from Coup d'Etat, LP, Permis de Construire, 1987 http://www.muslimgauze.org/
Bryn Jones, who recorded dozens of CDs of experimental music under the name Muslimgauze, died on January 14 in Manchester, England. He was 38.
The cause was pneumonia derived from a rare fungal infection in his blood stream, said Geert-Jan Hobijn, who released Mr. Jones music on his Dutch record label Staalplaat.
Muslimgauze occupied a strange place in the musical world. He was a powerful, prolific innovator, releasing albums that were alternatively beautiful and visceral, full of ambient electronics, polyrhythmic drumming and all kinds of voices and sound effects. The recordings earned him a devoted following in underground, experimental and industrial music circles worldwide.
But the albums' liner notes and titles were dogmatically pro-Palestinian, a rarity among Western musicians in general but especially unusual in one from Manchester who was not Muslim and had never visited the Middle East. Some said Mr. Jones was aiming for shock value, but those who knew him described him as a shy, mysterious man who was serious in his political beliefs and never wavered from his commitment to music.
He began making music in 1982, Mr. Jones said, as a response to Israel's invasion of Lebanon. Each album was inspired by a political event, from massacres to peace accords. In notes to albums like \"United States Of Islam\", Mr. Jones wrote that \" support for the P.L.O. has be a source for influence upon the music of Muslimgauze\".
Mr. Jones recorded 92 albums with titles like \"Hamas Arc\" and \"Vote Hezbollah\", references to militant Islamic groups. He released some music only on DAT tapes and one album packaged with tables tennis paddles (a limited edition of 500, dedicated to the Iranian female Olympic table tennis team), and he was known for his provocative artwork.
The cover of an album from 1993 featured a close-up of Yasser Arafat and the Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, clasping hands after their historic peace accord with the album title \"Betrayal\", emblazoned on Mr. Arafat's hand. As his career progressed, Mr. Jones became more prolific, sending his record label tapes for one album a week.
Mr. Hobijn said he had enough material to release Muslimgauze albums five more years.
