SUNS OF ARQA
SUNS OF ARQA LIVE 2008-2010
For bookings and more information please contact Maren
Mobile Phone: 0044 (0)7727604212
Email: info@arabicmusicband.com
SUNS OF ARQA are one of the greatest behind-the-scenes pioneers of World Beat, Downtempo, Ambient and Electro-Dub. Finding inspiration around the globe, they set out to interpret indigenous, tribal and classical folk traditions. By combining these elements with Dub Reggae grooves and cutting-edge digital technology, they forged an impressive legacy and earned worldwide recognition. The result is a deeply spiritual vibration that merges cultures, faiths and musical genres.
Since 1979 they have released over 35 albums on Virgin, EMI, Interchill Records, Antler Subway, Red Rhino and their own label Arka Sound. They are a prolific and seminal influence on the World Beat Sound, paving the way for the success of artists like Transglobal Underground, Jah Wobble, Talvin Singh, Thievery Corporation, Cheb I Sabbah and Afro-Celt Sound System.
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LIVE PERFORMANCES :
SUNS OF ARQA have been on the scene of World Music and more specific Indian music Fusion project in London since 1979.
SUNS OF ARQA played at the very first Womad festival in Shepton Mallet, after receiving a personal invitation from Peter Gabriel.
Over the years SUNS OF ARQA have performed at the major European music festivals : Womad, Glastonbury, Big Chill, Telerama Dub Festival, Eden, Phoenix
… The band is currently recording a new studio album in 5.1 Surround entitled “Know Thyself” in Montreal. As a result they will be based in Canada and Mexico for most of 2010 and are seeking festival bookings in the Americas.
The band’s sound is perfect for the festival format as there is a little something for everybody : Dub Reggae and Electronic Music Grooves for an uptempo Dancefloor Audience, Classical Indian and World Music Soloists for the Cerebral Music Fan.
The SUNS OF ARQA line-up can be tailored to fit any live event and available budget. We can stage everything from a whole event with a 12 piece live band, with DJ’s & VJ’s, Lights, Dancers and Spoken Word Artists, to a solo performance from bandleader WADADA.
SUNS OF ARQA at the Glade Stage, Glastonbury Festival 2010.
SUNS OF ARQA’s 2012 line-up incorporates Middle Eastern and Indian live music.
Suns of Arqa can perform with a small line up of 4 – 6 musicians or 7 – 10 musicians for the full Arqa Sound.
Here is a list of artist we work with:
Michael Wadada – Sitar & Guitar.
Angel Eye – Vocals.
Delroy ‘Sticksman’ Walker – Kit Drums.
Youth or Sean Davis – Bass Guitar.
Pritam Singh – Tabla.
Sanyogita Kumari – Vocals & Harmonium.
Dids – Electronic Percussion.
Clive Wilks – Keyboards.
Roshi – Vocals& Keyboards.
Chas – Middle Eastern Percussion.
Maren – Middle Eastern Ney Flute & Soprano Saxophone.
Johar Ali Khan – Violin ( for bigger shows).
SUNS OF ARQA can also provide dancers for shows.
Venata Godbole: Indian Dance.
Carmen Jones: Middle Eastern Dance.
SUNS OF ARQA’s artist can provide a wide range of Indian and Middle Eastern music and dance workshops:
Pritam Singh – Indian Tabla workshop. For more info about Pritam click here.
Sanyogita Kumari – Indian Vocals workshop.
Venata Godbole: Indian Dance workshop.
Chas – Middle Eastern Percussion workshop. For more info about Chas click here.
Maren – Middle Eastern Melody workshop. For more info about Maren click here.
Carmen Jones -Middle Eastern Dance workshops. For more info about Carmen click here.
For bookings and more information please contact Maren
Mobile Phone: 0044 (0)7727604212
Email: info@arabicmusicband.com
BIOGRAPHY
World Beat Legends
The Arqa story begins in 1979 in Manchester, England, with a man named Michael Wadada, who was destined to mastermind one of the most obscure yet influential acts in the genre to date. Three years after his musical beginnings, Wadada attracted notice from Peter Gabriel, and performed alongside, such varied inventive geniuses as poet John Cooper Clarke, linguist Professor Stanley Unwin, flautist Tim Wheater, Adrian Sherwood and the legendary Jamaican DJ, Prince Far-I, as well as many others.
Just over half a decade later, Wadada produced ‘Land of a Thousand Churches’ featuring many of his old musical friends as well as new ones, such as James Young, Helen Watson and afro-jazz star Feso Trombone. This album was in many ways a fusion of the two seemingly different musical and spiritual spheres of the Celtic and Hindu. The results were deemed by many as revolutionary within music and quickly came to be identified with Wadada’s pioneering musical style.
By the mid-nineties, SUNS OF ARQA was in full swing, having begun to delve into the emerging electronic genres of drum and bass and jungle, dub and others, working with names such as Guy Called Gerald, 808 State, Zion Train, John Leckie, Youth, Muslim Gauze and the infamous Astralasia. The Arqa stage setup was more diverse and worldly than ever before, encompassing sounds of Scottish bagpipes, hurdy gurdy,Indian strings and vocals, reggae percussion, just to name a few.
Today, Michael Wadada is still hard at work under the Arqa banner, this time in the studio, delving deeper into the musically yet-unperceived. Having released a slew of albums under various labels, exposing and promoting styles from every corner of the globe into one harmonious amalgam. SUNS OF ARQA’S latest release, a dual disc compilation is compiled TomFu (Liquid Records), who is a very well respected DJ in the UK scene for many years in the downtempo and ethnic scene. The 2 CD compilation contains a mixtures of the sounds which span and define their career to now, all seamlessly blended into a globetrotting safari of eclectic musical fusions and collusions. After almost thirty years of innovations that have truly set this name onto its own level, the future can hold nothing but limitless potential for the genre-bending and genre-forging vehicle known as SUNS OF ARQA.
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Radio: Indidginus Selecta Sundays: 30-01-11 (Suns of Arqa Special Edition)
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A day in Cairo before the 25th of January 2011.
May the future of Egypt be peaceful and free of suppression.
Soundtrack: Instrumental version of ANTHEM by SUNS OF ARQA from forthcoming album STRANGER MUSIC featuring: Maren Lueg on Arabic Nay Flute,
Chas Whitaker on Arabic Percussion, Dave Hendry on Bass.
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Reviews / Quotes
”I’m not at all certain how this band manages to so cohesively merge rhythms no other group in the world has dared to mix, I only know that their music is reverent, humorous, profound, disorientating, terrifying and fantastic all at the same time.” East West Journal (USA)
‘took me back to the heady days of my mispent later teens and the pyschedelic music I first discovered way back then….which is how i felt during the early hours of sunday when i listened to it for the first time, and again the same when i played in its entirerity during the show’
Dave Arc-I : Sunday Chillout Show – www.psystream.net
”Many bands claim to deal in global fusion music, but few have as firm a claim on the genre as the Suns of Arqa. Led by a mysterious bassist and sitarist who goes by the name Wadada, the band has included a huge variety of members from all over the world since its inception in 1979, and served as the backing group for Prince Far I on his last concert performance before his untimely death in 1983. Big & Live documents several recent live performances and shows Wadada and his cohorts in top form, delivering everything from Celtic-reggae fusion ‘Om Kaaraaya’ (on which uillean pipes play over a heavyweight reggae groove) to Asian meditational sounds (the dreamy ‘Arana’) and sounds in between, such as ‘Majhi Ra’, which adds the keening tones of the shenai to the Celtic-reggae mix. There are fine vocal performances by Angel Eye, Reba Bhaduri and Cat Von Trapp, and as a special bonus the album ends with three Nucleus Roots remixes of live tracks from the Prince Far I concert. Some listeners will find this music immediately delightful, while other will probably be mostly puzzled. If you’ve read this far, then you probably already know which camp you’ll fall into. Recommended. ”
~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
‘The energy and emotion on the tracks are quite there, and I really enjoy the tribal, ethnic feel that a lot of the tracks have..it just feels more connected…. Thank you for sending this out and good luck with the release!’ Eckoe, Ult imae Records
‘There is a definate sense of experience and love weaved into the compositions, and even though the tracks contain real and sampled instruments, there is no evident flatness in dynamics that spread across the two discs. Michael has lived and breathed his music and this really shows.’
Mattski : Revolve Magazine
“Some might call it ‘genius’; most will just settle for the word ‘insane’. Either way, the result is fascinating.” NME
‘Thanks for the new Suns of Arqa which I received this am. I have included two tunes in my spring show’ . Matt Coldrick / Absolute Ambient & Totally Radio.com
‘I just would like to thank you immensely for having sent me the Suns of Arqa double album ‘Through the Gates We Go’, it is really incredible, and I will for sure play it on my radio show Le Vestibule, in fact, I will include it to the CFOU 89,1 FM Electronic music chart in the next few weeks’.
Jean Francoise-Fecteau / Le Vestibule Radio
“definitely the most unusual records of all time.” NME
Know thyself?
Kindred Spirit Review: Arts & Entertainment.
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For more information about SUNS OF ARQA and CD order please click here.
http://www.sunsofarqa.co.uk/
For SUNS OF ARQA Myspace site click here
SUNS OF ARQA RELEASE:
Revenge Of The Mozabites (LP) Rocksteady Records 1979
Soul to Save (7″)Rocksteady Records 1980
Mysteries Of The East / Ananta Snake Dance (12″) Virgin 1982
G. D. Magick (12″) Antler Records 1983
Wadada Magic (LP, Album) Antler Records 1982
India?(LP Album)) Red Rhino/Rocksteady Records 1983
Pressure Drop (7″) Vogue Belgique 1984
Pressure Drop (12″) Vogue Belgique 1984
Ark Of The Arqans, Heaven And Hell And Other Strange Faces Vol. 5 (12″, MiniAlbum) Scarface 1985
Seven (LP, Album) Arka Sound 1987
Kokoromochi (CD) Arka Sound 1989
Kokoromochi (LP) Arka Sound 1983
Musical Revue (CD) ROIR Europe 1984
Govinda’s House (12″) Antler Records 1988
Jaggernaut (12″) Antler Records 1989
Govinda Go (12″) Arka Sound 1990
Land Of A Thousand Churches (CD) Arka Sound 1991
Alap-Joe-Jhala(LP)Arka Sound 1984
Alap – Joe – Jhala (CD) Arka Sound 1992
Cradle (CD) Earthsounds 1992
Cradle Remixed(CD) Arka Sound 1999
Sul-E-Stomp (12″) Magick Eye Records 1992
Sul-E-Stomp (CD, Maxi) Magick Eye Records 1992
Sul-E-Stomp (12″, Lim) Magick Eye Records 1992
Sul-E-Stomp Remix (12″) Magick Eye Records 1992
Erasmus Meets The Earthling (CD) Arka Sound 1994
Govinda’s Dream (CD, Maxi) Arka Sound 1994
DJ Files (12″) Arka Sound 1995
Govinda’s Dream (Remixes) (12″) Arka Sound 1995
Total Eclipse Of The Suns (CD) Arka Sound 1995
Animan (CD) Arka Sound 1996
Arqaology (CD, Album) Arka Sound 1998
Remixes Vol 2 & 3 (2xCD) Echo Beach 1998
Cosmic Jugalbandi (CD, Album) Arka Sound 1999
Jaggernaut Whirling Dub (CD) Arka Sound 1999
Live With Prince Far-I (CD) Arka Sound 1999
Shabda (CD, Album) Arka Sound 1999
Suns Of Arqa Meet The Gayan Uttejak Orchestra (CD) Arka Sound 1999
Technomor (Remixes Vol. 4) (CD) Techno Party 1999
Cosmic Jugalbandi (CD) Interchill Records 2000
Aberglaube (Remixes Volume 3) (CD) Arka Sound 2001
Govinda’s House In The City Of Nine Gates (Remixes Vol. 2) (CD) Arka Sound 2001
Muslimgauze: The Suns Of Arqa Mixes (CD) Arka Sound 2001
Revenge Of The Mozabites (CD, Album) Arka Sound 2001
Solar Activity 1979-2001 (2xCD) EMI Records 2001
Tomorrow Never Knows (12″, Promo) EMI Records 2001
Un1verse City (CD) EMI Records 2001
A Brief History Of S.O.A. (CD, Album) Arka Sound 2002
Seven (CD, Album) Arka Sound 2002
Technomor Remixes Vol 4 (CD) Arka Sound 2002
Magiczna Miłość (CD, Album) Arka Sound 2003
Tributey (CD, Album) Arka Sound 2003
Hallucinasia (CD) Arka Sound 2005
Big And Live (CD) Arka Sound 2006
Hindu Pict (DVD, PAL, Dol) Arka Sound 2006
Suns Of Arqa Re-Mixs Muslimgauze (CD, Album, Ltd) Soleilmoon Recordings 2007
Through The Gate We Go (2xCD, Comp, Mixed) Arka Sound 2008
SUNS OF ARQA Appear On:
Nature Never Did Betray The Heart That Loved Her (CD, Album) Butterfly Trilogy LSD – Liquid Sound Design 2000
Dr Alex Paterson’s Voyage Into Paradise (CD) Albatross LSD – Liquid Sound Design 2001
East Of The River Ganges (CD, Album) Be Conscious (On Namai… LSD – Liquid Sound Design 2001
Stoned Asia 4 (CD) Elephant Trax (Hammer … Stoned Asia 2002
Nirvana Lounge 03 (2xCD) Elephant Trax Wagram 2003
Tracks Appear On:
Alternative Funk Vol. I (Cass, Comp, C60) Brujo Magic Vox Man Records
The History Of Indipop – The First Ten Years – 1981 – 1991 (CD) Stepping To The Music,… Great Expectations
Wild Paarty Sounds Volume One (LP) Asian Rebel Cherry Red 1981
Indipop Music & Dance Compilasian (LP) Stepping To The Music Indipop 1983
Indipop Music & Dance Compilasian (CD) Stepping To The Music Indipop 1983
A From Antler (LP) Acid Tabla Antler Records 1984
Touch-Lands End (Cass) Sanskrit Hymn Touch 1985
Bugs On The Wire (LP) Brujo Magic Leghorn Records 1987
Wild Paarty Sounds – Volume One (LP) Asian Rebel Trance Records 1988
Freak Beats – Volume 1 (LP) Govinda’s House Scam, Bop Cassettes 1989
Freak Beats – Volume 1 (CD, Album) Govinda’s House Scam, Bop Cassettes 1989
Give Peace A Dance 2 – The Ambient Collection (CD) Kalavati Alap, Kalavat… Beechwood Music 1991
Give Peace A Dance 2 – The Ambient Collection (LP) Kalavati Alap Beechwood Music 1991
Give Peace A Dance 2 – The Ambient Collection (12″, Smplr, Ltd, W/Lbl, Promo) Kalavati (Remixes) Beechwood Music 1991
Wild Paarty Sounds (Volume One) (CD) Asian Rebel Cherry Red 1991
Mixmag Live! Vol. 9 – Dr Alex Paterson & Mixmaster Morris (Cass) World Peace DMC Publishing 1993
The Radio 1FM Sessions Vol 1 (Cass) Les Anciens Mystiques … Vox Magazine 1994
Ambient Amazon (CD, Album) Heart Of The Suns Tumi Music 1995
Ambient Amazon (2xLP) Heart Of The Suns Tumi Music 1995
New Wave Club Class.X 4 (CD) Acid Tabla Antler-Subway 1995
Off The Map (CD) Snakedance Charrm 1995
98 New Wave Club Class.X Traxx!!! (Box + 7xCD) Acid Tabla Play It Again Sam [PIAS] 1996
Cyber Mix – Ambient (CD + CD-ROM) Durgadub (Remix) Javelin Ltd 1996
Dubitamin – 6 Rare Dub Ingredients (Limited Edition) (LP) Tabla School (Zombie Mix) Roundtrip Records 1996
In Dub Daze: An On-U Sound Compilation (CD) Asian Rebel Cleopatra 1996
King Size Dub Vol. 2 (CD) Jagnath Bhairavi Echo Beach 1996
Mixmag Live! Vol. 9 (CD) World Peace A.D? DMC Publishing 1996
The Future Sound Of Ambient 2 (CD) Beyond The Beyond BNE – Brand New Entertainment 1996
Asian Underground (CD) Basant Dhrupad PolyGram TV 1997
Orient Express (CD) Govinda’s Dream Phonokol 1998
Andes To The Amazon (CD) Heart Of The Suns Echo Beach 1999
On-U Sound Box (3xCD) Asian Rebel Cleopatra 1999
Planetary Natural Love Gas Webbin’ 199999 – Mixed By DJ Pica Pica Pica (CD, Album) Sul-E-Stomp (Ceilioh Mix) Comma (Japan) 1999
Wylęgarnia Dub’u (CD, Promo, Smplr, Car) City Of Nine Gates (Zi… Brum, Universal Egg 1999
The Future Sound Of Ambient Vol I & II (2xCD) Beyond The Beyond BNE – Brand New Entertainment 2000
The Warp Experience (2xCD) Khamaj (The Caveman Re… LSD – Liquid Sound Design 2000
Vampira Festival ’2000 (CD) Through The Gate We Go SPV Poland / Big Blue 2000
17-Track Guide To The Month’s Best Music (CD) Tomorrow Never Knows Uncut Magazine 2001
Dr Alex Paterson’s Voyage Into Paradise (CD) Albatross LSD – Liquid Sound Design 2001
Infinessence (CD) Raga Misra Bilawal (Zi… Interchill Records 2001
Tribal Futures: The Way Ahead… (CD) Children Of Jumma (The… Echo Beach 2001
Spiritual Worlds (2xCD) Govinda’s House In The… Yellow Sunshine Explosion 2002
Talisman (CD) Ark Of The Arqans Interchill Records 2003
Interdigital Vol. 1 (File, MP3, 320) Ark Of The Arqans Interchill Records 2004
Sanctuary – Spectrum Series Vol. 1 (CD) Cradle Part. III Interchill Records 2005
Original Artists – The Best Of Dub (CD) Rosin + Reed .. Big Blue Records, Blue Moon Productions 2006
Pure – Music From The Film (CD) Cosmic Jugalbandi .. Finite Records
