Laraaji’s new age classic Celestial Vibration to be re-issued with three discs of unreleased tracks

Feast of new age legend’s lost material found on eBay

Laraaji, one of the most prominent names in the new age music revival of the past 15 years, is to have his debut album Celestial Vibration reissued as part of a quadruple box set also featuring a feast of unreleased material.

The Philadelphia-born musician, who plays zither, hammered dulcimer, piano, violin, music sequencer and keyboards on his work, will see US label Numero Group issue the set concentrating on his earliest work, on February 10 2023.

Much of the material was discovered on storage locker acetates found on ebay by a college student with a self-described “record collecting habit”, who saw the artist’s birth name, Edward Larry Gordon and realised he’d discovered unknown Laraaji recordings.

The box also includes a cornucopia of never-before-seen photos of young Laraaji and liner notes by legendary Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, a sometime collaborator who first met Laraaji in New York in the late 1970s. Co-writing the liner notes with Mr. Reid is Numero Group A&R and producer of the landmark Hearing Music by Joanna Brouk and I Am The Center new age anthology (various artists), Douglas Mcgowan.  

Laraaji’s explorations began with a gentle nudge from divine guidance in a Queens pawn shop in 1976. There to pawn his guitar for much-needed cash, he was moved to trade instead for the autoharp/zither in the store window, a 36-string American folk instrument he’d never touched before. After weeks of exploring altered tunings, Laraaji developed a switched on, open tuned, deeply engaging sound he called “Celestial Vibration”. 

He studied Eastern mysticism and played for change on the streets of New York. In 1979, Brian Eno discovered Laraaji improvising in Washington Square Park, and invited him to record the seminal Ambient 3: Day of Radiance. 

Since then Laraaji recorded dozens of solo albums and dozens of collaborations, and plays continually at festivals, mindful conferences, yoga centres and inner imaginary spaces.

In 2017, Numero Group presented Laraaji’s rhythm and bliss masterwork Vision Songs Vol 1 (recorded 1984) and previously-unknown episodes of his incredible 1980s cable access program Celestrana.