• A vinyl record sleeve for the album 'Salaht' by the artist Image, featuring a desert dune landscape in muted beige and brown tones. The left side has a white vertical paper band with the artist's name in Arabic and English, and the Image Records logo is visible in the top right corner.

Mioto Ikeno

Salaht

Regular price $90.00
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SLEEVE
VG+
MEDIA
  • NM-
YEAr
  • 1986
COUNTRY
Japan
extras
  • Obi, Insert, Only Pressing
IF YOU LIKE
  • Jazz
  • Pop
  • Electronic
  • New Age
  • Piano Jazz
  • Hiroshi Yoshimura
  • Yasuaki Shimizu
  • Jon Hassell

Released in 1986 on the Japanese Jet Stream label (known for its travel-inspired Image series tied to the iconic FM Tokyo radio program), Salaht (砂漠 / Salaht) is a captivating, under-the-radar gem of Japanese environmental new age and fourth-world ambient music. Rather than documenting authentic Middle Eastern folk traditions, pianist and composer Mioto Ikeno conjures an impressionistic, cinematic vision of the Arabian desert. Delicate, resonant acoustic piano motifs weave through lush 1980s synthesizer pads, field recordings of sweeping desert winds and bustling street markets, Arabic vocal snippets, and even an arrangement of the classic Palestinian song "Zahrat Al-Madaain". Especially on its more stoic, avant-garde second side, the album balances nostalgic Japanese kankyō ongaku (environmental music) warmth with an enigmatic, mirage-like mystique.