Review: MOSSEBO Special Edition

I care about animals, global justice and the environment. I am a vegan and I try to purchase ecological and fair trade products as much as I can. - Johan Agebjörn

Some albums are worth revisiting; MOSSEBO is one of those albums in the Ambient Electronic realm, recently remastered and reissued by the team at Spotted Peccary Music in Portland, OR. 

The Los Angeles Times’ August Brown called the original MOSSEBO “a more melancholy and ambient tone poem of an album,” and e/i Magazine wrote that it’s “like some brilliant bolt out of the blue, unexpected, surprising, ever-rejuvenating.” The collection of ambient pieces was composed between 2004 and 2007, and one additional track that was created in 1996; it is an album that is both electronic and organic at its core, with wordless vocals by Lisa Barra winding their way through many of Johan Agebjörn’s dazzling synth compositions.

The acclaimed Swedish electronica (Sally Shapiro) producer’s highly-anticipated MOSSEBO Special Edition: Remastered + Bonus Tracks “Kyrie Elesion” and “Unhappy Love,” evokes human warmth in a wintry landscape. An ambient sci-fi forward motion sound with shimmering electro beats, expertly juxtaposing intimacy and isolation, to which you can both dance and dream. This remastered, digital-only edition is available now only  through SpottedPeccary.com and https://ambientelectronic.bandcamp.com/.

Barra’s childhood journeys through India led her to an appreciation of the folk music of different cultures, and that passion comes through on these tracks to express an array of emotions that range from soothing to foreboding, to uplifting; challenging emotions to convey in the world of electronic music. The socially-aware artists have agreed that the entire artist’s share of the royalties for Mossebo are going to be donated to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Agebjörn recalls the origin of the album: "In 2004-2005, I experienced a period of illness and unemployment, locating myself in a 19th century cottage in Sweden, called Mossebo. There, isolated in the countryside, I started composing, mainly acoustic piano music and electronic ambient music, influenced by the landscape around me.”

The angelic voice of Gothenburg-based vocalist Barra graces more than half of the tracks. Agebjörn heard her in 2003 at a performance for an animal rights event, and started to sample her sound for his ambient creations in 2004. “I sent her the results, and she liked what I did, so we started to record some new songs in a studio. We also performed the songs live at a concert in Linköping in 2005.” The performance was aired on regional TV and a small part of “Unitas Vitae” is on YouTube:

There are two Bonus Tracks on the new Special Edition. “Kyrie Eleison” (“Lord Have Mercy”) with Barra’s ethereal vocals, and the bittersweet “Unhappy Love.” The new tracks add a spiritual dimension and a thoughtful romantic epilogue. Overall MOSSEBO has an expansive, techno-ambient, melancholic feeling, with a lush textural color range, expertly mixed, produced and mastered. A remarkable journey through electronic terrain.

This special edition of Johan Agebjörn‘s full length debut, MOSSEBO, includes the original album plus the two previously unreleased tracks from the era, all meticulously remastered by Howard Givens in 24-bit clarity from the original mixes.

Speaking from Lund in May 2019, Agebjörn adds, "This remastered version of Mossebo includes a previously unreleased track from that 1996-1997 era called ‘Unhappy Love’. The main melodic sound on this track was actually sampled from a Commodore 64 computer storage tape, played on a tape-recorder and slowed down a few octaves. This same sound was later used on ‘Dulciter Somni’ – and on ‘Kyrie Eleison’, another bonus track exclusive to this edition of ‘Mossebo’. ‘Kyrie Eleison’ was also the first track I made using Lisa’s vocals. Have a listen.”

Tracklist:

1 Dulciter Somni (Remastered) 07:07

2 The Sound of Snowflakes Touching the Ground (Remastered) 08:45

3 Mossebo (Remastered) 01:08

4 The Sea (Remastered) 03:51

5 Ambient Computer Dance (Remastered) 05:39

6 Shoreline (Remastered) 03:20

7 Unitas Vitae (Remastered) 06:27

8 Putting More Wood in the Fire (Remastered) 02:07

9 Siberian Train Part I (Remastered) 08:43

10 Siberian Train Part II (Remastered) 08:10

11 A New Day Arrives (Remastered) 04:55

12 Kyrie Eleison (Bonus Track) 04:50

13 Unhappy Love (Bonus Track) 08:39

Mossebo: Special Edition is accessible in most formats via Spotted Peccary Music.

GOOD WORKS / NonProfit Events Spotlight

HavServe Gala Honors VOLUNTEERS,

Fundraises for Haiti on Saturday 1/14, 6-11 p.m.

The public is invited to join Volunteers, Partners, and Dignitaries for an evening of food, dancing, entertainment and prizes at Veteran’s Plaza soiree in Silver Spring, MD 

WHAT:                HavServe’s 6^th Annual Volunteer Recognition Gala & Fundraiser forRebuilding After Hurricane Matthew will celebrate Volunteerism with Haitian food, culture, great raffles and entertainment by Jean Appolon Expressions (JAE) a Haitian folkloric dance troupe, and PanLara, a youth steel drum orchestra. The event is open to the public, with ticket purchase online (price range $45 children - $75 adults, $80 at the door): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/6th-annual-volunteer-recognition-gala-tickets-28942603105

WHO:                     HavServe, a 400+ volunteer strong non-profit organization, promotes youth social and economic development in the Washington DC Metropolitan area and in Haiti through education, leadership development, and community volunteer service. Founded after the 2010 earthquake, HavServe is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization with international offices in the Washington Metropolitan Area and in Haiti; it is a registered 501(c)(3) public charity.  Links:  www.havserve.org, https://www.facebook.com/HavServe, https://www.instagram.com/havserve/

WHY:                     To fundraise for HavServe programs, to thank our volunteers, while enjoying Haitian/Caribbean entertainment, dancing and dinner by Chef Marie Miriame Michel of Chez Yiamme Catering.  HavServe partners with individuals, volunteers, institutions, businesses, and communities to help change lives through volunteering and service. We are especially proud to uplift our volunteers, partners and sponsors, including the Montgomery County Maryland Office of Community Partnerships.

ATTENDEES:        Int’l & Local Dignitaries, NonProfit Professionals, Volunteers & Individuals interested in HavServe’s efforts to rebuild partnering communities in southwest Haiti and to uplift youth, including those from new American families in the DC Area.  Members of the general public are welcome to this festive event.

WHEN:                   January 14, 2017, from 6:00 pm – 11 pm.

WHERE:                 The SILVER SPRING CIVIC CENTER at 1 VETERANS PLAZA, Silver Spring, MD

PHOTO OPP:          Guest Arrivals* and Entertainers (Jean Appolon Expressions, PanLara) from 6 – 7 pm.

CONTACT:             Media Contact for event access, photo opps., or more information, please contact Beth Ann Hilton, Director of   Communications and Marketing, at 310-560-8390 or bethannhilton@havserve.org

PRIZES:                 Silent Auction includes a RoyalCaribbean Cruise - Ocean View Stateroom 4-Night or 5-Night Caribbean Cruise for 2: Enjoy Royal Caribbean’s private beach destination Labadee, Haiti, with the world’s longest zip line over the water! And many more items...

ENTERTAINERS: Dancing by Jean Appolon Expressions

                               Music by PanLara Youth Steel Orchestra

Visit our ticketing website for all details at https://havservegala2017.eventbrite.com/

Review: Hokulea by AOMUSIC

Reviewed by Jonathan Widran

Driven by the expansive passions of musical and pan-cultural visionaries Richard Gannaway (stringed instruments, vocals), Miriam Stockley (vocals) and Jay Oliver (keyboards, synths, samples), AOMUSIC is all at once a truly global music phenomenon and a call to spiritual renewal by way of infectious melodies, transfixing rhythmic textures and hypnotic vocals and children’s choirs singing in their native languages from around the world. The group brings a colorful history into the rich, sweeping tapestries of their latest recording Hokulea (a Polynesian term translating to “Star of Gladness”), with their broad impact extending to an invitation to compose theme music for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, work with the Give Kids the World charity and being featured in the 2011 promotional trailer for Project Peace on Earth.

AOMUSIC gets the drums booming and guitars jangling at the outset of “Kuimba” - a track that beautifully traverses the landscapes of new age and world fusion - before Stockley’s lovely soaring voice crosses a bridge to a hypnotic choir singing an anthem in Swahili about singing and dancing till the sun rises. The dreamy, mystical title track blends deep ambiences with male and female lead vocals switching off to convey the essence of unity and home. The spiritual vibe is enhanced with a distant flute and the soothing harmonies of children. The gentle hypnosis continues via flowing, then soaring ethereal voices and light percussion textures on the Swahili language track “Sisi Ni Moja,” while “Ha Le” ambles along as an acoustic guitar driven folk song before the tribal rhythms amp up and voices swing and sway in a mix of Polynesian, Zulu, Xhosa, West African, Japanese and Hebrew (perhaps the most inspiring vocal mash-up ever!).

After the gracefully symphonic folk/new age influenced, mostly instrumental “Edge Walkers,” the group stirs up a fiery jam led by a fanciful Irish jig, dense percussion, ambient synth washes, flutes and trippy angelic harmonies. Although the title of the vibrant, soaring “Yaka Matai” almost sounds like an Eastern title, it actually derives from an exultation in the South African language of Xhosa. When the choir declares “God Is Here,” over the fiery groove, there is surely no doubt something divine is in the mix. Asia bound, the next track is the simply arranged Indonesian language tune “Itu Lagu,” which feature the charming flow of the children’s choir as the low key acoustic guitar line builds and eventually bursts into a high energy dance.

Hokulea wraps with yet another fanciful linguistic excursion, this time the Hindi language, in which a lush and innocent young female voice invokes the Divine Source in prayer; as God enters, the choir chimes in with a hopeful, solemn plea for the peace to stay and love to manifest. To the uninitiated, AOMUSIC presents world music in dynamic ways that truly reflect our common bonds as human beings. Longtime fans will enjoy the fresh, unexpected nature of what evolves, like a musical form of the Olympics, into a spirit of global cooperation and celebration of life.

– Jonathan Widran, Music Connection

Follow AOMUSIC on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/ao.music.ao

Danny Wright Announces Benefit Concert on Sun. Sept. 18th

Beloved pianist Danny Wright has announced the creation of The Danny Wright Foundation for Music, which is to be launched with an exciting star-studded concert at The Orleans in Las Vegas, NV on 9/18/11 at 2:00 p.m.

Tickets are available to the public for just $25, an incredible price to see such a huge array of talent in an all ages show! This is a good one for the whole family, and for a great cause. The Danny Wright Foundation was formed to provide a source to help people through the power of music. Its Mission Statement: “Healing the planet one heart at at time. Dedicated to the enrichment of the lives of All People with the understanding and appreciation in the healing power of music. Helping people the “Wright Way.”

Danny is also releasing a new album in October titled Soul 2 Soul, full of original compositions that absolutely shimmer under his fingertips. Stay tuned!

The Dream Fund Outreach's Paula Phillips Answers a Call to Fill the Shelves of Oxnard, CA's Juan Soria Elementary School Library

When threatened by a young person during the L.A. Riots nineteen years ago, Paula Phillips (above left, with TDFO book donor volunteers) vowed to spend her life letting kids know that they are special and deserving of following a "right road" in life.  She quit her job, and began The Dream Fund Outreach (TDFO), a Ventura County, CA-based nonprofit, which will soon be re-named Right Road Kids as a part of its national expansion. For over eighteen years, she has developed an enriching, uplifting Standards-based curriculum that she brings to school classrooms and assemblies. The organization offers a variety of other programs as well, such as the Book Drive that Phillips revealed at Juan Soria Elementary School in Oxnard, CA today; link to the full story below...

The Dream Fund Outreach Answers a Call to Fill the Shelves of Oxnard, CA's Juan Soria Elementary School Library - Ventura County school, News Ventura County, CA