''Shri Camel'' is an album by

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

and classical

minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

pioneer

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...

. Riley began composing the work in 1975 on commission from West Germany's

Radio Bremen Radio Bremen (RB), Germany's smallest public radio and television broadcaster, is the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (which includes Bremerhaven). With its headquarters sited in Bremen, Radio Brem ...

, and performed an early version of the work in Bremen in May 1976. In 1978 Riley recorded a different version of the piece, separated into four suites, at CBS Studios in San Francisco as the final part of a three album deal with CBS; however, CBS did not release the recording until 1980. For the studio recording, Riley performed the work solo on a modified

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

YC-45D

combo organ A combo organ, so-named and classified by popular culture due to its original intended use by small, touring jazz, pop and dance groups known as "combo bands", as well as some models having "Combo" as part of their brand or model names, is an ele ...

tuned in

just intonation In music, just intonation or pure intonation is the tuning of musical intervals Interval may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Interval (mathematics), a range of numbers ** Partially ordered set#Intervals, its generalization from numbers to ...

and augmented with

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

digital delay A digital delay line is a discrete element in digital filter theory, which allows a signal to be delayed by a number of samples. If the delay is an integer multiple of samples, digital delay lines are often implemented as circular buffers. This mean ...

Critical reception

In 1995, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' wrote: "The popularity of ''In C'' has obscured the very real achievement of, for example, ''Shri Camel'', another keyboard improvisation but one that developed movable rather than merely repeating patterns, a stronger melodic profile and more adventurous harmony, including the use of just intonation."

Track listing

# "Anthem of the Trinity" – 9:25 # "Celestial Valley" - 11:32 # "Across the Lake of the Ancient World" - 7:26 # "Desert of Ice" - 15:13

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shri Camel, A Terry Riley albums 1980 albums Albums produced by Terry Riley CBS Records albums