Kagel: Exotica (Vinyl) – Mauricio Kagel

Album #5 in the brand-new vinyl series featuring groundbreaking recordings by the musical avant-garde.

Mauricio Kagel (1931–2008) was born in Buenos Aires to Jewish parents. His family had fled to Argentina from Russia to escape political persecution following the October Revolution. Kagel grew up during one of the most dynamic socio-political periods in Argentine history.

Although ‘Exotica’ is remarkably ahead of its time, it is equally in tune with the cultural landscape of the early 1970s. As the Hippie Trail made its way around the globe, sitars, gongs, bamboo flutes, gamelans, and tuned percussion instruments increasingly found their way into pop and avant-garde music in Europe and the U.S.

Exotica—featuring more than 200 instruments from around the world—unfolds like a cheerful comedy in five acts. Much like Shakespeare and Beckett, Kagel masterfully employs humor as a means of critique, holding up a stark mirror to the cultural landscape of his time.

Mastered and edited from the original analog track master tapes by Rainer Maillard and Sidney Claire Meyer at Emil Berliner Studios.

Limited and numbered edition with original artwork and a newly designed, beautifully crafted collector’s cover featuring new liner notes by Bradford Bailey, pressed on 180-gram vinyl.