View source for Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism

{{Infobox album
| name       = Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism
| type       = Album
| artist     = [[Jon Hassell]]
| cover      = Aka_darbari_java_artwork.jpg|border=yes
| alt        =
| released   = 1983
| recorded   = 1982
| venue      =
| studio     = Grant Avenue Studios, [[Hamilton, Ontario]], [[Canada]]
| genre      = [[World music|World]], [[Ambient music|ambient]]
| length     = 44:10
| label      = [[EG Records|Editions EG]] <small>EGED 31</small>
| producer   = Jon Hassell, [[Daniel Lanois]]
| chronology = [[Jon Hassell]]
| prev_title = [[Dream Theory in Malaya]]
| prev_year  = 1981
| next_title = [[Power Spot]]
| next_year  = 1986
}}

'''''Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism''''' is a 1983 album by American trumpet player and composer [[Jon Hassell]], released on the label [[EG Records|Editions EG]]. It was co-produced by [[Daniel Lanois]] and features Abdou M'Boup on drums.<ref name="allmusic"/>

==Background==
The album features Hassell manipulating and looping fragments of [[sample (music)|sampled]] sound.<ref name="toop">{{cite book |last1=Toop |first1=David |title=Oceans of Sound: Ambient sound and radical listening in the age of communication |date=2018 |publisher=Serpent's Tail |isbn=9781788161046 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RE9KDwAAQBAJ&q=aka+darbari+java |accessdate=31 December 2019}}</ref> In the liner notes, Hassell describes the album as "a proposal for a 'coffee-colored' classical music of the future."<ref name="vv"/>

The cover painting is by Mati Klarwein.<ref name="allmusic"/>

==Reception==
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web |last1=Olewnick |first1=Brian |title=Review: Aka/Darbari/Java - Jon Hassell |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/aka-darbari-java-mw0000266848 |website=AllMusic |accessdate=30 December 2019}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
| rev2score = A−<ref name="vv">{{cite web |last1=Christgau |first1=Robert |title=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Aug. 30, 1983 |url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv8-83.php |website=The Village Voice |accessdate=30 December 2019}}</ref>
}}

[[AllMusic]]'s Brian Olewnick described the album as "an insinuating blend of early-'80s high tech with ancient Southeast Asia," calling it "an early high-water mark at the juncture between [[world music|world]] and [[ambient music]]s."<ref name="allmusic"/> For ''[[The Village Voice]]'', [[Robert Christgau]] called it "dandy background music--more fluid and organic than ''[[Dream Theory in Malaya]]'' if also more amorphous than his first [[Brian Eno|Eno]] collaboration."<ref name="vv"/>

In his 1995 book ''[[Ocean of Sound]]'', [[David Toop]] writes that on ''Aka/Darbari/Java'' "the perfume of ethnopoetics was supplemented by parallels with literature and the advanced technology of [[hyperreality]]."<ref name="toop"/>

==Tracklist==
All tracks composed by Jon Hassell unless otherwise noted.
#"Empire I" - 2:00
#"Empire II" (Hassell, [[Daniel Lanois]]) - 4:53
#"Empire III" - 7:09
#"Empire IV" - 5:13
#"Empire V" - 3:40
#"Darbari Extension I" - 13:52
#"Darbari Extension II" - 7:23

==Personnel==
*[[Jon Hassell]] - trumpet, keyed voices and instruments, treatments, producer
*[[Daniel Lanois]] - recording engineer, mixing and treatments, co-producer
*Abdou M'Boup - drums
*[[Bob Lanois]], [[Michael Brook]], John Forbes - assistance (Toronto) 
*Bruno Planet - drum recording engineer (Paris)
*[[Greg Calbi]] - mastering
*Jean-Michel Reusser - project coordinator
*[[Mati Klarwein]] - artwork
*Paula Greif - design
*Wynn Dan - design assistant

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Jon Hassell}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1983 albums]]
[[Category:Jon Hassell albums]]
[[Category:E.G. Records albums]]
[[Category:Albums with cover art by Mati Klarwein]]