Laraaji
Ambient 3: Day of Radiance (2015)
German label Glitterbeat records, better known for its world music releases, has reissued a classic ambient music album titled ‘Ambient 3: Day of Radiance by Laraaji. This remastered recording featured a series of meditative instrumental pieces played by Laraaji on the zither. Imagine Brian Eno’s music played with an acoustic instrument. In fact, this album was produced by Brian Eno and was part of his ambient music series.
Some consider ‘Ambient 3: Day of Radiance’, released n 1980, a precursor of the new age music that became popular in the late 1980s. In an exclusive interview for Glitterbeat’s reissue of ‘Day of Radiance’ Laraaji provided details about this release: “Down the line I noticed that this album was sort of separated from the rest of his (Eno’s) ambient albums, and there was some debate whether this was really “ambient” in relationship to the other albums in the ambient series.”
I met Laraaji many years ago at the Opal Music Evening that took place the Visual Music Festival in Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain). His concert took place at the magical Jameos del Agua volcanic cave auditorium. It was a mesmerizing performance and ‘Ambient 3: Day of Radiance retains that spellbinding sensation.