Laraaji: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

May 2, 2019 | Bob Boilen -- Prepare to be calmed. It begins with a small bell, a set of tiny wind chimes and a plucked, angelic zither sounding much like a harp. Laraaji and his musical partner Arji “OceAnanda“ Cakouros came to NPR draped in loose-fitted, saffron-tinted clothes, with a table draped in a similar orange fabric — almost the tones of a setting sun with all the beauty that implies. As I watched, I could feel my breath letting go; my muscles were less tense. Then Laraaji began to laugh. I smiled. (His laugh is infectious). Then more of us in the office smiled as he brushed rhythms on his zither and processed the sounds to add delay and intensify the hypnotic pulse. I first discovered the music of Laraaji almost 40 years ago when Brian Eno produced an ambient album of his music called Ambient 3: Day of Radiance as part of a series of ambient records from Eno that began with 1978’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports. Edward Larry Gordon, now known as Laraaji, was a comedian as