Parkgolf - Totem - VINYL LP

Produced by Eric Krasno

2017 . The late Mexican electronic musician Oscar Menzel, AKA Airwaves, only realized a small handful of recordings in his short lifetime (including one under the alias 29), but the two Airwaves discs issued back in the mid-'90s remain one of the many undiscovered gems scattered across the vast graveyard of obscure, one-off electronic music projects and recordings. Released during the era when musicians the world over were firing up banks of synthesizers to inaugurate their own take on the ambient subgenre, Menzel's cosmic creations took the stuff of legend (Eno, Tangerine Dream, Schulze, Namlook, and a gaggle of others) and recontextualized them via sonic easels adorned with fresh daubs of paint. This resulted in such sparklingly effective concoctions as the two-part shimmer festivities of InchBiomechanicalInch, the gorgeous starshine twinkle of InchA Little Twilight MomentInch, and the Steve Roachian broadbase expanse of InchSunset Mists Distant PeaksInch; in short, an exploration of tones and timbers that sounded strangely familiar yet still eerily unplaceable. Menzel's fire burned but for a brief time, but electronic music aficionados can rejoice that his art exists to further illuminate the planet.

20 years ago, -M- discovered Mali when he arrived in Bamako, it's aura, it's traditions, it's red earth and it's scents. He met Toumani Diabaté, heir to an ancestral line of Malian griots (the 71st generation) and master of the kora, the traditional 21-string instrument. An artistic and spiritual complicity was born and, under Toumani's impulse, inspired a joint project. Lamomali was an immediate success when it was released in 2017. The album won several awards in France, sold nearly 300, 000 copies and toured to over 500, 000 fans. At Toumani's request, again, -M- reactivated the collective. But in the summer of 2024, 8 months after the start of production on the new album, Toumani Diabaté died suddenly in Bamako, at the age of 58. InchWe had to finish this album, in memory of ToumaniInch, confides Matthieu Chedid. Already in possession of Toumani's precious recordings, the griot's last, he recalls Fatoumata Diawara. And then there is Balla Diabaté, son of the late Toumani. Toumani had named him as his successor before his death. With -M- as conductor, the project relies on Fatoumata Diawara, Balla Dabaté and Toumani. In this new chapter, we find some artists already present in 2017, such as Oxmo Puccino, Amadou & Mariam from Mali, Ibrahim Maalouf from Lebanon, Seu Jorge from Brazil, France's Philippe Jaroussky, to whom we add Canada's Patrick Watson, Ivory Coast's Tiken Jah Fakoly, Angelique Kidjo from Benin, the young prodigy of Cameroonian origin Yâmé or Boombass - a friend for many years. InchLamomali TotemInch features twelve tracks, like so many doors to the world.