Ahn Chi-haeng is a living legend of Korea’s old-school gayo scene. Cutting his teeth on the 8th US Army entertainment circuit in the 1960s, he went on to lead the popular soft rock band Young Sound in the 1970s. He then established his own production company Anta Production, where he reigned as a hitmaker with the Midas touch until the early 1990s. The series of Buddhist sutras he released at the age of 60 were playfully experimental, affirming his identity as a devout Buddhist while also channeling his professional knack for creativity. In contrast to conventional sutra recordings, Ahn opted to create something that could be enjoyed as well, adding Hip-Hop beats and guitar parts. With the help of the chorus unit ‘The Siddharettes’, Ahn recorded four such records in 2004 alone. Originally intended for a small Buddhist audience, eventually came to be rediscovered a decade later by younger listeners who shared the recordings through social networks. The few CD-format copies that had been released only sporadically were very hard to come by.

Here at Beatball, we’ve steadily reissued various works from Ahn’s back catalogue. And given his stature as a composer and producer, we felt that his solo releases also deserved proper attention. This has led us to recollect and reissue his most prominent sutra series, starting off with . We selected 6 original sutras from the definitive double CD edition released in 2004, with impeccable mastering by Dave Cooley lending presence and liveliness to the beats.