Aquarius Records: Search Results for Artist: Thai Elephant Orchestra

Aquarius Records: Search Results for Artist: Thai Elephant Orchestra

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album cover THAI ELEPHANT ORCHESTRA s/t (Mulatta Records) cd 15.98
First it was Frogs of North America invading our record bins, then it was Antarctic Seals and Penguins, followed by Insects in Stored Foodstuffs... now it's Elephants from Thailand! Brilliant recordings by non-human, um, sound-artists that we just can't get enough of here at Aquarius. In this case, the elephants are not just making their natural noises, they are indeed playing instruments! You may have read about this project in the New York Times -- when we found out about it we immediately contacted the label and ordered a whole bunch (based also on the on-line sample we heard at www.mulatta.org) and now here they are. These are elephants from a elephant preseve in Thailand who have been trained to play specially-built instruments (many marimba-like instruments similar to the traditional Thai renat, as well as such things as harmonicas, drums, and even a stringed "electric bass"), but they haven't been trained *what* to play, it's all improvised with minimal human guidance! Yet it's definitely music. It was kind of an experiment to find out how the creatures might express themselves, and we'd say it was very successful indeed. If we didn't know these were elephants, we'd think this was a strange No Neck Blues Band recording or something. Imagine a stumbling, primitive hippy folk jam on gamelan instruments, but not one that's random or erratic. The elephants play steady beats, the struck gongs or chimes interspersed with their vocalizations as well. With no overdubs and few edits this is certainly a very impressive recording!
The Thai Elephant Orchestra was dreamed up, and this disc produced, by David Soldier (New York musician and academic) and Richard Lair (American expatriate elephant expert, who advises the Thai Elephant Conservation Center where this project goes on). The two came up with the idea that elephants, being social animals, might enjoy playing music together, and proceeded to investigate... Happily, not only did the elephants enjoy playing, they were good at it, demonstrating that they were able to decide what sounded good (to them) and what didn't.
The booklet features photos and detailed, fascinating liner notes by both men. Here is what Soldier says the criteria was for the construction of the instruments, which were made by New York instrument builder Ken Butler (of "Gravikords, Whirligigs..." fame):
"1. The instruments must be suitable to the elephant's anatomy, which means large instruments operated by the trunk.
"2. The instruments must withstand jungle heat, humidity -- and the elephants.
"3. The instruments should require minimum upkeep.
"4. The instruments should have a Thai sound, because the regular daily audience is Thai, the mahouts would enjoy the music more, and the elephants have heard Thai music all their lives."
Some more great tid-bits from the notes: "The elephants took easily to the harmonica, which sparked the first elephant music fad: one morning I arrived to hear the sound of harmonicas from all over -- from the hills and from the river. The elephants were walking in from the forest playing harmonicas, which they hold easily in the tip of their trunks."
"The elephants didn't seem interested in the bells or theremin. At first they were spooked by the synthesizer keyboard, but later two animals were entranced by it. They disliked playing Ken's reed instruments with a large mouthpiece, or rather, trunkpiece. A mahout told me they were afraid that a snake might jump into their nostrils!"
As sort of bonus tracks, in addition to the forty-plus minutes of elephant improv, there's also some non-instrumental elephant field recordings, several tracks of humans and elephants playing together, and even a few traditional Thai songs played by humans, about elephants.
Sure there's a bit of simple amusement to be found here just from the concept alone, but in actual fact the music these elephants make is, to our ears at least, quite beautiful. We could go on and philosophize about how this project speaks to the relationship between man and animals in this world, but we'll leave those thoughts for you to explore if you chose to check out this album, which we highly recommend! Amazing and wonderful.
MPEG Stream: "Jojo"
MPEG Stream: "Duo For Renats"
MPEG Stream: "Harmonica Music"
MPEG Stream: "Heavy Logs"

album cover THAI ELEPHANT ORCHESTRA Water Music (Mulatta) cd 15.98
Wow, 2011 is ruling so far, so much good stuff has come out this year already. Here's one we REALLY flipped for when we saw it was available - the third and apparently final album (bar the inevitable reunion tour!) from everyone's favorite all-elephant ensemble. That's right, the Thai Elephant Orchestra of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in the jungle locale of Lampang, Thailand. We're huge fans of their other two albums, made both of 'em Records Of The Week, and this one is just as good - or actually maybe even better, 'cause as they say it's a "purist" recording of the Elephant Orchestra, with no human guidance at all, edits, or overdubs. It's indeed all-elephant, with the exception of a Buddhist monk's chanted prayer for the elephant spirit heard on the very first track (also we're guessing a human came up with the song titles). All the music is entirely improvised by the elephants themselves, playing the special over-sized instruments built for them by conservationist Richard Lair and experimental composer David Soldier as part of their project to help preserve these amazing creatures and their ever-threatened habitat. Lair and Soldier just hit record and let the elephants go to it on these ten tracks. They really seem to enjoy expressing themselves, these tracks truly lovely and mesmeric, with all kinds of percussive textures, gently tinkling chimes, occasional crashing gongs or drums, gamelan-like tones, harmonica drones... and it's all remarkably rhythmic, at a stately pace. Beautiful! They definitely know what they're doing, they've got big ears after all, and it's incredible the feeling and careful restraint that they bring to the music they're making (for such large animals especially). We doubt humans could do better. NNCK, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Kemialliset Ystavat, et. al., you're no match for these elephants... as we've said before, if you didn't know dem wuz pachyderms, you'd think this was some new weird krautrock-inspired improv group, or a reissue of something by the likes of Amon Duul, the Taj Mahal Travellers, or Yahowah 13 perhaps.
For those unfamiliar with the Thai Elephant Orchestra, you're in for a treat! And anyone already a fan will be thrilled too. Previous albums contained a fair number of tracks with humans participating too, so it's nice to have one that's elephant-only, and it's sooooooo good. Utterly, utterly wonderful, both musically and conceptually. How can you not love these elephants?
FYI, a new documentary about the Thai Elephant Orchestra can be found on YouTube, part one is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZHLPrYkpRc
MPEG Stream: "The Last Monsoon Of Summer"
MPEG Stream: "Gathering Storm Clouds"
MPEG Stream: "Clouds Cover Sun"

album cover THAI ELEPHANT ORCHESTRA Elephonic Rhapsodies (Mulatta) cd 15.98
If there's one record that seems to be most identified with Aquarius Records, other than the infamous Conet Project (those recordings of shortwave spy transmissions) lots of folks would pick the Thai Elephant Orchestra, an ensemble of elephants who play gamelans and gongs and harmonicas and all sorts of custom made, super-sized instruments. So here we are three years later, and we get a little sonic update on what Phong, Mae Kot, Aet, Jo Jo, Chapati, Prajuab, Prathida, Luuk Khang, Tao, Wanalee and Gaew, the elephants responsible for one of our favorite records ever, have been up to. Quite a bit it seems as the elephants have just released their sophmore record (which is farther than most human bands make it!), and have made huge progress in their musicianship, playing short composed tunes and long drawn out meandering pieces with improvisation. Elephants have always been popular with children, and well, elephants playing musical instruments that's every child's fantasy right? Well project directors Dave Soldier and Richard Lair obviously think so as they've seemingly geared this record specifically toward children, with some bubbly rainbow lettering on the cover, and a cringeworthy introduction from "your Uncle Dave and Uncle Richard" as they introduce each elephant and describe their personalities. But don't let that stuff keep you from getting into this record. It's even better than the first. Beautifully recorded and of course masterfully played.
The first third of the record are the elephants playing on their own, some of Soldier and Lair's 'compositions' and the sound is divine. Hypnotic and spare, tinkling and clattering chimes, thumping drums, booming gongs and gamelan melodies, all meandering lazily through a hazy dreamy percussive soundscape. As with the first record, if you weren't told, you'd most definitely think this was some sort of avant tribal minimal outift, maybe No Neck Blues Band or one of the many foresty Finnish folk groups. It's totally primal and mesmerising, weirdly melodic and sonically soothing.
The next chunk of the record features the elephants again playing composed pieces, this time playing with human musicians, and the aforementioned effect is even greater, with Soldier's keeing violin, or Jami Sieber's moaning cello, or any of a handful of traditional Thai instruments played by the elephant's mahouts (trainers) perfectly complimented by the spare clattery backdrop. The effect of listening to some out rock, avant folk group makes it almost impossible to believe these are elephants playing this beautiful music. It also raises the question of how we have progressed and moved musically forward for centuries, yet the people furthest out on the edge, pushing the limits the farthest (NNCK, SHOTM, and any one of hundreds of avant musicians) seem to be aspiring to sounds that nature has been making for millenia or is capable of making without humans or electricity, or any of the stuff most of us rely on to play music. Pretty awe inspiring.
The final portion of the record seems yet again directed at children as it is famous songs about elephants ("Baby Elephant Walk" etc.) played by small ensembles and accompanied by the elephant orchestra. Cute but not absolutely essential elephonic listening. Thankfully, in the liner notes Soldier and Lair explain that in the future they plan to "revert to the 'classical' format: long elephants-only instrumentals with minimal 'chamber music' mixing." We can't wait. But that said, there is so much good stuff on Elephonic Rhapsodies, definitely don't be put off by the young person vibe. Also in the liner notes, there is an invitation to bands and musicans all over the world to come and record with the elephants. We can hardly contain ourselves we have so many good ideas....Boris and the Thai Elephant Orchestra? Sunburned Hand Of The Man and the Thai Elephant Orchestra? Peter Brotzmann and the Thai Elephant Orchesta? Bjork and the Thai Elephant Orchestra? Hatebeak and the Thai Elephant Orchestra???
MPEG Stream: "Phong's Solo"
MPEG Stream: "The Birth Of Ganesh"
MPEG Stream: "Little Elephant Saddle"

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