HADOUK TRIO/QUARTET

France's Hadouk Trio channeled musical elements from across the globe to create a uniquely mystical and evocative sound somewhere between jazz and world pop. The Hadouk Trio was led by Paris-born multi-instrumentalist Didier Malherbe, previously known for co-founding with Soft Machine alum Daevid Allen the famed psych-prog outfit Gong. Malherbe remained with Gong for close to a decade, shepherding the band through myriad personnel and creative changes before exiting in 1978. Throughout his travels Malherbe collected exotic instruments from the far corners of the earth, and after a series of short-lived experimental rock ensembles and a 1980 solo jazz-rock LP, Bloom, in 1994 he embraced world music by forming Hadouk with multi-instrumentalist Loy Ehrlich, a specialist in the hajouj, the African three-stringed bass that, along with the Armenian double-reed instrument the doudouk, gave the project its name. Mahlerbe and Ehrlich initially recorded and toured as a duo, issuing their self-titled read more...