**Edition of 200 in gatefold PVC sleeve and booklet** LP reissue of the cassette edition "Solar Music Tent" documenting an installation and performance in Hagen, Germany, originally released by Joe Jones in 1982 in an edition of 10 copies. From the early 1980s onwards, Joe Jones released a handful of self-recorded music machine performances on tape under his own record label "Tone-Deaf Music". Most tapes came in a standard xeroxed sleeve with a handwritten title and instrument listing. A few, including "Solar Music Tent", were released in combination with a book: The cassette was included in a red ring binder that held a handwritten photo documentation of the performance of the same name at Karl-Ernst-Osthaus-Museum in Hagen on April 1, 1982, a handwritten music notebook, and an invitation card. The recording itself was titled "Solar Music #5" and was made on March 16, 1982, with the instrument ensemble of the Solar Music Tent at Jones' apartment in Düsseldorf.
Like the previous Jones releases on Edition Telemark, this reissue is limited to 200 copies and comes in a gate-fold PVC sleeve: The right-hand side holds the LP, the left-hand side holds A4-sized facsimiles of all artwork that was included in the original edition.
"After my first experience of using solar energy in my music, I found it difficult to go back to making battery powered pieces. Playing with the subtle changes that occured in the sounds produced by the different combinations of solar cells and motors, under a constant light source (light bulb), selecting one, then taking this combination out into the sun light, where the movement of the earth, cloud formations, and wind, slowly and sometimes radically changed the sounds. The voltage being higher in direct sunlight and lower when cloud formations cast shadows over the solar cells. The wind plays it's part by gently or not so gently moving the motors or hanging instruments, causing them to swing. The combination of all these factors create the solar music for that particular day. From complete density of sound in a cloudless sky at mid-day to silence in a heavy sky or total silence at sun down.The first Solar Music Piece was hand made chimes 1977, Harlekin Art, Wiesbaden. This was immediately followed by hanging zitars, to take advantage of their multi-string sound capacity. The "Solar Zitar" pieces could be hung outside or in a window, the sun and wind creating their own composition. This was a development of an earlier idea, 1964, but could not be completed because of the cost of material at that time. Many Music Machines are placed in a forest, drums, zitars, toy pianos, etc. The motors are powered by solar cells. As the sun rises the instruments start to play, and as the sun gets stronger, louder, clouds passing by change the sound also. As the sun sets, the forest once more becomes silent till the next morning when the sun rises again." Joe Jones
