Greetings to everyone who craves an authentic Haight-Ashbury experience.
I had recently arrived in San Francisco when, in the fall of 1965, I conceived of assembling what I described then as "the first electrified symphony orchestra." My 18th birthday had just passed and I possessed only modest abilities as a musician, but, being prone to such crazy notions, the concept seemed perfectly reasonable to me at the time—this was the Haight-Ashbury of the mid-sixties, after all! I wasted no time putting flesh on my idea, and a few months later a stable musical ensemble somewhat resembling my original conception had come into existence.
| What I had imagined would be an "orchestra" of a dozen-or-so musicians proved in practice to be unmanageable. Instead, a coalition of five instrumentalists from various musical traditions—rock, classical, jazz, folk and blues—emerged as the core group. Occasionally other players would join the lineup as well. For what was essentially a sort of reconceived rock band, the instrumentation was extremely unusual, comprising some combination of violin, oboe, standup bass, guitar, bousouki, flute, organ, drums and percussion—depending on the venue and who was present at any given time. All of the melodic instruments were modified for electric amplification. |
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Early on we called ourselves The Electric Chamber Orchestra, but when we graduated from playing coffee houses and nightclubs to larger venues such as auditoriums and concert halls we changed our name to, simply, The Orkustra. We composed collectively and performed our psychedelic instrumental "symphonies" on the fly, so to speak, creating a sound that was an amalgamation of our diverse musical influences. Until circumstances and intense social pressures brought about the band's breakup in late summer of 1967, The Orkustra became widely known in the San Francisco Bay area as a truly original band. |
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The Orkustra's brief day in the sun did not, unfortunately, allow an opportunity to record a formal album. However, some recordings of the band's practice sessions and live performances were made. These precious few artifacts have been carefully restored by mastering artist Bob Ferbrache, and compiled into a comprehensive double LP album for release on the Mexican Summer label.. I believe with some pride that you will agree . . . there has never been another band quite like The Orkustra!
Bobby BeauSoleil Summer 2009
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