Gurrumul The Sydney Symphony Orchestra
His Life And Music

1979. The suburbs of Paris. Five friends, whose origins stem from the West Indies and North Africa, came together to form Trenchtown Meditation, a “creole-speaking” French reggae band.Heavily inspired by the seminal sound of Bob Marley, Trenchtown Meditation was one of the pioneering bands of the burgeoning French reggae scene. It was also at this time that France saw the explosion of pirate radio stations; like many other bands of the era, Trenchtown Meditation would play live sets on-air in these small radio shacks in between gigs on the various scenes of Paris and its vicinity. The band also got their 15 seconds of fame in 1983 when they appeared on the French TV show “Aujourd’hui La Vie- ‘Spécial Exotisme’”. It was during this busy period that the band recorded an 8 tracks reggae album (which to this day remains unreleased). But in spite of their record and strong desire to make a living from music, the daily grind caught up with the band; in 1984 the guitar player quit the band.Subsequently, the four members decided to rename the band Cap’tain Créole with the aim – while remaining true to its reggae roots – of exploring new musical horizons, driven by the will to go beyond all that they’d done up to that moment.The group had access to a professional recording studio and quickly decided to cut a new project. With the help of 3 new members – among them a sax player and a trumpet player, both coming from the jazz scene, who helped define the new sound of Cap’tain Créole – they recorded their unique outing called Ni Bel Jounin. It’s a single composed of 2 titles Fré Moin / Ni Bel Jounin, both sung in créole, which was clearly unusual for the time.Both tracks are at the crossroads of many universes: Afro, Rock, Funk, Reggae and the result is quite unique! The band also used with great impact some subtle electronic elements. “Fré Moin” catches you instantly while “Ni Bel Jounin” strikes the listener with its beauty. The spiritual vibe that oozes from the record is an obvious marker of their reggae roots.Privately pressed and self-distributed in small quantities at the time, BeauMonde is proud to make the one and only record of Cap’tain Créole available again.

Formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums; globetrotting Texan trio Khruangbin present their second album ‘Con Todo El Mundo’, set for release on 26th January 2018.Whereas their 2015 debut album ‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ was influenced by 60s and 70s Thai cassettes and compilations of southeast Asian pop, rock and funk, ‘Con Todo El Mundo’ hops east over India to take inspiration in similarly under discovered funk and soul sounds of the Middle-East, particularly from Iran. Laura Lee explains the album’s title: "My grandpa would always ask me 'Como me quieres?' ('how much do you love me'?), and he'd only ever accept one response. 'Con todo el mundo' (With all the world)."Throughout ‘Con Todo El Mundo’, Laura Lee’s melodic low-end theory, Mark’s lyrical, free-role guitar lines, and DJ’s ever-steady, ever-ready backbeat form something greater than their parts. A vibe-synchronous soul-unit travelling the planet, honing their craft, absorbing the sights, sounds and feels from cultures across the globe, processing them through the Khruangbin filter and gifting the result...with all the world.

Newly formed archival imprint Fresh Hold presents one of Australia’s most mysterious jazz long players - Singing Dust, in collaboration with Efficient Space. Almost bound for obscurity from its inception, the eponymous creation of Queensland-based jazz pianist Robert Welsh was originally issued in 1986 on Melbourne independent label Cleopatra Records. Rich in compositional sophistication and expressive performance, Singing Dust resembles a unique fusion of Indian devotional song, the jazz piano styles of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, and Debussey’s tonal impressions.Representing a culmination of Welsh’s influences in and outside of music, the dynamic collection of seven compositions accompany the Ghazal devotional poems written by Australian poet Francis Brabazon. While Singing Dust sits loosely within the spheres of exploration that many jazz players took into world fusion in the '80s, it stands alone in its bright searing light of truth, love and austerity.A true work of dedication and posterity that will appeal to many serious music lovers, the album has finally been transferred and remastered from original tapes by Dan Elleson and Mikey Young, superseding the imperfect 1986 pressing and fully realising Welsh’s expansive vision.creditsreleased August 20, 2021

Emotional Rescue is proud to present the first ever collection of works from Spanish song writer Javier Bergia. As a member of Finas Africae his name is finally coming to prominence. Now with this selection of his music from 1985 to today, the depths of his acoustic, folk and balearic writing can be heard.Born in Madrid in 1958 to a family steeped in both classical and Spanish traditional music, Javier ’s unique mastery of guitar, percussion, voice, poetry and composition is drawn from both this grounding and upon his lifelong musical inquisitiveness’.Since 1980 he has been an integral part of the ancient music group ‘Atrium Musicae ’. In 1984 he founded, with Juan Alberto Arteche and Luis Delgado, the groundbreaking group ‘Finis Africae’ as a sonic investigation into a fusion o f diverse ethnic musical forms incorporating both indigenous instruments and electronic elements.As a solo artist, his career blossomed when, in 1985, he recorded his first LP, the acclaimed ‘Recoletos’ and he has since recorded thirteen solo albums . With Luis Delgado he recorded the now classic album ‘La Fl or De Piedra’ under the name Ishinohana and regularly appears with singer Ismael Serrano.Javier has composed music for and collaborated on many documentaries, films and advertisements as well as collaborating on protects with a myriad of artists including María del Mar Bonet, Joaquín Díaz, Vainica Doble, Marina Heredia, Pablo Guerreo, Antonio Vega and Café del Mar.Today he participates in the Sephardic music groups ‘Halilem’ and ‘Alquibla’, as well as diverse alternative chamber music groups. Javier works around the world as composer, arranger and producer and he appears daily with Manolo HH on Radio Nacional de España.