july 15, 1972

Takehisa Kosugi was a hippie who become an avantgarde composer. Born in Tokyo in 1938, and graduated in 1962 at the Tokyo University of Arts, Kosugi founded the Japanese equivalent of the Fluxus movement, called Group Ongaku, a group devoted to improvisation and multi-media performances. In 1969 he formed the Taj Mahal Travellers, a psychedelic-rock group that played lengthy improvised jams that can be summarized in three principles: a Far-eastern approach to music as a living organism, an intense electronic processing of instruments and voices, a semi-mathematical overlapping of frequencies. Basically LaMonte Young on acid. Kosugi mainly played violin. He was on the road with this group between 1971 and 1972, traveling in a Volkswagen minivan from Holland to the Taj Mahal itself. Two albums were made out of that experience: 'Taj-Mahal Travellers' including this release, also known as 'July 15 1972'. Unavailable on CD for a considerable time, this important album now enjoys a timely reissue on the Phoenix label.