Trumpet, Keyboards – Jon Hassell
Bass – Daniel Schwartz
Sampler [Percussion, Drums, Bass, String Clusters, Sampled Trumpets] – J.A. Deane
Drums [Accompanying Bara] – Beh Palm
Drums [Tama, Soucou] – Tiawara Keita
Drums, Djembe [Principle Drummer] – Paco Yé
Idiophone [Master Balafon] – Mahama Konaté
Percussion [Main Bara Drum] – Seydou Ouattara
Percussion, Flute, Vocals – Soungalo Coulibaly
Percussion, Idiophone [Second Balafon] – Baba Diarra
Produced by Brian Eno / Daniel Lanois / Jon Hassell
Liner notes:
Jon Hassell plays trumpet, keyboard-activated sounds (sampled trumpets, strings, harps) and creates the hybrid compositional form which is the result of many stages: the creation and fitting together of electronic musical superstructure with pre-exisung FARAFINA compositions, adaptation and editing, final mix decisions and record concept.
J.A.Deane plays percussion-activated sounds (drums, bass, sampled trumpets, string clusters) and-through good sense and timing-adds important detail to the composition.
Farafina is a group of 8 musicians/dancers from Burkina Faso in West Africa.
Mahama Konate is master balafon player who composes many of their pieces (his compositions underlie tracks 1 and 4), sings and is founder of the group. Paco Ye is the principal drummer who plays the djembe (the sound of which can be heard in most of the ornamental virtuoso drumming) and whose compositions underlie tracks 3,5,9 and 10. Soungalo Coulibaly plays flute, sometimes percussion and his voice is the one heard in solo vocals. Tlawara Keita plays tama and soucou (talking drums)-often providing the fundamental "motor beat" for the group. Seydou Ouattara plays the main bara drum and Beh Palm makes the accompanying bara drum pattern. Baba Diarra plays the second balafon part and occasional percussion. Souleyname Sanou dances in the group with Paco and Beh in concerts and supplies the steady sound of the shekere.
Daniel Schwartz added deep electric bass on track 7 and provided invaluable technical help in Los Angeles.
Daniel Lanois recorded the original tracks in New York (just before the USA concert debut of JON HASSELL / FARAFINA at Lincoln Center In August 1987) and later, in the U.K. and New Orleans created several powerful mixes (tracks 1,2, 3,7 and 10). Brian Eno carved and shaped the remaining mixes-often focusing on various details of the original group recordings, eliminating others and creating a new feel which might inspire the overdub of a trumpet line or keyboard pattern in a kind of deconstruc-tion/reconstruction process similar to the shape-giving power of a good film editor.
Flash Of The Spirit is a title borrowed from the book by Robert Farris Thompson (Vintage Books, New York 1984) which reveals the extraordinary level of culture present in each arrival of Africans in the Americas and how their traditions were maintained and transformed by creative adaptation.
This recording-a unique blend of African and American music idioms which reaches simultaneously deeper into the past and further into the future-is evidence of the continuing fruitfulness of this forced collision of cultures.
Ricardo Sgualdini is the director of the festival, Jazz In Sardinia, who came up with the proposal to present Jon Hassell with a traditional African group and who provided a great deal of the necessary support. Frixltallana in Torino organized the first concert tour.
Recorded at Media Sound Studies, New York, August 1987 by Daniel Lanois
Engineer: Lolly Gardner, Assistant: Sondra Nash
Overdubs and mixing at The Wilderness Studio, U.K., September/October 1987
and February 1988 by Brian Enor Daniel Lanois, Jon Hassell
Overdubs and editing at Existia Studios, Los Angeles, June 1988 Engineer: Paul Dugre
Overdubs and mixing at Daniel Lanois Studio, New Orleans, July 1988 Assistant: Mark Howard, Malcolm Burn
Mastering by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles, August 1988
Assistant engineer: Ron Levvter
Post-production Coordinator: Daniel Schwartz
Cover Art: Dennis Keeley (photographed by Debra Di Poalo)
Photos: Dennis Keeley (Jon Massed), Anne Stovell (Jon Hassell/Farafina in concert), Agostino Mela (Sardinia Snapshots)
Design: Ph.D
Special Thanks: Eric Feinstein, Pierre Goerand, Richard Henderson (New York), Jeffrey Rona, Dennis Keeley,
Nancy Reese, LPC, Daniel Schwartz (Los Angeles), Anchea Norman-Taylor, Dominic Norman-Taylor (U.K.), Vera Brandes (Germany),
Renzo Pognant-Gros, Gianpiero Gallina (Italy). Heinz Dill, Michel Scher (Switzerland)
FARAFINA managed by Aaways/Vevey, Switzerland
http://www.discogs.com/Jon-Hassell-Farafina-Flash-Of-The-Spirit/release/2852020
