The extraordinary recordings from 1978 by David Toop of Yanomami ritual songs, shamanistic ceremonies and rainforest sounds. The 40 pages booklet recounts the full story of his fascinating journey in 1978 through the Amazon jungle to meet and record the last Yanomami shamen.
The voices of spirits and animal familiars, ventriloquial illusions of sound in dark spaces, secret spirit languages, the clap of thunder that links shamanic trance with the sleep language of Finnegans Wake... Out of these passages of the everyday, intensity flares like flames caught by a gust of wind. Skin burns or oozes blood, the wind blows up havoc as the spirits move about.
Born near London in 1949, David Toop is a musician, writer and sound curator.
He has published three books, numerous solo albums since his first album released on
Brian Eno's Obscure label in 1975, curated five CD compilations, composed the soundtrack for an outdoor spectacular under Lisbon Expo '98, recorded shamanistic ceremonies in Amazonas. He
worked with musicians including Brian Eno,
John Zorn, Prince Far I, Jon Hassell,
Derek Bailey, Talvin Singh, Evan Parker,
Max Eastley,
Scanner, Ivor Cutler, Haruomi Hosono, Jin Hi Kim and
Bill Laswell, and collaborated with artists from many other disciplines, including theatre director/actor Steven Berkoff, Japanese Butoh dancer Mitsutaka Ishii, sound poet Bob Cobbing, visual artist
John Latham, filmmaker Jae-eun Choi and author Jeff Noon.
As a critic and columnist he has written for many publications, including
The Wire,
The Face,
The Times,
The Sunday Times,
The Guardian,
Arena,
Vogue,
Spin,
GQ,
Bookforum,
Urb,
Black Book,
The New York Times and
The Village Voice.
