“Superstar techno DJ”, “electronic music wizard”: Jeff Mills, in a concert of ritualistic power at the archeological site of Delos, together with Indo-French tabla player Prabhu Edouard, and French keyboardist Jean-Phi Dary. A pioneering music ensemble in a world premiere performance – presented on the Onassis Channel on YouTube on January 20, 2022 – in which improvisation is the order of the day, set against the inimitable backdrop of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, out in the Cycladic light and air.
From the underground Detroit club scene in the early ’80s right through to the audio-visual feast of an experience offered up by his most recent conceptual appearances at cinemas, galleries, and museums (including the Louvre), Jeff Mills has proven himself a contemporary pioneer of dance culture. He has rightfully won the complete respect of everyone, even those with only a passing familiarity with what has generally come to be called electronic music, which he often mixes with jazz.
Mills has joined forces with the keyboardist Jean-Phi Dary, and the tabla player Prabhu Edouard to form “Tomorrow Comes the Harvest” – a pioneering music ensemble that has entranced the globe with its musically unexpected twists and turns, its improvised composition of sounds that go above and beyond the established limits of a DJ set.
On the invitation of the Onassis Foundation, these three musicians are travelling to the mythic isle of Delos to play a concert – without a live audience, but filled with the light and air of the Mediterranean – at the Temple of Isis. This mystical place seems to stir and come back to life under the musical spells cast by Mills. The small Doric temple, surrounded by the waters of the Aegean, is transformed by sounds created in the here and now.
After this experience, it is hard to imagine that each of us are the same people (mentally) we were before we traveled to Delos. I’m not sure exactly what, but I have the sense that something was advanced and elevated. Jeff Mills
This musical journey was filmed by the director Christos Sarris to be screened on the Onassis Channel on YouTube.
After Charlotte de Witte at Ancient Messene, here comes a new audio-visual experience that unfolds at a timeless, monumental site and invites us to celebrate a renewed zest for life.
Music by Jeff Mills, Jean-Philippe Dary, and Prabhu Edouard
© 2022 Axis Records all rights are reserved
Photographs: Pinelopi Gerasimou