EXOTICA Kagel | Deutsche Grammophon

Born in Buenos Aires to Jewish parents who had fled political persecution in Russia following the October Revolution, Mauricio Kagel (1931–2008) came of age during the most dynamic sociopolitical periods in Argentina’s history. 

While Exotica is remarkably ahead of its time, it is equally attuned to the cultural landscape of the early 1970s. As the hippie trail threaded its way across the globe, sitars, gongs, bamboo flutes, gamelans and tuned percussion increasingly found their way into popular and avant-garde music from Europe and the US. 

Exotica – utilizing more than 200 instruments from around the globe – plays like a joyous comedy in five acts. Similar to Shakespeare and Beckett, Kagel masterfully deploys humour as a vehicle for critique, holding a glaring mirror to the cultural landscape of his time. 

The vinyl was mastered and cut from the original analogue 2-track master tapes by Rainer Maillard and Sidney Claire Meyer at Emil Berliner Studios and features original artwork and a newly designed, beautifully crafted collector’s sleeve. It is released as a limited and numbered edition on 28 August and is now available for exclusive pre-order in the DG store.