AHORA MAZDA

Ahora Mazda was a well known band in the dutch underground scene in the late nineteen sixties. They played long elongated sets with improvised music. It was once described by a critic as "Avant-garde jazz/pop with a rhythm & blues slant" and that is a good description. Influences for the music are Jimi Hendrix, The Mothers of Invention, Captain Beefheart, but also world music. The latter can be heard, for instance, in their choice of several percussive instruments. Another main feature is the flute, which is wonderfully played by Rob van Wageningen.

On their one and only album, they decided not to play the elongated sets, but more conveniently arranged songs. This doesn't mean you get easy to swallow music. The free form music still exists, as can be heard in tracks like "Oranje Vrijstaat", the most avant-garde of the album or in the second half of "Spacy Tracy" with a long Hendrix-like guitar solo and a very spacy ending. More structured are the haunting "Timeless Dream" and "Power". "Fallen Tree" is the most rocking track of the album with a heavy guitar solo and excellent flute playing. On "Fantasio" several percussion instruments are used.

On the CD reissue five bonus tracks are added. These give away some of the magic from the original album. Although it looks like they are tracks, they a more sort of random chosen parts from a studio session. They may give some insight in how a concert of Ahora Mazda might have sounded like, but for me they are not so interesting.

In conclusion, this is a psychedelic masterpiece from the Netherlands. This album, together with Group 1850's "Paradise Now" (1969) and Surprieze's "Zeer Oude Klanken en Heel Nieuwe Geluiden" (1972) are the top three of psychedelic rock from this country. It is recommended to everyone with a love for some old psychedelic rock. Especially when you want some jazz added to the mix.