Suns of Arqa

by Jason Ankeny
The world music collective Suns of Arqa was led by founder and mentor Michael Wadada; since the release of the groups 1979 debut LP Revenge of the Mozabites, some 200 members from across the globe passed through its ranks, many of them met by Wadada during his extensive travels and sharing his interest in indigenous, tribal, folk and classical music traditions. In addition to subsequent LPs including 1980s Wadada Magic, 1982s India? and 1984s Ark of the Arqans, the Suns of Arqa regularly backed dub legend Prince Far I, even performing at his final concert (captured on the Live with Prince Far-I LP). With the masterful Land of a Thousand Churches, Wadada began issuing the groups material on his own Arka Sound label; a flurry of releases followed, among them Alap-Joe-Jhala, Jaggernaut (Whirling Dub) and Shabda. The advent of the World Wide Web also brought a major new dimension to the Suns of Arqa aesthetic, with the collectives website (http://www.straightline.co.uk/arqa/globnet.html) actively soliciting music, lyrics, remixes and other creative contibutions for future projects, expanding their global network of particpants further than ever before.