''Däfos'' is a live album by percussionists

Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...

and

Airto Moreira Airto Guimorvan Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer, composer and percussionist. He is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. Coming to prominence in the late 1960s as a membe ...

(credited as "Airto") and vocalist

Flora Purim Flora Purim (born March 6, 1942) is a Brazilian jazz singer known primarily for her work in the jazz fusion style. She became prominent for her part in Return to Forever with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke. She has recorded and performed with ...

. It was recorded at the Japan Center Theatre in San Francisco, California, in 1982 and 1983, and was initially released in 1983 by Reference Recordings. It was later reissued by

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record label ...

as part of their series titled "The World", and is included in the

Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was f ...

Mickey Hart Collection. The reissue includes a bonus track that was recorded in 1984 at

Fantasy Studios Fantasy Studios was a music recording studio in Berkeley, California, United States, at the Zaentz Media Center, known for its recording of award-winning albums including Journey (band), Journey's ''Escape (Journey album), Escape'' and Green Day's ...

in Berkeley, California. The album is percussion-oriented, and presents a musical

ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

of a fictional country called Däfos. When asked about the meaning of the name, Hart replied: "It isn't really anything. It's a place that Airto and I conjured in our minds."

Reception

In a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Lindsay Planer called the album "a collection of ambient soundscapes adorned by an array of indigenous hand and mallet-struck percussion," and noted that it "garnered substantial notice from

audiophile An audiophile (from + ) is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. The audiophile seeks to achieve high sound quality in the audio reproduction of recorded music, typically in a quiet listening space in a room with ...

s" upon its release. Author Oliver Trager described the album as "an established audiophile classic" thanks to its "thrilling, nearly overpowering sonics."

Track listing

# "Dry Sands of the Desert" (Mickey Hart, Steve Douglas, Shabda Khan,

Hamza El Din Hamza El Din (Arabic حمزة علاء الدين) (July 10, 1929 – May 22, 2006) was an Egyptian Nubian composer, oud player, tar player, and vocalist. He was born in southern Egypt and was an internationally known musician of his native reg ...

) – 5:05 # "Ice of the North" (Mickey Hart, Jody Diamond) – 1:20 # "Reunion I / Reunion II / Reunion III" (Bobby Vega, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, Mickey Hart) – 9:52 # "Saudaçao Popular" (Mickey Hart, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, José Lorenzo, Batucaje) – 5:12 # "Psychopomp" (Mickey Hart) – 4:57 (bonus track on reissue) # "Subterranean Caves of Kronos" (Mickey Hart) – 2:12 # "The Gates of Däfos" (Mickey Hart) – 3:55 # "Passage" (Mickey Hart, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, José Lorenzo) – 10:55 * "Psychopomp" was recorded on September 25, 1984, at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California. Remaining tracks were recorded on October 24, 1982, and March 21, 1983, at the Japan Center Theatre in San Francisco, California.

Personnel

Musicians *

– tars (track 1),

saron SARON stands for Swiss Average Rate Overnight and is a measurement of the overnight interest rate of the secured funding market denominated in Swiss Franc (CHF). It is based on transactions and quotes posted in the Swiss repo market, and is ad ...

(track 2), percussion (tracks 3 and 8),

berimbau The berimbau (, borrowed from Kimbundu ''mbirimbau'') is a traditional Angolan musical bow that is commonly used in Brazil. It is also known as ''sekitulege'' among the Baganda and Busoga. It consists of a single-stringed bow attached to a gourd ...

(track 4), vocals (tracks 4 and 8), beam (track 5),

rain stick A rainstick is a long, hollow tube of bamboo or dried cactus that is partially flooded with small pebbles, rice, dried beans, or other hard granular matter. The inside surface of the tube has small pins or thorns arranged helically. When the st ...

(track 5), tubular bells (track 6), the Beast (track 7) *

– percussion (tracks 3, 4, and 8), vocals (track 8) *

– vocals (tracks 3, 4, and 8), percussion (track 8) * Steve Douglas – woodwinds (track 1) * Shabda Khan – tars (track 1) * Daniel Kennedy – tars (track 1) * Mica Katz – tars (track 1) * Khadija Mastah – tars (track 1) * Ray Patch – tars (track 1) * Habib Bishop – tars (track 1) * Brian Crittenden – tars (track 1) *

Jody Diamond Jody Diamond (born Pasadena, California, April 23, 1953) is an American composer, performer, writer, publisher, editor, and educator. She specializes in traditional and new music for Indonesian gamelan and is active internationally as a scholar, ...

– saron (track 2) * Bobby Vega – electric bass (track 3) * Marcos Antonio Dias – vocals (track 4) * Batucaje – percussion, berimbau, backup vocals (tracks 4 and 8) * Jose Lorenzo – percussion, vocals (track 8) Production * Produced by Mickey Hart and Airto Moreira * Recording engineer: Keith O. Johnson * Remote engineer for "Psychopomp" and "Reunion": Tom Flye * Technical assistance: Bob Hodas, Jeff Sterling * Executive producers: J. Tamblyn Henderson, Marcia Martin * Digital transfer and CD mastering:

Joe Gastwirt Joe Gastwirt is an American audio engineer, known for digitally remastering hundreds of CDs and LPs for famous artists, including the Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, Helen Reddy, Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, The Blu ...

* Cover photography: Tony Plewik, John Werner * Däfos logo:

Alton Kelly Alton Kelley (June 17, 1940 – June 1, 2008) was an American artist known for his psychedelic art, in particular his designs for 1960s rock concert posters and album covers. Along with artists Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Victor Moscoso an ...

* Package design: J.E. Tully

References

{{Mickey Hart 1983 live albums Mickey Hart albums Airto Moreira albums Flora Purim albums Percussion music Rykodisc live albums