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Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism

Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism is a 1983 album by American trumpet player and composer Jon Hassell, released on the label Editions EG. It was co-produced by Daniel Lanois and features Abdou M'Boup on drums.

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Jul 23, 2026
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Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism
Studio album by
Jon Hassell
Released1983
Recorded1982
StudiosGrant Avenue Studios, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
GenresWorld, ambient
Length44:10
LabelEditions EG EGED 31
ProducersJon Hassell, Daniel Lanois
Jon Hassell chronology
Dream Theory in Malaya
(1981) 		Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism
(1983) 		Power Spot
(1986)

Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism is a 1983 album by American trumpet player and composer Jon Hassell, released on the label Editions EG. It was co-produced by Daniel Lanois and features Abdou M'Boup on drums.1

Background

The album features Hassell manipulating and looping fragments of sampled sound.2 In the liner notes, Hassell describes the album as "a proposal for a 'coffee-colored' classical music of the future."3

The cover painting is by Mati Klarwein.1

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStar1
The Village VoiceA−3

AllMusic's Brian Olewnick described the album as "an insinuating blend of early-'80s high tech with ancient Southeast Asia," calling it "an early high-water mark at the juncture between world and ambient musics."1 For The Village Voice, Robert Christgau called it "dandy background music--more fluid and organic than Dream Theory in Malaya if also more amorphous than his first Eno collaboration."3

In his 1995 book Ocean of Sound, David Toop writes that on Aka/Darbari/Java "the perfume of ethnopoetics was supplemented by parallels with literature and the advanced technology of hyperreality."2

Tracklist

All tracks composed by Jon Hassell unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Empire I" - 2:00
  2. "Empire II" (Hassell, Daniel Lanois) - 4:53
  3. "Empire III" - 7:09
  4. "Empire IV" - 5:13
  5. "Empire V" - 3:40
  6. "Darbari Extension I" - 13:52
  7. "Darbari Extension II" - 7:23

Personnel

  • Jon Hassell - trumpet, keyed voices and instruments, treatments, producer
  • Daniel Lanois - recording engineer, mixing and treatments, co-producer
  • Abdou M'Boup - drums
  • Bob Lanois, Michael Brook, John Forbes - assistance (Toronto)
  • Bruno Planet - drum recording engineer (Paris)
  • Greg Calbi - mastering
  • Jean-Michel Reusser - project coordinator
  • Mati Klarwein - artwork
  • Paula Greif - design
  • Wynn Dan - design assistant
References

References

  1. Olewnick, Brian. "Review: Aka/Darbari/Java - Jon Hassell". AllMusic. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  2. Toop, David (2018). Oceans of Sound: Ambient sound and radical listening in the age of communication. Serpent's Tail. ISBN 9781788161046. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  3. Christgau, Robert. "Christgau's Consumer Guide: Aug. 30, 1983". The Village Voice. Retrieved December 30, 2019.