Laraaji & Kramer Baptismal

The 'Baptismal' project started out when Kramer invited me to collaborate with him on a project, and Itend to think in terms of what the listeners are open to hearing these days. In my mind was a recordingthat let the listeners leave the busy mind generated by mainstream media, so I came up with the idea ofa baptism, immersive kind of LP in which the listener would Become totally present with the music. Isuggested to Kramer the title 'Baptismal', and that the tracks would be called 'Gedunk', a comicalreference to the idea of being immersed in water, my own baptism as a child in the Christian faith, theBaptist church. I started by sending Kramer several tracks of Zither-centric music in the length ofindividual LP sides. Kramer would complement the tracks with plush drones and return it to me. Then wewould discuss. Soon we had enough material to move toward completing the album. I performed withpiano keyboard, ZITHER and voice. We collaborated entirely by sending audio files back and forth viaonline transfer. We haven't had physical contact at all during the project, but it went smoothly with someminor suggestions to help us to shape up our navigation til we finally arrived. The album cover wassuggested by Kramer, which I think is very appropriate. The project started in 2022. Mark Kramer, an oldyoung friend. We connected in New York City when he was here in the 80s.-Laraaji, Jan. 2023I met Laraaji by chance in NYC's Central Park one fine summer day in 1985. I'd been thinking about thewisdom vs. the futility of starting my own record company a lot in those days, and as I walked throughone of the parks many tunnels, I heard what I'd recognized to be Laraaji's 'Day of Radiance' playing onwhat i'd assumed to be someone's beatbox. I thought to myself, "How nice it is to be alive in NYC in 1985on a day like this in Central Park and knowing that someone loves this wondrous LP from Eno's ObscureRecords label as much as I do."But when I emerged from the tunnel I saw not a beatbo...