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My Name Is Albert Ayler

Spirits

Swing Low Sweet Spiritual

Prophecy

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New York Eye And Ear Control

The Copenhagen Tapes

Ghosts

The Hilversum Session

Bells

Spirits Rejoice

Sonny’s Time Now

La Cave Live

At Slug’s Saloon

Live In Europe 1964-66

Stockholm, Berlin 1966

Lorrach/Paris 1966

Lost Performances

In Greenwich Village

Love Cry

New Grass

Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe

The Last Album

Live On The Riviera

Nuits De La Fondation Maeght

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     Europe 1966
     Slugs’ Saloon
     La Cave

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Tributes 3

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the music

Bands

 

Albert et sa Fanfare Poliorcétique

(Following a meeting with Albert Ayler at the Fondation Maeght, Denis Benoliel named his band after Albert. They released one LP in 1971 - La malédiction des rockers (Riviera 521194). The full story of the meeting is on the Ayler Remembered page. The band is also featured in this 1972 programme from French TV.))

 

Spirits Rejoice

(A South African band formed in the mid-seventies by drummer Gilbert Matthews. They released two albums, African Spaces in 1977 and Spirits Rejoice in 1978.)

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The Belgian Waffles

(Based in Louisville Kentucky, The Belgian Waffles have quite a few songs directly related to the Aylers or influenced by them. Specifically the tunes, "Flat Black Huey" which uses "Universal Indians" as a refrain and "Too Many Dustballs" which refers heavily to Donald Ayler.)

 

Aylers Angels

(As Aylers Angels:
Aylers Angels / The Fake Hand, (Hot Cars Warp split LP), 1997
Never Morning LP 1998.
As Army Of Ghosts
The Horror CD (Parallelism), 1999.)

 

Dark Meat

Don Ayler’s Psychosis

Roulette-Ayler

AALY Trio

Guy Villerd’s Ayler Quartet

Tony Wilson’s Flowers for Albert

Universal Indians

Sunwatchers

Marc Ribot’s Spiritual Unity Quartet

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The Oddyssey Quartet (featuring Bill Folwell)

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Ayler’s Mood

Featuring Pasquale Innarella on tenor and soprano sax, Danilo Gallo on bass and Ermanno Baron on drums.

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Record Labels

 

Ayler Records

Swedish record label, founded by Jan Ström and Åke Bjurhamn in 2000, specialising in free jazz, and responsible for The Copenhagen Tapes. In 2009 Ayler Records moved to France.

 

Albert Ayler’s Jukebox

Beyond the name (a reference to one of the many rumours surrounding Albert’s death), no connection to Ayler or jazz, and now seemingly defunct. A list of releases is available on the Discogs site.

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Dance

 

Karole Armitage

“The Elizabethan Phrasing of the Late Albert Ayler”

Company: Armitage Gone! Dance (aka Armitage Ballet)
Premiere: September 25, 1986. Eindhoven, Holland
Tours: USA, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, Holland, Italy, Belgium, Brazil, Portugal.
Music: Albert Ayler (Bells), Don Ayler (Our Prayer), Lord Buckley (Unconscious Mind, Marc Antony's Funeral Oration), Yo-Yo Ma (Sakura, Sakura, arr. Michio Mamiya), Stravinsky (Three Pieces for String Quartet), Webern (Fünf Sätze für Sreichorchester).
Sets and Costumes: David Salle.
Lighting: Ken Tabachnick

From ‘Adventurous Women Choreographers’ by Karen Onoda:

“Karole Armitage, formerly of the Geneva Ballet and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, created modern works during the early part of her choreographic career, then began to set works in Pointe shoes. She now has a full-fledged ballet company, the Armitage Ballet. Combining conventional ballet steps and phrases with a modern approach to structure and space, Armitage has created a style uniquely her own. Her dances are of spiky, splintery texture, with hops often off-kilter and legs extended to the sky. Wrists are bent, legs and arms are often broken at eccentric angles. There is a sophisticated coyness to her dances, at once knowing and  gawky.

The Elizabethan Phrasing of the Late Albert Ayler, the second Armitage- David Salle production, is danced to an eclectic combination of music and voice. It ranges from the nightclub comedian Lord Buckley to the music of Webern and Stravinsky. In this work, Armitage's bold, skewed choreography is especially reminiscent of Balanchine. Salle's often whimsical stage designs and costumes include such devices as tutus lit from the inside.”

There is a short video montage of the ballet on Vimeo.

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Douglas Wright

New Zealand’s leading contemporary dancer/choreographer, Douglas Wright used a track from the Relyable LP, The Berlin Concerts - 1966 in a dance called "Hey Paris”, the subject of a short film in 1987, directed by Gregor Nicholas.

 

James Carlès

‘Opus 07’, a 55 minute dance piece by James Carlès, inspired by the music of Albert Ayler, was created in 2006.

”Opus 07 is one of those marvelous solos that belong to an autobiographical work, an intimate prayer. Superbly danced, James Carlès shows moving sincerity and inspiration by his African roots and his years as a “modern dancer” to reach a universal truth. On stage, the musical dimension is essential. It is born out of collaboration between James Carlès and Vs_Price. The dialogue between the two artists is prolonged on stage because the music is played live. Two other partners play a preponderant role in this solo: scenography and lights. They enable the choreographer and dancer to confront new constraints, to elaborate new forms, to construct and deconstruct space” - Sonia Schoonejans, ballet 2000, March 26, 2006

 

Adenike Sharpley

The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost: Albert Ayler - performed at Oberlin College on 12th and 13th October, 2012.

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Visual Arts

 

Hors-champs

A 1992 video installation by Stan Douglas featuring Ayler’s ‘Spirits Rejoice’ performed by a quartet of musicians (Douglas Ewart (ts), George Lewis (tb), Kent Carter (b) and Oliver Johnson (d)) on two screens. More information (and a brief video clip) is available on the New Media Encyclopedia site. Click the picture below for a larger image.

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Riverboat Lovesongs for the Ghost Whale Regatta

An installation by Michael Jones McKean, it was shown at Grand Arts in Kansas City, Missouri from September 1st to October 21st 2006:

“Michael McKean's Riverboat Lovesongs for the Ghost Whale Regatta steers a meandering course between the objective facts of navigation and poetic possibilities of exploration. Like many of his installations, it slips between varied levels of reference, in this instance from Twain’s pilot house to Ahab's foredeck to the abandoned shell of Donald Crowhurst's Teignmouth Electron. Stagecraft and artifice are balanced by the concrete presence of clay, wind, and rain, while Albert Ayler's saxophone provides a sporadic and elegiac soundtrack. Casting a shadow over the installation as a whole is the implication that adventure and aspiration may very well end in death by water.
... McKean expands further upon the theme of peril at sea in the second, smaller gallery at Grand Arts. Constructed as a self-contained room within the gallery itself, this segment of the installation presents a model of a ship's pilot house, supported on a rocking platform, drenched by sheets of rain. Again, illusion and actuality are brought into play as McKean employs forced perspective and theatrical lighting, while leaving evident the pump, water tank, fog machine, dehumidifier, and motors necessary to support this installation. Opposite this structure, at the rear of the gallery space, is an absurdly overscale bank of speakers and amplifiers, which like the fan at the exhibition's entrance stand in for the forces of nature. Tuned to a low hum, once a day this “boom box” plays Albert Ayler’s solo from the funeral of John Coltrane. A primal cry, it ends with Ayler's saxophone assuming an almost human wail of sorrow. Four years after this bootlegged recording was made, Ayler's body was found drowned in New York's East River.”

 

From The General Intellect: My name is Albert Ayler

Performance art by The Y Liver from FRASQ 2011 at Le Générateur, Paris. Video on vimeo. More information on The Y Liver site.

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Concerts, Seminars, etc.

 

Albert Ayler Memorial Concert, Karamu House, Cleveland, 11 April 1971

 

Albert Ayler Festival

On 20th September, 1996 a festival celebrating Albert Ayler’s 60th birthday was held at the Washington Square Church in Greenwich Village, New York.

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La Passion selon Albert Ayler

In November 2002 a series of concerts was held in Brussels under the collective title, La Passion selon Albert Ayler. The following information is from the press release:

“Le Collectif Inaudible présente :

La Passion selon Albert Ayler

"je joue un cri silencieux"

au Petit Théâtre Mercelis à 20h30 les 5, 7, 9 et 14 novembre
13, rue Mercelis, 1050 Ixelles

Une tragédie musicale sur une mise en texte et son de Guy Strale
(textes adaptés de Marc -Edouard Nabé, Seferis, Sikelianos & Jacques Lacarrière)
Quatre versions sonores différentes.....

mardi 5 novembre 20 h30

texte interprété par Nathalie Rjewsky & Frédéric Lepers
musique improvisée par le BRuocsela Orchestra Libera
le BROL
:
José Bedeur, violoncelle & électroacoustique
Antoine Cirri, batterie
Jean Coulon, tuba & électroacoustique
Jean-Jacques Duerinckx, saxophones
Jacques Foschia, clarinettes
Marco Loprieno, tuba, saxophone baryton
Jan Huib Nas, guitare accommodée
Adelheid Sieuw, flûtes, voix
Guy Strale, piano, clarinette, percussions, objets sonores
invité : Noah Howard (USA), saxophone alto

jeudi 7 novembre 20h 30
texte interprété par Anne Baupain & Frédéric Lepers
musique improvisée par le BROL
invitée : Maggie Nichols (GB), voix

samedi 9 novembre 20 h 30
texte interprété par Anne Baupain & Frédéric Lepers
musique improvisée par le BROL
invités
: Jim Denley (Australie), flûtes & saxophone alto
Hisako Horikawa (Japon), danse

jeudi 14 novembre 20h30
texte interprété par Nathalie Rjewsky & Frédéric Lepers
musique improvisée par le BROL
invité
: Daunik Lazro (F), saxophones

organisé par inaudible asbl en collaboration avec le service de la culture d'Ixelles

Une tragédie musicale évoquant une personnalité mythique et injustement méconnue : le saxophoniste noir américain Albert Ayler, un des créateurs du free jazz, suicidé de la société, à 34 ans, en 1970.
Son passage météorique marque une coupure radicale ouvrant des perspectives musicales qui sont encore celles du monde des musiques improvisées actuelles.”

 

Along An Eastern Shore

R. A. Washington’s ‘choreopoem’ in tribute to Albert Ayler, “Along An Eastern Shore”, performed by Daniel Gray-Kontar and the Albert Ayler Awareness Orchestra, had its world premiere at Cleveland’s Ingenuity Festival on July 16th, 2006. Photos of the event by Lou Muenz are available on his website, and here’s a short video extract.

 

The First Annual Albert Ayler Festival

The First Annual Albert Ayler Festival took place on Saturday 10th July, 2010 on Roosevelt Island, New York. It was a free, outdoor festival running from 2 to 10 pm, featuring performances from Giuseppi Logan, Charles Gayle, Gunter Hampel, Marshall Allen and many more. The event was part-organised by ESP-Disk.

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From the Urban Sketchers site:

“Albert Ayler Festival

     The Flow Trio (Louie Belogenis, sax; Joe Morris, bass; Charles Downs--formerly and much better known as Rashid Bakr, drums) performing at the first annual Albert Ayler Festival, held on Roosevelt Island on Saturday July 10, 2010.
     It was a really nice event, marred only by the recurring problem of overly-shrill, over-amplified soprano saxophones.
     I hope they'll do many more of these!”

The Albert Ayler Life Celebration!

A concert at the Vortex Club, London on Tuesday, 13th July, 2010:

“A very special evening honouring the 74th birthday of the legendary saxman whose influence pervades modern improvised music to this day.

Bassist Jair-Rohm Parker Wells will lead a sextet of some of the leading voices on the scene today. The legendary John Sinclair (spoken word) will provide a narrative backdrop to the spirited group improvisations of Tony Bianco (drums and cymbals), Shabaka Hutchings and Lol Coxhill (saxes), Ian Smith (trumpet) and Simone Weissenfels (piano).”

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Sant’ Anna Arresi Jazz 2010

The Sant’ Anna Arresi Jazz Festival, which took place on Sardinia in August 2010, was inspired by the music of Albert Ayler. The programme was as follows;

August 23: ZU (Special guest Peter Brotzmann)
Stephen O’Malley, Massimo Pupillo, Bobby Previte Trio

August 24:
My Name Is Albert Ayler (film)
‘Songs of Albert Ayler’ directed by Charles Gayle
‘Bells of Sant’ Anna’ directed by Alan Silva

August 25:
Charles Gayle (solo piano)
‘Seeds of Djuke’ directed by On Ka’a Davis

August 26:
Bobby Few Trio
Archie Shepp Quartet

August 27:
Evan Parker, Peter Brotzmann, Harrison Bankhead and Hamid Drake
34/5et

August 28:
Speaking in Tongues (film)
David Murray - Milford Graves Duo
’Suite Ayler’ - Dee Alexander Quartet

August 29:
‘Angel and Ghost: The Ayler Tapes’ - Paolo Botti (solo guitar)
New Music Observatory 2010: Lawrence D. ‘Butch’ Morris: ‘Conduction No. 192 - Possible Universe’

August 30:
Reggaeology
Appunti Per Un’Orestriade Africana (film)
‘We Insist! Freedom Now Suite’ directed by Ernest Dawkins

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London Jazz Festival 2010

As part of the 2010 London Jazz Festival, Alex Bonney presented his Tribute to Albert Ayler on Thursday, 18th November at Charlie Wrights, featuring the following line-up:
Alex Bonney - trumpet, Paul Dunmall - sax, James Allsopp - sax, Dylan Bates- violin, Dave Kane - bass, Ollie Brice - bass, Mark Sanders - drums.

 

Pour Albert Ayler - Le Fondation Cartier, Paris

There was a tribute concert for Albert Ayler at the Le Fondation Cartier, Paris, on 2nd December, 2010.

“Pour Albert Ayler”

Hypertrophic vibrato, incandescent lyricism, Dionysian improvisations, a blaring primal scream all characterized the music of Albert Ayler. Found dead in New York’s East River in 1970, he was a dominant force in the free jazz movement of the 1960s. Assembling musicians and writers, this special event celebrates Ayler’s memory and art.

An evening presented by the bassist Joëlle Léandre and the writer and journalist Franck Médioni.

With Jean–Jacques Avenel, Zéno Bianu, Yves Buin, Jacqueline Caux, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Steve Dalachinsky, Simon Goubert, Raphaël Imbert, Sylvain Kassap, Joëlle Léandre, Urs Leimgruber, Didier Levallet, Ramon Lopez, Bernard Lubat, Joe McPhee, Evan Parker, Michel Portal, Barre Phillips, Steve Potts, Lucia Recio, Jacques Réda, Christian Rollet, Archie Shepp, Alan Silva, John Tchicai, Assif Tsahar, Elsa Wolliaston.”

 

Albert Ayler: Music, Spirituality and Freedom - Cleveland

A three-day event (16-18th March, 2011) in Ayler’s home town, featuring a panel discussion, a concert by Marc Ribot’s Spiritual Unity, and a showing of My Name Is Albert Ayler.

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GHOSTS, a tribute to Albert Ayler

Performed at the Holy Trinity Church, Boar Lane, Leeds, England on 7th  October, 2011:

Ghosts is a collaborative work by the artists Derek Horton and Eoin Shea, and the musicians Paul Hession (percussion) and Leon Thomas Johnson (tenor saxophone). Hession and Johnson improvise to two twin-screen film projections by Horton and Shea. The project is a tribute to the legendary musician Albert Ayler, 41 years after his death in New York at the age of 34. After falling from the Staten Island ferry in mysterious circumstances, Ayler’s body was found on 25 November 1970.”

 

Jacksonville Jazz Festival 2013

‘Truth Is Marching In - An Albert Ayler Commemoration’ was held on 26th May, 2013, as part of the annual Jacksonville Jazz Festival in Florida.

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Albert Ayler. Lo spirito e la rivolta

To celebrate the launch of the Italian translation of Peter Niklas Wilson’s Spirits Rejoice: Albert Ayler und seine Botschaft there was an event in Pisa at the Teatro Rossi Aperto on 14th June, 2013, featuring a concert by Paolo Botti.

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La musica e la rivolta - Albert Ayler

A three day festival at the Teatro Garibaldi, Palermo, Italy,  from 21st to 24th of March, 2014.

Programme:

-21 marzo 2014
Ore 19: presentazione del libro
Albert Ayler. Lo spirito e la rivolta (P.N. Wilson, ETS, 2013)
Ascolti guidati. A cura di Francesco Martinelli e Antonio Pellicori
ore 21,15 concerto
GIANNI GEBBIA REJOICE
Gianni Gebbia – sassofoni
Lelio Giannetto – contrabbasso
Carmelo Graceffa – batteria
Ore 22,15 concerto
ECO D’ALBERI
Edoardo Marraffa – sassofoni
Alberto Braida – pianoforte
Antonio Borghini – contrabbasso
Fabrizio Spera – batteria.

-22 marzo 2014
Ore 19 presentazione del libro
Improvvisazione. Sua natura e pratica in musica (D. Bailey, ETS, 2010)
Ascolti guidati. A cura di Francesco Martinelli
ore 21,15 concerto
EDOARDO MARRAFFA
Edoardo Marraffa – sassofoni
ore 22,15 concerto
MARRAFFA /CINÀ /BRAIDA /GIANNETTO /SPERA
Marcello Cinà – sassofoni
Edoardo Marraffa – sassofoni
Alberto Braida – pianoforte
Lelio Giannetto – contrabbasso
Fabrizio Spera – batteria

-23 marzo 2014
Ore 19
ascolti guidati a cura di Francesco Martinelli
ore 21,30 concerto
SICILIAN IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA plays ALBERT AYLER
Edoardo Marraffa – direttore
Tiziana Maionica – voce lirica
Eva Geraci – flauti
Benedetto Basile – flauti
Marcello Cinà – sassofono soprano
Dario Compagna – clarinetto
Beppe Viola – strumenti ad ancia, flauti etnici
Giuseppe Greco – chitarra
Gandolfo Pagano – chitarra preparata
Enrico Sorbello – violoncello
Lelio Giannetto – contrabbasso
Alessandra Pipitone – pianoforte
Fabrizio Spera – batteria

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Jacksonville Jazz Festival 2014

‘Truth Is Marching In - An Albert Ayler Commemoration’ returned for a three-night event as part of the annual Jacksonville Jazz Festival in Florida, from May 23rd to 25th, 2014, at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum. The concerts were recorded and are available at the Internet Archive.

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Tributo Albert Ayler Trio

There was a tribute concert for Albert Ayler at the Zinco Jazz Club in Mexico City on 27th August, 2014, with Remi Alvarez on saxes, Carlos Maldonado on bass and Milo Tamez on drums.

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Albert Ayler Award

The first “Albert Ayler Award” (sponsored by Steve Tintweiss) was presented to Victor Murillo at the Graduation Ceremony of the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, New York on 2nd June, 2016.

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AylerFest 2016

The New Ghosts group in Cleveland organised an AylerFest 2016 in celebration of Albert Ayler’s 80th Birthday, featuring the groups, Universal Indians (with Joe McPhee) at The Bop Stop on 16th June, and Witches & Devils, led by Mars Williams,at The Happy Dog on 18th June.

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The Montclair Jazz Festival 2016

The Montclair Jazz Festival (which takes place in New Jersey in August) has chosen a painting by Andres Chaparro entitled, ‘Albert Ayler’s Cry’, for its posters, programmes, t-shirts and other festival merchandise.

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Albert Ayler Awareness Orchestar 10 Year Anniversary Concert

On March 26th 2017 at the Bop Stop in Cleveland, RA Washington reprised ‘Along The Eastern Shore’, a celebration of the life and music of Albert Ayler, first performed ten years ago.

In 2007, a group of Cleveland musicians gathered to put on what was supposed to be a one time celebration of the music and life of Cleveland’s own, Albert Ayler. The piece, entitled “Along The Eastern Shore” was premiered as part of Ingenuity Fest and featured Lawrence Daniel Caswell, Daniel Gray Kontar, Dan Wenninger, Chris Kulscar, Bill Nichols, Neil Chastain, Louis Arrocho Jr, Buddy Akita and Lamont “Bim” Thomas.

Director, RA Washington, is delighted to have the opportunity to share this work with the public again on Sunday, March 26th at 7pm. There will be a “pay as you want” donation at the door because the band wants to keep the show affordable to all. Proceeds from the show will help the band record this piece to vinyl.’

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The People’s Forum “Jazz & Self Determination” #5: Albert Ayler

On Saturday, 13th July, 2019 - Albert Ayler’s 83rd birthday - an event was held at The People’s Forum in New York in the ‘Jazz & Self Determination’ series, organised by Ras Moshe Burnett and featuring Steve Tintweiss and Joel Freedman.

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The whole session is available on youtube. It runs for 2 hours 44 minutes, but there is some fascinating stuff in there about the early years of Free Jazz, and Joel Freedman’s account of his first meeting with Albert is classic. Around the 1:52:00 mark, Joel Freedman takes up his cello and the three men make some music.

 

Where Rivers Meet: The Music of Dewey Redman and Albert Ayler

A multi-dimensional event featuring the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and the Russian painter Maria Rud, streamed from 12 - 15 May, 2021.

‘Filmed in the heart of Edinburgh, 12th Century St. Giles Cathedral provides the unique canvas for a new collaboration between the SNJO and Russian painter Maria Rud, whose soulful and spiritually charged live paintings will be projected onto the magnificent stained-glass great west window and sets the music of Ornette Coleman, Dewey Redman, Anthony Braxton, and Albert Ayler arranged by Tommy Smith, Paul Towndrow, Paul Harrison, and Geoffrey Keezer in a distinct and fresh light.’

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The Albert Ayler Benefit Golf Outing

26th August 2023.

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