World music impresario
Peter Gabriel periodically brings together an international panoply of performers, hailing from every corner of the globe, for a freeform week of artistic exchange at his Real World studios hideaway in Box, Wiltshire, England. For the August '92 sessions captured on "Arcane" under
Gabriel's Real World imprint, the assembled talent (almost 100 strong) was encouraged to wander in and out of six studios, operating concurrently, to perform with whomever happened to be gathered at the time. Some performers brought newly-penned music to the sessions; in many instances, the collective spontaneously gave birth right there in the studio. Some of the better-known international names included
Simon Jeffes (
Penguin Cafe Orchestra), Canada's
Jane Siberry, violinist
Nigel Kennedy, Brazilian percussionist
Nana Vasconcelos,
Alex Gifford (former Stranglers reedman, now of techno-band
The Grid), and jazz drummer extraordinaire
Bill Cobham.