Craig Leon - Early Electronic Works (2014)

Nommos is an electronic work based in speculative fiction. It was inspired by a 1970s New York exhibition devoted to the art of the Dogon people of Mali. The Dogon are renowned for their cosmogony and for their sculptures evoking their religious beliefs, received from extraterrestrial visitors, known as the Nommos, a group of amphibian humanoids who came to them from the region of the double star Sirius.

This very unusual work was written in 1979 by the American-born record producer, composer and arranger, Craig Leon, who explains: ‘It was not constructed as a piece based on Dogon or other African music. Rather it was an attempt to imagine the music that the Nommos brought with them to Earth from their home planet, thereby influencing the development of our own music. A simple melodic and harmonic structure was used, in conjunction with repetitive two-bar rhythmic patterns.’ The result is breathtaking!