GAF y La Estrella de la Muerte
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Island
Tenerife
Career
Active since the late 1990s

In brief

GAF y La Estrella de la Muerte is a Tenerife collective led by Mladen Kurajica, crossing avant-rock, space rock, experimental jazz and psychedelia.

Related figures

  • Mladen Kurajica
  • Felipe González Cabezas
  • César Chinarro
  • Olivier Dubois
  • César Chinaro
  • Eduardo Villalobos

Works and repertoire

  • La estrella de la muerte
  • Sunriser
  • Pyramids
  • La Utopía

Group history

The official biography presents GAF as a mutating collective led by Mladen Kurajica, formed in Tenerife as a parallel project by members of Emeth-The Human Noise Machine and co-founders of Colectivo Drone. Europa Press documents its late-1990s origin and the formation of a quartet with Felipe González Cabezas, César Chinarro and Olivier Dubois. The project has operated under names such as Gaf y la estrella de la muerte, Gaf & The Love Supreme Arkestra and afg-an.

Why it matters

Its importance lies in placing Canarian experimentation in international circuits: the official biography documents concerts in Japan, China, Mexico, Portugal, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia and South America, as well as festivals such as Primavera Sound, FIB, Monkey Week, SKIF and Marvin. It also connects the island scene with Keroxen, Boreal, Phe and WOMAD Canarias.

Style and repertoire

The music moves between avant-rock, space rock, experimental jazz, psychedelia, experimental folk, musique concrete and improvisation. Pyramids, recorded over three days at Espacio Cultural El Tanque, shows the project’s instrumental, collective and jam-based dimension.

Transmission and legacy

GAF’s transmission is not limited to records: it includes collaborations with Damo Suzuki, Rob Mazurek or Stephen Lawrie, work for cinema and Mladen Kurajica’s score for La Utopía, the documentary about César Manrique. Its presence turns Tenerife into a node of an Atlantic and global experimental network.

Key milestones

  1. Origen

    The project begins in Tenerife in the late 1990s.

  2. La estrella de la muerte

    The group presents the album in Catalonia with Canarias Crea support.

  3. Sunriser

    It is selected by Girando por Salas to present Sunriser.

  4. Pyramids

    The fourth album is released under the La Estrella de la Muerte configuration.

Sources and links