Shandar was a French record label specializing in avant-garde material that did seminal work during the 1970s releasing, among others, recordings by

Albert Ayler Albert Ayler (; July 13, 1936 – November 25, 1970) was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and composer. After early experience playing rhythm and blues and bebop, Ayler began recording music during the free jazz era of the 1960s. Ho ...

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, Richard Horowitz,

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and

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. The records often carry, besides the name Shandar, the logo ''Shanti''. The label was financed by Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, creators of the Maeght Foundation which organized modern art exhibitions and concerts. Consequently, much of the label's catalog consists of recordings of Maeght-sponsored concerts, as in the cases of

's and

's '' Nuits de la Fondation Maeght''. Among the works in its catalog, one of the most unusual is

's '' Dream House 78' 17"'', containing the music for one of Young's installations, the Dream House: both sides were almost 40 minutes long for a total duration of 78' 17", a length unheard of at the time but made necessary by the nature of the work. The label also released '' Guitares Dérive'', written and performed live by the classical guitar duo Vincent Le Masne and Bertrand Porquet. In spite of the unique material it owned, the label was short-lived. According to the magazine ''

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'', a cellar beneath an art gallery in 40 Rue Mazarine in Paris where founders Daniel Caux and Chantal Darcy worked was flooded in 1979, damaging irreparably both vinyl stocks and recordings. The gallery closed soon thereafter and Shandar vanished. Some of its catalog was subsequently bought by other small labels and is therefore still available, but much of it has disappeared.

References

Ed Maurer's Discography of Shandar Records
* Daniel Caux biography * January 3, 2003 issue of ''

'' {{Authority control French record labels