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Aka Moon's overall sound is a mixture of Jazz , Rock , World Music , and Avant-garde . They could be compared musically and philosophically with the M-Base movement and artists such as M-Base founder Steve Coleman , Belgian ensemble Octurn , Stéphane Payen's Thôt , Vijay Iyer , and Rudresh Mahanthappa to name a few.

Their first few albums released in the early 90s (''Aka Moon'', ''Rebirth'', and ''Live at Kaai'') featured the original trio configuration. In the mid-90s, they expanded incorporating Eastern elements, integrating musicians from India into their music. ''Akasha Vol.1'' and ''Akasha Vol. 2'' were released and included instrumentation such as Flute , Tabla , and Mridangam , adding further dimension to their work.

They changed the group configuration again in 1997 with the release of three albums. ''Ganesh'' had an eastern tone similar to the Akasha albums, but added were the talents of two guitarists, notably Marc Ducret . ''Elohim'' featured a more electric lineup with vocalist David Linx on some tracks. They also started working more with the concept of reoccuring themes. ''Live At Vooruit'' featured the trio with a well-known percussionist from Senegal , Doudou N'Diaye Rose , and several members of his family.

In the late 90s, the group endeavored to produce a trilogy of albums that were all designed to loosely intertwine, ''Invisible Mother'', ''Invisible Sun'', and ''Invisible Moon''. The concept was based around the Chinese I Ching (book of changes). ''Invisible Mother'' has the trio playing with the Ictus Ensemble , a European chamber band. The music showcases a dark, chamber string-quartet side of the band and lays the groundwork for the follow-up albums in the trilogy. Invisible Sun is comprised of an 11-piece big band ensemble. Invisible Moon features Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman and has a strong World Music vibe. Aka Moon revisits and rearranges several themes found in different spots throughout the trilogy.

''In Real Time'' was released in 2001, and was originally music composed for a ballet. ''Guitars'' was released in 2002 which comprises the trio playing with 3 guitarists, including , Bill Frisell , and Paco Di Lucia .

They are expected to release a new album with Magic Malik in 2006.

Aka Moon is a leading band of an entire modern Jazz movement in Belgium with artists like Reve D’Elephant Orchestra , La Grande Formation , Slang , Kris Defoort , Pierre Van Dormael , Octurn , Maak's Spirit , and others.


DISCOGRAPHY

On Carbon 7 Records :

On De Werf Records :


REFERENCES