Laurel, Alicia Bay -& Ramon Sender Barayon-
Songs From Being Of The Sun
This wild and charming 1973 recording of Alicia Bay Laurel and Ramón Sender Barayón singing and playing their original music from their book 'Being Of The Sun,' opens a sonic window on the bygone California commune days of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The tracks were originally recorded by Ramón Sender Barayón on a Sony TC 854-4 four track reel-to-reel tape recorder, except for 'Only Thou,' which he recorded in 1968, and the two Sanskrit chants, which he recorded digitally in 2013. Ramón Sender Barayón isn't just an occasional or ordinary session musician: he is a famous avant-garde composer - one of the founders of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, and co-inventor of the Buchla Box, one of the earliest synthesizers. Alicia produced this CD, which included organizing the digitizing of the original tape by Maggi Payne, Chairman of the Music Department at Mills College, where Ramón's tapes are archived, and the editing, mixing, mastering and additional recording by Ron Grant of Film Music Arts in Los Angeles in 2013. Illustrations and music are from the book 'Being Of The Sun' (Harper & Row, 1973), which Alicia and Ramón co-wrote, and in which Ramón's sheet music for these songs - and explanations of the modes and scales - can be found. Alicia created the packaging design using elements from the book 'Being Of The Sun,' plus additional graphics and liner notes.