creator and mentor the late great Michael Wadada has been continuously investigating the supernatural potential hidden in the Classical Raga structure of the music of India. His mission – to mix the cerebral and illusive cosmological vibrations of Raga, with the mother earth rhythms of Niyabinghi drumming that were surfacing in England in the guise of Dub Reggae.In 1979 Wadada set about recording the ground breaking Suns of Arqa album ‘Revenge of the Mozabites’ with his friend Adrian Sherwood..
Michael first collaborated with Wadada by designing and writing the booklet for their Seven LP. He performed with them at festivals such as Womad, The V festival, haunts House, Club Dog, singing overtones and playing bass guitar, Tibetan Singing Bowls, Morin Khuur and Didgeridoo. Michael has appeared on Suns of Arqa releases, Animan, Through the Gates We Go & Scared Sacred
Designed with calligraphy by Michael Ormiston 1987
Seven
Michael Wadada continues to defy all terms of musical reference with ‘SEVEN’. Creating a new hybrid of Christian and Hindu mysticism layered with alchemy. ‘SEVEN’ combines Gabriel Faure’s Requiem mass with early rumblings of Dub Step, Hindustani Ragas and Nyabinghi Dub Poetry… a unique and historic album. Recorded at the legendary Sawmill Studio in Cornwall and the Gayan Uttejak Studio in Budapest. The conceptual story line features an impressive cast on the Arqa stage with John Cooper-Clarke as Ezekiel; Professor Stanley Unwin as Erasmus; Helen Watson as the Maid of Orleans; Sanyogita Kumari and Sarah Wildwitch as the Celtic sisters of Wyrd and Kadir Durvesh as Kali the destroyer. The effect is both fascinating and impressive.
