The Janus Ensemble

The Janus Ensemble was a musical collective, active in the 1990s in the San Francisco bay area, that performed original compositions and explored improvisational musical landscapes. A combination of ethnic acoustic and custom-built electronic musical instruments provide a diverse tonal palette from which the ensemble draws its evocative sound. The ancient Romans revered Janus, the god of portals, for his dual opposing faces that allowed him to see in two directions at once. Similarly, the Janus Ensemble seeks to explore the opposing forces inhereint in its instrumentation by blending earthy, primitive rythyms with exotic other-worldly textures.

Sound files (available in both au and wav formats):

Abohabit was a collaborative effort with Colin Orr and the European band also called Janus. The Janus recording "Free Fall" is available from SPM/World Wide Records, Berlin SPM-WWR-CD-060, Copyright 1994.

And here's the story of another European "Janus" musical group, Musikklaget Janus from Espeland, Norway. If you have a band called Janus, send me an email!

The musicians:

Richard Smith: percussion and percussion synthesis
Barry Hall: electronic violin, bass and didjeridu
Mark Attebery: winds
Emily Bezar: voice and keyboards (collaborator on "Island on my Feet")
Colin Orr: guitar (collaborator on "Abo Habit")


Thanks for visiting the Janus Ensemble web page. If you have any questions or comments or would like to be added to our mailing list please send e-mail to Barry Hall

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Copyright ©1995-1998 Barry Hall, The Janus Ensemble. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication of page content, source, images, sound or video files is a violation of applicable laws.