THE INTERNATIONAL WAITAWHILE SUN RA CONVENTION AUDIO DOCUMENT

The International Waitawhile Sun Ra convention is a yearly festival in which various artists pay tribute to the late Sun Ra. Past editions have been held in Germany, Switzerland, and even in Egypt.

The good news is that tthere's a 5 CD box to be released with audio material from recent Sun Ra conventions.

You can find more info here:

www.hybriden-verlag.de

This sure sounds like a beautiful project, and it will be released in a limited edition of 75 copies, so you shouldn't wait too long if you want to order it.

 

disc one

• the 6th international waitawhile sun ra convention 1999
• participants: detlef thiel, marion schole, anton kuchelmeister, trudy morse, suso navarrete, sigi hauff, hartmut geerken
• trudy morse reciting 3 poems by sun ra with sun ra's "lanquidity"
  blind man (8:19)
  tell me (6:30)
  the desperate soul (8:10)
• trudy morse reciting with hartmut geerken on sun ra's sun harp
  improvisation (25:08)
• recorded by hartmut geerken, may 30, 1999
• edited by suso navarrete,valencia/spain

disc two 

• the 9th international sun ra convention 2002
• sanyang/gambia/west africa, march 8 - 26, 2002
• participants: rudie kagie, detlef thiel, sigi hauff, hartmut geerken, markku salo
  gambian bush in rheakunda /sanyang 'round midnight with bats, birds & sunny I (2:13) 
  the gambian poet edrissa ken joof reads sun ra's poem "cosmic standards" (0:55) 
  the two griots malang kamara & djalimadi suso from gunjur/gambia sing a song of praise to sun ra on the islamic new year's day (20:44) 
  children of sanyang sing "space is the place" (1:41) 
  edrissa ken joof reads sun ra's poem "other gods have i heard of" (1:26)
• a palmwine version of "space is the place" with gambian & guinean musicians & hartmut geerken on a turkish flute 
  gambian bush in rheakunda/sanyang 'round midnight with bats, birds & sunny II (2:58) 
  children of sanyang with hartmut geerken "nuclear war" (1:08) 
  another palmwine version of "space is the place" (1:08) 
  the sun ra tribute trio I (yaya diobaté/balafon, mohammad/bolongbato, mohammad/kongoma) from conakry/guinea (2:37) 
  "space is the place" with the sun ra tribute trio plus omar & sarja on djembe (3:00) 
  the sun ra tribute trio II (7:38) 
  rudie kagie with sanyang children "space is the place" I (0.47) 
  edrissa ken joff reads sun ra's poem "cosmic potential" (1:44) 
  the sun ra tribute trio III (6:23) 
  rudie kagie with sanyang children "space is the place" II (0:41)
• recorded & edited by hartmut geerken
• originally produced by waitawhile herrsching, redrudie publications
• amsterdam & swumfsl wiesbaden april 2002
• transfer: roman bunka

disc three

• the 10th international waitawhile sun ra convention 2003
• may 31 - june 1, 2003
• participants: detlef thiel, suso navarrete, chris trent, joy mather, ben franklin, bernd hefele, anton kuchelmeister, malcolm green, trudy morse, alexander johnson, grace yoon, roman bunka, sigi hauff, hartmut geerken
  "strange herrschings" a tribute to sun ra's album "strange strings" with hartmut geerken (sun ra's sun harp, comp.), malcolm green (swarmandal), chris trent (violin), joy mather (turtle string from marocco), suso navarrete (g), ben franklin (afghan string instrument), detlef thiel (kora, baglama), bernd hefele (tuba, baglama, coconut string), birds (birds)
• recorded by hartmut geerken, open air may 31, 2003
• edited by suso navarrete, valencia/spain

disc four

• the 13th international waitawhile sun ra convention 2006
• "sounds from outer space"
• may 26 - 28, 2006
• participants: chris trent, joy mather, suso navarrete, eulalia martin, detlef thiel, bernd hefele, chris hilling, alexander johnson, rudie kagie, anton kuchelmeister, salah ragab, peter dennett, trudy morse, don moye, grete wehmeyer, roman bunka, grace yoon, volker müller, sigi hauff, hartmut geerken
  recitation by trudy morse with hartmut geerken (sun ra's sun harp, rainmaker) 
  "solar gongation" by members of the convention (rec. may 27, 2006) 
  closing speach by rudie kagie in dutch simultaneously translated into german by hartmut geerken. incomplete because of a recording failure, but published in account of its unquestionable interest 
  "outer space ham session under the stars" by members of the convention (rec. may 28, 2006)
• recorded by hartmut geerken
• edited, mixed and published by suso navarrete, valencia/spain 2006

disc five 

• the 13th international waitawhile sun ra convention 2006 [cont.]
  "trudy morse speaks" (with birds, hartmut 'hartman' geerken, sigi hauff, detlef thiel, suso navarrete) about 'mit', visit to morton street, bottom line, on the road, philadelphia-birmingham, sun ra's death in hospital, village vanguard, in love with marshall allen, munich 1992, 'mit' multimedia lab, cecil taylor, poetry, mikel ray, chopin prelude, immeasurable equation, pythagoras... (49:30)
• rec. may 30, 2006 by hartmut geerken