Florian Fricke

All Music Guide:

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 mythology 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 one-time Amon Düül II drummer Daniel Fichelscher for the next Popol Vuh LP, Seligpreisung; its follow-up, 1975's Einsjager & 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: The Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, and Nosferatu.

Throughout the latter half of the '70s, 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, traveling the world to lecture on both subjects; ultimately, his outside passions began to overshadow his work in Popol Vuh, and as the '80s 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.

Wikipedia:

Florian Fricke (February 23, 1944 in Lindau am Bodensee, Germany – December 29, 2001 in Munich) was a German musician who started his professional career with electronic music using the Moog synthesizer within the Krautrock group Popol Vuh. His music and that of the band however soon evolved in a completely different direction, and he almost completely abandoned synthesizers in favor of the acoustic piano.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).

History[edit]

Fricke started playing piano as a child. He studied piano, composition and directing at the Conservatories in Freiburg and Munich. It was in Munich that, at 18, he dedicated himself to new kinds of music like free jazz. He also filmed some short amateur films. (He would later become a movie and music critic for the German magazine Der Spiegel and the Swiss paper Neue Zürcher Zeitung). It was also in Munich that he met Gerhard Augustin, who for many years would be his producer.

In 1967 he met German film director Werner Herzog and played a role in his first movie Lebenszeichen (1968). Fricke was later responsible for the soundtracks of several of Herzog's movies, among them Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (with Klaus Kinski and Bruno Ganz), Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Heart of Glass. Fricke also made a cameo appearance in Herzog's Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (1974).

Fricke was one of the first musicians to own and use a Moog III synthesizer, with which he recorded Popol Vuh's first two albums "Affenstunde" and "In den Gärten Pharaos". His recordings with the instruments left an indelible mark on German electronic music. However, he later significantly gave his Moog to fellow German musician Klaus Schulze and renounced electronic music.

In 1970, together with Holger Truelsch and Frank Fiedler, he founded the group Popol Vuh. The name is taken from a Mayan manuscript (see "Popol Vuh"). Fricke was the leader of the group until his death, almost always together with guitarist and drummer Daniel Fichelscher. Fricke also recorded an album of Mozart compositions.

Besides working on his own music, Fricke collaborated with many German musicians. In 1972 he played in the Tangerine Dream's Zeit double album and collaborated with Renate Knaup of Amon Düül II. Together with Fichelscher, from 1973 to 1974 he was a member of former Popol Vuh guitarist Connie Veit's band Gila. In 1992 he recorded an album of Mozart compositions. In the 1998 he organized audio/video installations, among them "Messa di Orfeo" in the Italian city of Molfetta. Beginning in the '70's, Fricke dedicated himself to musicotherapy. He also developed an original form of therapy called the "Alphabet of the Body".

Together with former Popol Vuh member Frank Fiedler, who was a competent cameraman, Fricke produced a series of films of spiritual inspiration set in the Sinai desert, Israel, Lebanon, Mesopotamia, Morocco, Afghanistan, Tibet and Nepal.

Fricke died of a stroke in Munich in 2001, at the age of 57.

In October 2003 Klaus Schulze wrote:

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Florian Fricke solo albums[edit]

For his albums with Popol Vuh, see Popol Vuh.