Michael Ranta
American percussionist (born 1942 in Duluth, Minnesota) based in German. From 1973-1979 he was prolific with concerts, recordings, sessions and other works. Since 1979 he settled down as the resident composer, percussionist, and instrument handler, at Asian Sound in Cologne.
American percussionist (born 1942 in Duluth, Minnesota) based in German. From 1973-1979 he was prolific with concerts, recordings, sessions and other works. Since 1979 he settled down as the resident composer, percussionist, and instrument handler, at Asian Sound in Cologne.
Transits: Volume 1
Big tip! American percussionist and composer Michael Ranta is a legendary figure who has worked with some of the most significant names of 20th century music but despite this and impressive body of work of his own, he has remained an obscure figure..…
Multiple Musics
**500 copies** Previously unreleased live recording from the Ranta archives. The creative duo of Michael Ranta and Takehisa Kosugi performed many times in the 1970’s and 1980’s. On this outstanding performance, recorded at the Japanese Culture Instit…
The Great Wall / Chanta Khat
* Original 1991 edition on Ranta's own Asian Sound Records imprint * Michael Ranta has collaborated with Takehisa Kosugi, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Jean-Claude Eloy, Conny Plank, Mike Lewis, and Hartmut Geerken, just to name a few. He was also assistant to H…
Azabu
Edition of 500. CD and 8 page booklet in gatefold cardboard sleeve * Even though only being fully terminated 50 years after its conception, 'Azabu' can be regarded as the starting point of Michael Ranta’s creative self-discovery. The recordings that …
MU V / MU VI
Original 1984 copy of self produced studio album from 1984. Recorded and mixed at Conny’s Studio. Insane instrumentation, expanding the boundaries of percussion. Michael Ranta is an american percussionist based in Cologne since early seventies. Known…
Improvisation Sep. 1975
** Limited edition of 125 copies with mounted text on front and back (as the original 1975 LP), silkscreened by Alan Sherry. This edition includes two inserts, a Japanese text sheet and the English text, translated by Alan Cummings ** Toshi Ichiyanag…
Yüen Shan
Michael Ranta is one of those rare composers able to organically melt his wide artistic span into a singular but yet diverse universe morphing his rich vocabulary as a percussionist with the Oriental esoteric tradition, the psychedelic underground an…
Taiwan Years
A stunning journey into the archives of one of the most fascinating composers / percussionists working today, Michael Ranta’s Taiwan Years, issued by Metaphon, is nothing short of a revelation, seamlessly binding acoustic interventions with a subtle …
Au Delà
Au-delà is a collaborative record by La Scie Dorée and Meakusma. It features eight pieces of music by La Scie Dorée affiliates. For the 2018 Meakusma Festival, La Scie Dorée and Meakusma set up a collaboration that brought performances by Timo Van Lu…
Die Mauer
**500 copies** Die Mauer is a collection of previously unreleased music composed, performed and recorded by Michael Ranta in 1988/1989 for a ballet choreographed by Philippe Talard. CD is housed in a 6-panel fold out sleeve.
Mu
** Last copies... ** Previously unreleased studio material from 1970 recorded a few months after the legendary Wired session. Hardboard linen CD box contains 2 CDs and a 28 page booklet with biography, text and notes (in Dutch, German and English) fr…
Live in Kabul 1976 (Art Edition)
Art Edition with an additional LP, issued in 26 copies onlyThe highly influential Sagittarius A Star label return with a prime piece of Eastern-tinged Improviation dated 1976 from Hartmut Geerken and Michael Ranta... then in Nov. 1976 we started our…
Heliopolar Egg Live in Kabul 1976
The highly influential Sagittarius A Star label return with a prime piece of Eastern-tinged Improviation dated 1976 from Hartmut Geerken and Michael Ranta... then in Nov. 1976 we started our Far East Tour from Kabul to Teheran, New Delhi, Calcutta, …
The Heliopolar Egg
Documentary recordings of Hartmut Geerken and Michael Ranta’s November and December 1976 tour of the Middle East and East Asia. Geerken is known for his long relationship with Sun Ra (including compiling a discography), but he wears many other hats t…
Yuen Shan
CD edition. Mindblowing!!! A gorgeously dreamlike album, suspended in a timeless, spiritually resonant space ... Yuen Shan (Round Mountain in Chinese) was conceived in 1972 and finalized in 2014. It’s a musical cosmogony in four cycles based on diff…
Galaxies full-electro
Galaxies' (Warsaw version), electro-acoustic alone. Fully electro-acoustic version of Anâhata / Galaxies realized on the composer's personal computer from the original electro-acoustic recordings of this work.Electronic music studios where the origin…
Improvisation Sep. 1975
Originally released on the Iskra label in 1975, Improvisation Sep. 1975 is a mind-bending slice of drone improv from two of Japan's post-war heavyweights; former John Cage student, Juilliard graduate, and Yoko Ono's former husband, Toshi Ichiyanagi, …
West Africa Tour (Sierra Leone, Liberia & Guinea), April 1985
special box in 26 copies, made in high quality leather various African objects/artworks from various African tribes, stunning booklet with many rare photos (30) of the Tour (mostly color and b&w) cola nuts (to break the colanut with somebody african …
Anahata (1984-86)
Subtitled: Primordial Vibration / Sound ceremonial with a contemplative character. Composed in 1983-1986. Sound ceremonial with a contemplative character for two voices of Japanese Buddhist monks (traditional Shômyô techniques - traditional temple ch…
Yo-In (1980)
First world publication for the seminal Yo-In (1980) an electro-acoustic work produced in Japan and revisited by the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris in 1981. “Sound Theater for an imaginary rite”. Yo-Inleads to a sort of “celebration-ritual…