Root Blog

Popol Vuh – In The Gardens Of Pharao / Aguirre

Popol Vuh
In The Garden Of Pharao / Aguirre
Celestial Harmonies, LP 1983

01. Aguirre (6:15)
02. In The Gardens Of Pharao (17:34)
03. Vuh (19:51)
04. Spirit Of Peace (20:46)

Early 80’s CD compilation of songs from 2 separate Popol Vuh releases (In den Gärten Pharaos and Aguirre). The fourth track ‘Spirit of Peace’ (not to be confused with an earlier Popol Vuh LP of the same name) is a 20min solo piano opus recorded specifically for this release in 1983. This is one of the most beautiful pieces of minimal piano ever… even Harold Budd’s sublime oeuvre doesn’t tap into the sheer desolate emotion Florian Fricke channels here. Listen closely in the 3rd movement and you can make out Florian’s voice softly singing along as he plays, whispered prayers, a hidden hymn. Incomparable, and utterly essential.

zip

  1. evan on March 22nd, 2011

    essential!

  2. danny on March 22nd, 2011

    Yes indeed!

  3. steve on March 23rd, 2011

    It seems strange to me that you are posting stuff that is still available while asking other blogs to remove rootstata releases that are not sold out.
    Florian Fricke may need the royalties. Life is not cheap in heaven.
    Thanks anyway.

  4. Jefre on March 23rd, 2011

    Hi Steve,

    It’s true, we do occasionally post things that are still available, and I agree that it may look a little strange. Maybe a short explanation would be helpful.

    In general we don’t post any music by other small indie labels or bands that (to the best of our knowledge) you can still purchase.

    I don’t have any issues with posting music by major labels.

    A lot of the underground cd-r’s & tapes we post are by people we know directly and in some cases I have been asked to post things that artists themselves would like to be available. The opposite is also true and when that situation arises we do our best to remove the post right away.

    I don’t see any coloration between our posts of a John Cale reissue on Rhino, and say, someone offering a free download of the new Higuma record, or my last solo record, or any other Root Strata release that is still available physically or digitally.

    Root Strata is a small independent label that more often than not barely has money to keep going. I do think people downloading our releases for free when a good majority of them are available for a relatively reasonable price digitally hurts us and the bands directly.

    On the other hand, due to blogs etc, the music we release is getting out into the world to lots of people who don’t have access to underground, independent music due to finical reasons or otherwise, and I cant help but be glad about that. Does that hurt us financially? Yes. Am I excited for people to hear the music we put out? Yes.

    So how can I justify offering illegal downloads of music on this site while asking others not to do the same? Honestly I can’t. But I can say I don’t see it as a cut & dry case.

    So how do we hold both sides of this?

    I have no idea. The web is full of morally ambiguous black holes, and this is one of them. So please don’t come on to the Root Blog expecting to write a snappy comment & think there is gonna be a quick answer that ties it all up into a little box with a pretty bow on top.

    I usually completely ignore conversations like this because I really feel there is no easy answer to this question and having dialogues with total strangers who know a lot more about me then I do about them (Are you a musician? Do you run a label? IPA or Pilsner? Godard or Truffaut? Shikantaza or concentration practice?) is sorta ridiculous. But you’ve caught me early in the morning, after my Yoga practice & I have the day off, so why not.

    I hope that I have not cleared things up at all and only added to the confusion.

    Best,

    Jefre

  5. michael on March 23rd, 2011

    keep doing it all, jefre

  6. weis on March 23rd, 2011

    Slightly off subject, but if I find someone posting free copies of Japanese relief comps on their blog, physical violence will be acceptable in this case.

  7. Steve on March 23rd, 2011

    Hi Jefre,
    I liked your answer to my purposely provocative question.
    Actually I dont give a damn. Except that:
    1) No Truffaut, no Godard: Garrel
    2) Apparently John Cale owes a lot of tax money to the US gov
    3) Florian can only afford Holiday Inn in heaven without the royalties income
    4) Who says I know more about you than you about me ?

  8. Scott Goodwin on March 25th, 2011

    Forget copyright law, I just don’t know how you can sleep at night with a main site in a serif font and the blog in a SANS serif font, Jefre. Atrocious!

  9. Maxwell on March 25th, 2011

    blame the webmaster.

  10. zach on March 27th, 2011

    How can a yoga adept start with “Maybe a short explanation would be helpful” and end up with “I hope that I have not cleared things up at all and only added to the confusion” ?

  11. ilyas on March 30th, 2011

    hey jefre

    we’ve met before, haven’t we?

    at your house

    don’t you remember?

    of course

    as a matter of fact

    i’m there

    RIGHT NOW

    at your house

    CALL ME

    dial your number

    go ahead

  12. Jefre on March 30th, 2011

    How’d you do that? HOW’D YOU DO THAT?!?!?

  13. Mauricio on April 3rd, 2011

    gracias, este disco es muy importante para mi… saludos desde Chile

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