching. I've seen species never seen before listen to the light. "Light can be listened to", I whispered, mother. Release date: August 1st, 2025]]> Cat. No. HOL-147 Edition of 200 copies, includes color insert La Festa delle Rane (literally the frog’s party) are one of the most singular outputs from the vibrant Italian underground community of the last couple of years. Innocent, at times flawed, full of candour and tenderness and just enough spice to make things take a grandiose detour into the eerie and unsettling. “Il lago è il cielo del bosco e tutte le rane cantano in coro” originally released on tape for Ruego in 2022 and now remastered for vinyl by Matt Bordin was conceived by main songwriter Lucia Sole between 2020 and 2022. Her knack for off-kilter church melodies and yelping renditions of what apparently could be categorized as ‘feel-good’ tunes often wanders into obscurity sparked by flashes of lo-fi Spectorian pomp, campfire folk and ‘Smile’ era Wilson-isms. Recorded between Bologna, Napoli, Brussels, Benevento, and Colleverde di Leonessa, La Festa delle Rane's sun-tinged psychedelia comes with an incredible bag of tricks: dream flashes of absurdity, pillowy melodies and kaleidoscopic lollipops that are bound to melt and stick as soon as you get close. Joined by a collective of musicians that include Gianlorenzo Nardi (Lac Observation, Il Gran Diavolato, Rawarr), Simone del Deo and Francesco Esposito, Lucia Sole’s songs are laced with mystique and a raw organic sound that depends, for this chapter, on a rotating trunk of instruments (glockenspiel, flute, organ, clarinet, musical saw, melodica) where subtlety and spontaneity are often combined resulting in a bizarre and oddly functional marriage. You often get the impression that just the wind and the swaying of trees would be enough soundscape for them to create timeless melodies and woven patterns. The lyrics not only paint a bucolic setting or a nostalgic elegy but they wedge simple nuggets into the psyche, seeds of a forgotten world that still ring true in any outsider cosmos. Tempos flutter and pitch comes and goes carrying a melancholy pin-pointed across the recordings, a bewildering atmosphere permeating the 14-track collection. Medieval folklore for the dawn of AM Radio or simply a zonked out semi-pagan collective that treads the fine line between the surreal and the pastoral. Innocence and mischief flow into a beautiful collection of celestial free-form children's folk hymns. A sphere, like an eye, and a quill of light goes through the leaf. Two twin leaves, the space between them, and then it goes through me. Is that how shadows are born? "Is that how shadows are born?" I ask you, my love. The ages between a shade of green and another. I sighted species and words. The leaves, the rustle of spheres screeching. I've seen species never seen before listen to the light. "Light can be listened to", I whispered, mother. Release date: August 1st, 2025]]> https://www.holidaysrecords.it/product/meridian-brothers-vi-2lp/ Fri, 02 May 2025 14:04:19 +0000 https://www.holidaysrecords.it/?post_type=product&p=910 Cat. No. HOL-MB-VI Edition of 1.000 copies (Limited edition of 100 copies on Carambolo Yellow Vinyl), double LP, three-color screen-printed covers on Fedrigoni Materica Terra Gialla rough cardboard. Holidays Records is more than excited to join the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of Les Disques Bongo Joe with the first ever vinyl edition of Meridian Brothers' early projects: Meridian Brothers VI and Meridian Brothers VII! Before Guaracha UFO propelled Meridian Brothers onto the international stage, Eblis Álvarez was already shaping his singular sonic universe in the shadows. Released only on CD in between 2009 and 2012 via local label La Distritofónica, Meridian Brothers VI and VII never had wide distribution or media exposure. Yet, these albums represent a crucial phase in the band’s evolution, capturing the energy of Bogotá’s experimental cumbia scene at the time. On VI, Álvarez crafts a hallucinatory patchwork of cumbia and vallenato, using his guitar as the guiding thread before layering other instruments on top. VII pushes experimentation even further with a custom-built sampling algorithm, generating unpredictable loops and grooves. These two albums laid the foundation for the radical fusion and irreverent spirit that would later define Meridian Brothers. Now reissued on vinyl for the first time, these historic recordings offer a raw and fascinating glimpse into the origins of one of Latin America’s most forward-thinking musical projects. Release date: May 2nd, 2025]]> Cat. No. HOL-MB-VI Edition of 1.000 copies (Limited edition of 100 copies on Carambolo Yellow Vinyl), double LP, three-color screen-printed covers on Fedrigoni Materica Terra Gialla rough cardboard. Holidays Records is more than excited to join the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of Les Disques Bongo Joe with the first ever vinyl edition of Meridian Brothers' early projects: Meridian Brothers VI and Meridian Brothers VII! Before Guaracha UFO propelled Meridian Brothers onto the international stage, Eblis Álvarez was already shaping his singular sonic universe in the shadows. Released only on CD in between 2009 and 2012 via local label La Distritofónica, Meridian Brothers VI and VII never had wide distribution or media exposure. Yet, these albums represent a crucial phase in the band’s evolution, capturing the energy of Bogotá’s experimental cumbia scene at the time. On VI, Álvarez crafts a hallucinatory patchwork of cumbia and vallenato, using his guitar as the guiding thread before layering other instruments on top. VII pushes experimentation even further with a custom-built sampling algorithm, generating unpredictable loops and grooves. These two albums laid the foundation for the radical fusion and irreverent spirit that would later define Meridian Brothers. Now reissued on vinyl for the first time, these historic recordings offer a raw and fascinating glimpse into the origins of one of Latin America’s most forward-thinking musical projects. Release date: May 2nd, 2025]]> https://www.holidaysrecords.it/product/meridian-brothers-meridian-brothers-vii-2lp/ Fri, 02 May 2025 14:02:20 +0000 https://www.holidaysrecords.it/?post_type=product&p=915 Cat. No. HOL-MB-VII Edition of 1.000 copies (Limited edition of 100 copies on Transparent Lime Vinyl), double LP, three-color screen-printed covers on Fedrigoni Materica Terra Rossa rough cardboard. Holidays Records is more than excited to join the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of Les Disques Bongo Joe with the first ever vinyl edition of Meridian Brothers' early projects: Meridian Brothers VI and Meridian Brothers VII! Before Guaracha UFO propelled Meridian Brothers onto the international stage, Eblis Álvarez was already shaping his singular sonic universe in the shadows. Released only on CD in between 2009 and 2012 via local label La Distritofónica, Meridian Brothers VI and VII never had wide distribution or media exposure. Yet, these albums represent a crucial phase in the band’s evolution, capturing the energy of Bogotá’s experimental cumbia scene at the time. On VI, Álvarez crafts a hallucinatory patchwork of cumbia and vallenato, using his guitar as the guiding thread before layering other instruments on top. VII pushes experimentation even further with a custom-built sampling algorithm, generating unpredictable loops and grooves. These two albums laid the foundation for the radical fusion and irreverent spirit that would later define Meridian Brothers. Now reissued on vinyl for the first time, these historic recordings offer a raw and fascinating glimpse into the origins of one of Latin America’s most forward-thinking musical projects. Release date: May 2nd, 2025]]> Cat. No. HOL-MB-VII Edition of 1.000 copies (Limited edition of 100 copies on Transparent Lime Vinyl), double LP, three-color screen-printed covers on Fedrigoni Materica Terra Rossa rough cardboard. Holidays Records is more than excited to join the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of Les Disques Bongo Joe with the first ever vinyl edition of Meridian Brothers' early projects: Meridian Brothers VI and Meridian Brothers VII! Before Guaracha UFO propelled Meridian Brothers onto the international stage, Eblis Álvarez was already shaping his singular sonic universe in the shadows. Released only on CD in between 2009 and 2012 via local label La Distritofónica, Meridian Brothers VI and VII never had wide distribution or media exposure. Yet, these albums represent a crucial phase in the band’s evolution, capturing the energy of Bogotá’s experimental cumbia scene at the time. On VI, Álvarez crafts a hallucinatory patchwork of cumbia and vallenato, using his guitar as the guiding thread before layering other instruments on top. VII pushes experimentation even further with a custom-built sampling algorithm, generating unpredictable loops and grooves. These two albums laid the foundation for the radical fusion and irreverent spirit that would later define Meridian Brothers. Now reissued on vinyl for the first time, these historic recordings offer a raw and fascinating glimpse into the origins of one of Latin America’s most forward-thinking musical projects. Release date: May 2nd, 2025]]> https://www.holidaysrecords.it/product/radio-hito-voce-lilla/ Thu, 23 Jan 2025 17:35:00 +0000 https://www.holidaysrecords.it/?post_type=product&p=906 Cat. No. HOL-ZEN Limited edition of 99 copies, cover printed on high gloss Fedrigoni Splendorlux Mirror cardboard, hand-stamped labels Radio Hito is the solo project of Nguyen Zen My, an Italo-Vietnamese artist based in Brussels who developed a unique form of song combining a delicate universe of trembling electronic layers, minimal pianos and poems in Italian sung with a low voice, taking the listener somewhere between abrupt romanticism, minimalism and distorted pop. Voce Lillà is a little gem, recorded live in 2020 and previously released on tape by Kraak Records in 2021. The words of others - Octavio Paz, Alejandra Pizarnik and Anne Sylvestre (Pour ne pas dormir) - gain meaning of their own through a contemplatively personal rendition, organized as seven tracks whose simplicity manages to brim with endless poetic possibility. Release date: January 23rd, 2025 ]]> Cat. No. HOL-ZEN Limited edition of 99 copies, cover printed on high gloss Fedrigoni Splendorlux Mirror cardboard, hand-stamped labels Radio Hito is the solo project of Nguyen Zen My, an Italo-Vietnamese artist based in Brussels who developed a unique form of song combining a delicate universe of trembling electronic layers, minimal pianos and poems in Italian sung with a low voice, taking the listener somewhere between abrupt romanticism, minimalism and distorted pop. Voce Lillà is a little gem, recorded live in 2020 and previously released on tape by Kraak Records in 2021. The words of others - Octavio Paz, Alejandra Pizarnik and Anne Sylvestre (Pour ne pas dormir) - gain meaning of their own through a contemplatively personal rendition, organized as seven tracks whose simplicity manages to brim with endless poetic possibility. Release date: January 23rd, 2025 ]]> https://www.holidaysrecords.it/product/nancy-mounir-nozhet-el-nofous-lp/ Tue, 07 Jan 2025 20:21:50 +0000 https://www.holidaysrecords.it/?post_type=product&p=892 Cat. No. HOL-142 Edition of 500 copies, includes an 8-page booklet with lyrics in English and Arabic Nancy Mounir’s debut album, Nozhet El Nofous, is a remarkable communion with ghosts. Moody, hypnotic, and sneakily catchy, the album - whose title means “Promenade of the Souls'' in Arabic - explores microtonality, non-metered rhythms, and bold vulnerability through a musical dialogue between Mounir’s own arrangements and the sounds of archival recordings of once-famed singers from Egypt at the turn of the 20th century. Adding her own ambient arrangements over voices haunted with passion and desire as she creates a sound that is warmly familiar but utterly new. On the album, Mounir slips into the gaps left by the lost frequencies of the aging recordings, finding space for counterpoint and harmony in a traditional sound built on monophony. Elegant melodies unfold in measured gestures as Mounir - who plays most of the instruments herself - revels in the plaintive intonations and brash lyrics of the departed singers. With layers enmeshed together, it’s at times hard to pin down when the past ends and the present begins, but beneath it all is a liberating attitude of defiance that feels timeless. Nozhet El Nofous is brilliant in the way it explores the techniques and perspectives of a more freewheeling time period in Arabic music, before Arabic maqam (modal systems) and other musical foundations were standardized by the Middle East’s cultural power brokers in the early 1930s. As she summons a rich, atmospheric landscape of tone and texture, Mounir engages an older generation of musical rebels in a creative dialogue across time and space - and the results are stunning in their ambition and beauty. Mixed by Adham Zidan. Mastered by Heba Kadry. Remastered for vinyl by Matt Bordin at Outside Inside Studio. Artwork by Egyptian filmmaker and photographer Ahmad Abdalla, with original typography and design by Salma Shamel. Lyrics translation by Katharine Halls. Co-produced with Simsara Records. Release date: January 7th, 2025]]> Cat. No. HOL-142 Edition of 500 copies, includes an 8-page booklet with lyrics in English and Arabic Nancy Mounir’s debut album, Nozhet El Nofous, is a remarkable communion with ghosts. Moody, hypnotic, and sneakily catchy, the album - whose title means “Promenade of the Souls'' in Arabic - explores microtonality, non-metered rhythms, and bold vulnerability through a musical dialogue between Mounir’s own arrangements and the sounds of archival recordings of once-famed singers from Egypt at the turn of the 20th century. Adding her own ambient arrangements over voices haunted with passion and desire as she creates a sound that is warmly familiar but utterly new. On the album, Mounir slips into the gaps left by the lost frequencies of the aging recordings, finding space for counterpoint and harmony in a traditional sound built on monophony. Elegant melodies unfold in measured gestures as Mounir - who plays most of the instruments herself - revels in the plaintive intonations and brash lyrics of the departed singers. With layers enmeshed together, it’s at times hard to pin down when the past ends and the present begins, but beneath it all is a liberating attitude of defiance that feels timeless. Nozhet El Nofous is brilliant in the way it explores the techniques and perspectives of a more freewheeling time period in Arabic music, before Arabic maqam (modal systems) and other musical foundations were standardized by the Middle East’s cultural power brokers in the early 1930s. As she summons a rich, atmospheric landscape of tone and texture, Mounir engages an older generation of musical rebels in a creative dialogue across time and space - and the results are stunning in their ambition and beauty. Mixed by Adham Zidan. Mastered by Heba Kadry. Remastered for vinyl by Matt Bordin at Outside Inside Studio. Artwork by Egyptian filmmaker and photographer Ahmad Abdalla, with original typography and design by Salma Shamel. Lyrics translation by Katharine Halls. Co-produced with Simsara Records. Release date: January 7th, 2025]]> https://www.holidaysrecords.it/product/hartmut-geerkenrequiem-for-the-snake-of-maidan-2lp/ Fri, 27 Dec 2024 23:00:10 +0000 https://www.holidaysrecords.it/?post_type=product&p=879 Cat. No. HOL-138 Edition of 500 copies, double LP with inserts towards the end of the 1970s, a film about me and my work was made in kabul for the south german tv program. the director was arpad bondy. in order to find a venue for my music that is typical for afghanistan, it was agreed that my “percussion environment”, a tubular cube of 2x2x2 meters including the associated instruments, would be transported on a barren, stony ridge in the hindukush mountains. the people called the place “maidan”, which means nothing but “place”. while a couple of men dragged the frame pipes and the instruments up the hill, I decided to carry my large wuhan gong (100 cm diameter) up the mountain, in a kind of ritual. michael ranta sent me this gong from wuhan/china to kabul. – with slow and careful steps, carrying the heavy gong like an umbrella on my head, I walked over the difficult rocky terrain without a path up. suddenly a snake about two meters long came out of the rocks towards me and hissed aggressively at me. I could only take the gong off my head and put it like a shield in front of my legs. as I later discovered, it was a very venomous snake! since I couldn’t go on or back without her attacking me, I had to bring myself to kill the beautiful animal. I managed to smash her skull with a rock that I threw at her while standing behind my gong. finally I hung the lifeless body around my neck, put the gong back on my head and continued my way up, with a pounding heart. when the percussion environment was set up, I hung the dead snake between my instruments and spontaneously decided to name my solo performance “requiem for the snake of maidan”. since I was able to reach an orbit between heaven and earth while playing in such an unique and very privileged place, I definitely didn’t want to be disturbed or interrupted by a film team and made the following parameter a condition: I will play six hours continuously, and the filmmakers can do what they want, but are not allowed to interfere with or talk to me. - while I was playing I only had one musician with me: the wind. sun ra entitled one of his records “my brother the wind”. I hung my metallophones on the linkage so that the wind could touch them and create sounds. the recording captured a few parts where I didn’t have to lift a finger and the wind did everything that was necessary. the room was a wide landscape without any echo. if an echo can be heard in the recording, it is the reverberation from the big gong. only a few noises came, apart from the wind, from outside. flying insects passed near the microphone from time to time, few shouts of the film team from a nearby hill or you could hear a jet at a great height. sometimes, if you listen carefully, you can hear steps on loose rock: I was not sitting all the time within the cube but also played on my percussion environment from outside, for example throwing small stones or clods of earth onto the big gong from a greater distance. the big gong and the boo chals (tibetan cymbals) produced a whole series of overtones. the string instruments, the metallo- and lithophones dominate the recording. in addition to the acoustic environment of my instruments, in some parts of my improvisation I used a battery-powered tape recorder (uher 4400 report stereo IC) with a pre-recorded feeding tape that I had pre-recorded before alone or together with michael ranta in kabul. the stones of the lithophone were collected by ranta and myself in the valley of goldara around an old collapsed buddhist stupa. almost each of the hundred stone plate we had lifted was ringing. (hartmut geerken) Release date: December 27th, 2024]]> Cat. No. HOL-138 Edition of 500 copies, double LP with inserts towards the end of the 1970s, a film about me and my work was made in kabul for the south german tv program. the director was arpad bondy. in order to find a venue for my music that is typical for afghanistan, it was agreed that my “percussion environment”, a tubular cube of 2x2x2 meters including the associated instruments, would be transported on a barren, stony ridge in the hindukush mountains. the people called the place “maidan”, which means nothing but “place”. while a couple of men dragged the frame pipes and the instruments up the hill, I decided to carry my large wuhan gong (100 cm diameter) up the mountain, in a kind of ritual. michael ranta sent me this gong from wuhan/china to kabul. – with slow and careful steps, carrying the heavy gong like an umbrella on my head, I walked over the difficult rocky terrain without a path up. suddenly a snake about two meters long came out of the rocks towards me and hissed aggressively at me. I could only take the gong off my head and put it like a shield in front of my legs. as I later discovered, it was a very venomous snake! since I couldn’t go on or back without her attacking me, I had to bring myself to kill the beautiful animal. I managed to smash her skull with a rock that I threw at her while standing behind my gong. finally I hung the lifeless body around my neck, put the gong back on my head and continued my way up, with a pounding heart. when the percussion environment was set up, I hung the dead snake between my instruments and spontaneously decided to name my solo performance “requiem for the snake of maidan”. since I was able to reach an orbit between heaven and earth while playing in such an unique and very privileged place, I definitely didn’t want to be disturbed or interrupted by a film team and made the following parameter a condition: I will play six hours continuously, and the filmmakers can do what they want, but are not allowed to interfere with or talk to me. - while I was playing I only had one musician with me: the wind. sun ra entitled one of his records “my brother the wind”. I hung my metallophones on the linkage so that the wind could touch them and create sounds. the recording captured a few parts where I didn’t have to lift a finger and the wind did everything that was necessary. the room was a wide landscape without any echo. if an echo can be heard in the recording, it is the reverberation from the big gong. only a few noises came, apart from the wind, from outside. flying insects passed near the microphone from time to time, few shouts of the film team from a nearby hill or you could hear a jet at a great height. sometimes, if you listen carefully, you can hear steps on loose rock: I was not sitting all the time within the cube but also played on my percussion environment from outside, for example throwing small stones or clods of earth onto the big gong from a greater distance. the big gong and the boo chals (tibetan cymbals) produced a whole series of overtones. the string instruments, the metallo- and lithophones dominate the recording. in addition to the acoustic environment of my instruments, in some parts of my improvisation I used a battery-powered tape recorder (uher 4400 report stereo IC) with a pre-recorded feeding tape that I had pre-recorded before alone or together with michael ranta in kabul. the stones of the lithophone were collected by ranta and myself in the valley of goldara around an old collapsed buddhist stupa. almost each of the hundred stone plate we had lifted was ringing. (hartmut geerken) Release date: December 27th, 2024]]>