AG KAEDY, AHMED - Orion Congregation

Schneeball

AG KAEDY, AHMED - Orion Congregation

"Orion Congregation is a live recording that perfectly captures the palpable raw excitement of a particularly memorable evening, the concluding date of a series of packed concerts which took place in various venues around Berlin in June 2017. Led by Ahmed Ag Kaedy's entrancing guitar licks, which seamlessly merge blues and rock with the traditional "Assouf"-style of his homeland, the pace soon quickens as the band pick up the gauntlet. The double-drummer, double-keyboard line-up produces a genuine Sensurround sound, enhanced by depth charge levels of bass action, blasts of saxophone fury, and storm clouds of electronic whooshes, sending the listener on a sonic rollercoaster with the controls set to the furthest constellation, with the volcanic drumming of Mahalmadane Traoré acting as rocket fuel. The audience hollers and whistles that crop up from time to time are an accurate reflection of the electric atmosphere that pervaded at every gig. Ahmed Ag Kaedy, who is featured in the documentary film Mali Blues (2016), founded the band Amanar de Kidal in 2005 (two records on Sahel Sounds) and worked with Fatoumata Diawara and Samba Touré. Kidal is a small town in North-East Mali which despite its size and relative isolation, has been the focal point for uprisings of Kel Tamasheq rebels against the Malian government for several decades. Ahmed Ag Kaedy's conscious lyrics stress the importance of education and development in a country plunged in deep turmoil. When the extremists took over his hometown, the suppression of music was one of the main points in their agenda. After being threatened with having his fingers cut off if he ever dared to play the guitar again, Ahmed Ag Kaedy decided to move to Bamako, where he still lives. Orion Congregation (or in Tamasheq, "Amanar Assafou", as it stands on the cover in the Tifinagh script) features a floating line-up revolving around Ahmed Ag Kaedy and drummer Mahalmadane Traoré from Amanar, and key members of two bands representing two generations and contrasting approaches to trans-continental fusion. Keyboard and duff player Michael Wehmeyer has been a member of the legendary German band Embryo since 1977, and the remaining musicians, saxophonist, flutist, and synthesizer player Johannes Schleiermacher, and keyboard player Jörg Hochapfel (both members of Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra), drummer Bernd Oezsevim(who, along with Schleiermacher, plays in Gunter Hampel's Trio), and bassist Kalle Enkelmann (Julia Kadel Trio). Recorded live at BLO-Ateliers, Berlin, June 28, 2017." - Schneeball.
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After nearly a decade of false starts, multiple game plans veering off the rails, and a handful of shattered hopes and/or dreams, the odyssey is finally complete—the new Fusetron site is here.

This is the first phase of a multipart rollout that will span the next few months: the currently browsable stock includes miscellaneous new releases from the past 8+ months (we have a lot of catching up to do), plus approximately a third of our backstock. Note that we’ve reduced/slashed prices on many titles and will continue to do so in order to make room for new stock. We’ll also be expanding / tweaking / improving / debugging the site itself (for example, we still have work to do on the automated international postage system, not to mention the inevitable inventory discrepancies that come with transferring an ancient and massive database to a new system).

Over the next few months, as we take inventory, clean house, and delve into our storage, we will be uploading thousands of additional items, gradually, on a near-daily basis. This will include the majority of the LPs, as well as many titles, in all formats, once thought long-gone. Many currently “sold out” items are likely to resurface.

Finally, once our general backstock is up (probably in the next two or three months) we’ll begin making our extensive stockpile of rarities available online for the first time: tons of random out-of-print titles, "deadstock," warehouse finds, secondhand collectibles, etc., accumulated over the past few decades.

Frequent/returning customers will be getting early access to these items. Details to follow on how this will work (a priority mailing list? a 'frequent flyer'-like program?), but it will not be based on dollars spent. We want to reward those who consistently support us, especially in the discogs marketplace era (to those who show up trying to poach five copies of a one-off rarity, and nothing else, ever… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).

So—we suggest you take some time to dig through the site—even we’ve been surprised by what’s been turning up, and there’s much more to come.
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