Do’ah

Representing the mixed vision of multi-instrumentalists/composers Randy Armstrong and Ken LaRoche, Do’ah (also: Do’ah: World Music Ensemble) was among the first rings under western culture to mix musical traditions and instrumentation from around the world. Devotees from the Baha’I religious beliefs, Armstrong and LaRoche utilized music as a manifestation because of their message of tranquil coexistence. Produced in 1974, Do’ah originally came together being a duo. Ohio-born Armstrong acquired previously played electric guitar with rock and roll and pop rings in the Midwest. Throughout a tour of New Britain, he fell deeply in love with the spot and imagined rendering it his house. Moving towards the Light Mountains of New Hampshire, Armstrong begun to look for music artists with whom to try out. Compiling a summary of over 100 music artists, he packed his VW bus and proceeded to go off searching for a musical partner. Armstrong’s search led him to Peterborough, New Hampshire-born Ken LaRoche, a classically educated flautist who acquired performed with the brand new Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra while still in senior high school. His musical passions, however, were incredibly eclectic. When Armstrong arrived at his doorstep, he was dealing with an avant-garde jazz music group. Agreeing to pool their assets, Armstrong and LaRoche had taken their name, Do’ah, from an Arabic/Persian phrase signifying a contact to prayer, deep breathing, chanting, and worship. The group added the “h” to its name in 1987 in order to avoid dilemma with punk rock-band D.O.A.. Basic instrumentation was utilized initially, with Armstrong on classical guitar and LaRoche on bamboo flutes and kalimba. They quickly became enthusiastic about collecting, learning, and playing tools from all over the world. “I had developed a fantasy,” Armstrong, a devotee from the Baha’i trust, said throughout a past due-’80s interview. “I had been strolling down a cobblestone road that looked like Aged Jerusalem. A guy inside a striped turban motioned for me personally to check out him right into a shop, where there have been all these tools dangling in the windowpane. I kept learning them, extremely perplexed. I wasn’t actually sure that which was going on. From then on, I had been led right into a space where Abdu’l-Baha, the boy of Baha’u’llah, the prophet/creator from the Baha’i trust, was seated before me. It had been a very effective feeling. I needed to turn aside because I didn’t believe that I was worthwhile to be right now there. But, I couldn’t consider my eyes from him. He was seated there smiling and he started showing me tools from all over the world, individually.” Do’ah documented its 1st three albums — Light Upon Light, Ornament of Wish, and Historic Beauty — like a duo. Documented during concerts in the College or university of Vermont Recital Hall in January 1981, Old Beauty was among the 1st digital recordings in america. Expanding right into a quintet with the help of bassist John Hunter, percussionist Marty Quinn, and saxophone participant Charlie Jennison, Do’ah released Companions from the Crimson Coloured Ark in 1984 and Globe Dance in 1988. Though it was their most effective release, achieving the seventh placement for the Billboard graphs, Globe Dance designated the band’s last outing. Since Do’ah’s disbanding, Armstrong offers remained active. As well as German bassist Volker Nahrmann, he offers performed using the Randy Armstrong Trio as well as the Armstrong-Nahrmann Group. He in addition has worked inside a duo that he stocks with storyteller/dancer Genevieve Aichele.