Shandar
Encyclopedia
Shandar was a French record label specializing in avant-garde material that did seminal work during the 1970 releasing, among others, recordings by Albert Ayler
, Karlheinz Stockhausen
, Steve Reich
, Sunny Murray
, Philip Glass
, Charlemagne Palestine
, La Monte Young
, Alan Silva
, Pandit Pran Nath
, Terry Riley
, Cecil Taylor
and Sun Ra
. The records often carry, besides the name Shandar, also 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 Cecil Taylor
's and Albert Ayler
's Nuits de la Fondation Maeght. Among the works in its catalog, one of the most unusual is La Monte Young
'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.
Must be also mentioned the unique Guitares Dérive
, written and performed live by Vincent Le Masne and Bertrand Porquet, a classical guitar duo, in a very brilliant repetitive way, unusual in that style because of a never systematic writing, in constant harmonic and dynamic evolution.
In spite of the unique material it owned, the label was short lived. According to the magazine The Wire
, 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.
Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...
, Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
, Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
, Sunny Murray
Sunny Murray
James Marcellus Arthur "Sunny" Murray is one of the pioneers of the free jazz style of drumming.-Biography:...
, Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
, Charlemagne Palestine
Charlemagne Palestine
Charlemagne Palestine is an American minimalist composer, performer, and visual artist...
, La Monte Young
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
, Alan Silva
Alan Silva
Alan Silva is an American free jazz double bassist and keyboard player.-Biography:...
, Pandit Pran Nath
Pandit Pran Nath
Pandit Pran Nath was a Hindustani classical singer and teacher of the Kirana gharana , with a successful American career.-Early life:...
, Terry Riley
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
, Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
and Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
. The records often carry, besides the name Shandar, also the logo Shanti
Shanti
Shanti, Santhi or Shanthi means peace, rest, calmness, tranquility, or bliss.The poet T.S. Eliot, in his poem The Waste Land translated it as "The Peace which passeth understanding."...
.
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 Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
's and Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...
's Nuits de la Fondation Maeght. Among the works in its catalog, one of the most unusual is La Monte Young
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young 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.
Must be also mentioned the unique Guitares Dérive
Guitares Dérive
The Guitares Dérive duo was formed in Paris in 1974 by Vincent Le Masne and Bertrand Porquet co-composers and interpreters of their own original music on two classical guitars...
, written and performed live by Vincent Le Masne and Bertrand Porquet, a classical guitar duo, in a very brilliant repetitive way, unusual in that style because of a never systematic writing, in constant harmonic and dynamic evolution.
In spite of the unique material it owned, the label was short lived. According to the magazine The Wire
The Wire (magazine)
The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...
, 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.