Alisha Sufit in 1967ĭid you do any concerts before you got involved with Mushroom Records? Somehow, we never got round to it and when the band split up and the LP sales were poor, there was no point in signing. Interestingly, I never actually signed a contract. Vic Keary who owned Mushroom Records was a wonderful engineer, but the business side of the label was always more shaky. I was told that 1,000 copies of Magic Carpet were pressed, so I presume the other recordings were pressed in similar quantities. Also, I remember Ken Elliott being around in the studio in Chalk Farm, though I didn’t have a close relationship with him, just said hello and chatted a bit from time to time. I met Simon Finn back in the 1970s and saw him again quite recently – maybe just six years ago or thereabouts. What can you say about this label and do you perhaps know how many copies were made? The label had some interesting artists like Simon Finn, Chillum, Second Hand and some other bands. Vic Keary of Mushroom Records signed you up. I was writing songs in open tunings which were very compatible with the sitar. When I joined the group, we hit it off musically almost immediately. It was uncanny as three months beforehand someone had asked me what sort of group I’d like to be in, and I’d replied I’d like to be in a band with a sitar and tabla. I graduated from Chelsea College of Art in 1967 and didn’t see Jim until about four years later when he phoned and asked if I’d like to sing with the trio. I first met Jim (James) Moyes, the guitar player, when I was doing an art foundation course at the Regent’s Street Polytechnic in London, after which we both went to Chelsea College of Art to do a degree course. How did you get in contact with Clem Alford and the other band mates? In fact, it’s a charming record so I’m glad it made it out there. The guys were very angry that this man had stolen their music and then disappeared, but that album has since become a collectable.
MAGIC CARPET MUSHROOM PLUS
The most insulting part about it was the stupid misspelling of the band name, plus the hideous jokey LP cover showing a man smoking a hookah pipe surrounded by admiring ‘dolly birds.’ I can assure you the man depicted is definitely not Clem Alford, nor any member of the band. To their consternation and anger, they had been bootlegged, their music released without their permission.
They had not signed a contract to release a record, had given no consent, but some months later they saw a low budget LP called ‘Sagram – Pop Explosion Sitar Style’ at a checkout in a supermarket. They were invited to play by the owner of Windmill Records, who recorded them at the time. They called themselves Sargam, an Indian musical term. What bands were you a member of prior to the formation of Magic Carpet?Ĭlem Alford, the sitar player, along with the guitar player Jim Moyes and percussionist Keshav Sathe played together as a trio.
Yes, I’m from London – born in the old village of Hampstead, the highest area in London town.
MAGIC CARPET MUSHROOM FREE
I was very moved by the film and later sneaked off to a matinée performance to see it again on my own – a curious child! In London, at that time, children were very free and independent to roam and play. I went to see the film The River by Jean Renoir (the painter Auguste Renoir’s son). Magic Carpet created a unique Indian inspired music.Īlisha Sufit: I first heard Indian music consciously when I was about nine or ten years old. Magic Carpet interview Magic Carpet was formed in 1971 by Alisha Sufit (singer-songwriter and acoustic guitarist), Clem Alford (sitar, esraj), Jim Moyes (guitar), and Keshav Sathe (Indian tabla / percussion).
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