Being of the Sun first edition, 1973

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  • Regular price $ 200.00


Alicia Bay Laurel and Ramón Sender Barayón co-authored this unguide to creating and growing your own religion. A composer with a masters degree completed with Darius Milhaud at Mills College, Ramón Sender Barayón co-founded the San Francisco Tape Music Center and co-designe  the Buchla Box, the first synthesizer built on the west coast of the USA. His exploration of sound led him to an exploration of consciousness, sunlight and yoga which informs this book. Designed, illustrated and hand-lettered by Alicia Bay Laurel, Being of the Sun was published in 1973 by Harper & Row, New York.  Illustrated on every page, with a section of color illustrations in the center of the book, Being of the Sun includes songs written by Alicia and Ramon, plus Ramón's information on modes and scales, and the appropriate seasons, phases of the moon, and times of day to invoke them in song.  Look here to learn how to sing overtones, tune your zither, and create a drone orchestra, a sun strobe, a bamboo root oboe, a May pole, a harvest goddess doll, a yoga routine or a meditation altar. 

This book is a first edition, printed in 1973, in like-new condition.

Being of the Sun is also available in a Japanese translation here.
Being of the Sun's second English edition, published in 2021 is available here.

Alicia released "Songs From Being of the Sun," a companion CD of archival recordings of Ramón and Alicia performing songs and chants from this book (recorded by Ramón in 1973 and remastered in 2013 by Ron Grant), and includes one track of Ramón chanting an original song accompanying himself on Buchla Box synthesizer.  Available here.