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LP
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VLG 004LP
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The Village presents the debut album by Neo Griot & The Afrocentric Prince. Neo Griot & The Afrocentric Prince is a project from duo of Griot A.K. Toney and Jali/Musician Jira, a collaboration of poetry, story, and music paying homage to the past and present. Through oral tradition music using Jazz and African instruments as accompaniment, Neo Griot and the Afrocentric Prince take you on a journey throughout the universe with poetry as the narrator. The debut album features a moving array of styles and inspirations. It also features some of the strongest up and coming young musicians of Los Angeles. Sharada Shashidhar, Devin Daniels, Mekala Session and Black Nile are prominently playing throughout the project. The Village is a record label based in Los Angeles dedicated to releasing live and studio recordings of west-coast spiritual jazz, primarily centered around the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra and the legacy of Horace Tapscott. The team behind The Village includes musicians in the current iteration of PAPA, Mekala Session, and their close peers. The current lineup of the Ark consists of over 40 rotating musicians, many of whom have been in the ensemble since the '70s, alongside younger musicians in the early stages of their careers. As the Ark's official label, our goal is to distribute unreleased music into the world in a way that supports PAPA's continued efforts.
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2LP
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VLG 006LP
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In 1961, a giant awoke in South Central Los Angeles: a musically radical, deep-rooted, politically engaged band, its members drawn from the community it represented and served, and its music composed by them alone -- The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. The brainchild of pianist and composer Horace Tapscott, the Arkestra was intended to preserve Black music, nurture Black musicians, and above all contribute positively to community building in South Central LA. 60 Years celebrates six decades of his radical and uplifting musical and social vision. Digging deep into the Arkestra's archives, the album gathers breath-taking unreleased material, including previously unheard compositions, from every stage of the band's development -- from Tapscott's earliest iterations of the group, recording at home in 1961, to the current incarnation of the band, led by the new generation of young musicians. Tapscott passed on in 1999, but the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra was built to outlast him: over more than half a century it has stayed true to its roots and to Tapscott's vision, welcoming multiple generations of players into its fold, and celebrating their music. And with current leader Mekala Session -- son of the Arkestra's veteran altoist Michael Session -- at the helm, the Ark is still going strong. 60 Years selects a song from every decade of its life, show-casing a musical family tree that includes renowned musicians such as Arthur Blythe, Dwight Trible, Phil Ranelin, Butch Morris, Kamau Daáood, Sonjia Maia Harper, Nate Morgan, Linda Hill, Adele Sebastian, Michael Session, Jesse Sharps and of course the late, great Horace Tapscott himself. Remastered from archival sources by the Arkestra's longstanding engineer Wayne Peet, 60 Years is presented by The Village -- a label operated by members of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. With archival photographs documenting the Arkestra's history, the album arrives with liner notes featuring track-by-track commentary from Arkestra members past and present. For decades, Tapscott's musical brilliance and the majesty of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra was almost unknown outside South Central. 60 Years is the sound of all this history emerging at last, and also of history in the making. To quote Zekkeraya El-Megharbel, Arkestra conductor and trombonist: "There's more to be said, but words feel like they don't do the job."
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