Of the many now-legendary artists to emerge from the Krautrock movement, few anticipated the rise of modern electronic music with the same prescience as Popol Vuh the first German band to employ a Moog synthesizer, their work not only anticipated the emergence of ambient, but also proved pioneering in its absorption of worldbeat textures. At much the same time Popol Vuh was formed in Munich in 1969, another group, of Norwegian descent, adopted the same name, an endless source of confusion in the years to follow; both were inspired by the holy book of Guatemala's Quiche Indians, and according to Mayan researchers the title roughly translates as "meeting place." Keyboardist Florian Fricke was deeply immersed in Mayan myth at the time he formed the group with synth player Frank Fiedler and percussionist Holger Trulzsch, and his interests were reflected in the spiritual themes of their 1970 debut, Affenstunde.
The follow-up two years later, In den Garten Pharaos, was Popol Vuh's creative breakthrough, an intensely meditative work fusing ambient textures with organic percussion. In its wake, however, Fricke converted to Christianity, a move which sparked a rejection of electronics in favor of traditional ethnic instrumentation including guitars, oboe and tamboura; he then tapped korean soprano Djong Yun to lend vocals to 1972's lovely Hosianna Mantra. Fricke next teamed with onetime Amon Duul II drummer Daniel Fichelscher for the next Popol Vuh LP, Seligpreisung; its follow-up, 1975's Einjager und Siebenjager, remains widely considered among the group's most stunning efforts. That same year, they began a lengthy creative partnership with the celebrated filmmaker Werner Herzog which yielded soundtracks for features including Aguirre, Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo and Nosferatu.
Throughout the latter half of the 1970s, Popol Vuh's fascination with global sounds and instruments continued, with the prominence of sitars, tablas and tamboura percussion on LPs like 1977's Herz aus Glas and 1979's Die Nacht der Seele: Tantric Songs earning their latter-day sound descriptions like "raga rock." In 1978, Fricke founded the Working Group for Creative Singing and also became a member of the Breathing Therapy Society, travelling the world to lecture on both subjects; ultimately, his outside passions began to overshadow his work in Popol Vuh, and as the 1980s dawned the group began losing steam, calling it quits after 1983's excellent Agape Agape. After reuniting two years later for Spirit of Peace, Fricke again reassembled Popol Vuh for the 1997 LP Shepherd's Symphony.
Lo my friends! Please visit SmashingPumpkins.com and have a look at the newly posted article titled 'Sharing The Luck of Eden Hall' by ShannonC. Have a fantastic day!
ein neues Stück vom großartigen Tonträger "genau jetzt" hat das Licht der Myspace-Welt erblickt. Es trägt den Namen "visitenkarte" und ihr könnt genau jetzt zu den ersten die es hören gehören.
Kommentare werden meinerseits mit Spannung erwartet!
HELLO, GREAT WORK IN YOUR SPACE, I SPENT A VERY NICE TIME !!!! THANKS FOR THIS WONDERFUL MUSICAL TRIP !!! ALL THE BEST, SEE YOU SOON, CHEERS, MOLECULE (paris)
Hi Popol Vuh fans wherever you are, my tribute to Florian is back online at www.myspace.com/unfolk Many thanks to our Dutch friends for the nice link: www.popolvuh.nl/trimonti Love from Venice, a.m.
Juste pour vous annoncer que des extraits de notre nouvel album sont disponibles sur Myspace... J'espère que vous aurez la curiosité d'y poser une oreille ! Amitié
Just to tell you that some extracts of our new album is now available on myspace ! Hope you 'll have the curiosity to listen our stuff ! Cheers
Juste pour vous annoncer que notre prochain album sera bientôt en ligne gratuitement sur myspace et sur notre site internet avec un concert de promotion au FIL de Saint Etienne (France) le 21 février à 20h30(entrée libre). En vous remerciant encore pour votre amitié et vos encouragements. Cheers
Just to tell you that our next album will be coming soon for free on myspace and on our website with a concert promotion to the FIL Saint Etienne (France) on February 21st at 8.30PM (free entry). Thank you again for your friendship and your support. Cheers
The new Album "You can’t talk about indie-rock" will be available in all music stores from the 1st of November ‘08 by Audioglobe Distribution. It is currently available in digital download on stores such as I-Tunes, Rapsody, Napster, etc...
"You can't talk about indie-rock" sarà disponibile in tutti i negozi di dischi a partire dal 1° Novembre '08 con distribuzione Audioglobe, ed è già disponibile in digital download sugli stores come i-Tunes, Rapsody, Napster, ecc…
