Hoelderlin

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Hoelderlin is a German rock band that existed in Wuppertal from 1970 to 1981 in various formations and has been performing together again since 2005. Their music developed from folk rock to progressive rock . They also used classical instruments such as cello , viola and flute .

history

The brothers Christian and Andreas von Grumbkow founded the beat band The Beatkids in 1963 . In 1965 they formed the Action Issue Blues Band with their younger brother Joachim . In 1970 Christian and Joachim began, together with the singer and dancer Nanny de Ruig, to play folk rock in the style of the then successful English and American groups. From November 1970 the formation called itself Hoelderlin . From an originally changing group of accompanying musicians, Christoph Noppeney, Peter Käseberg and Michael Bruchmann joined the band's first permanent line-up:

  • Nanny de Ruig (vocals, dance)
  • Joachim von Grumbkow (cello, flute, guitar, keyboard)
  • Christian von Grumbkow (guitar)
  • Christoph Noppeney (viola, guitar)
  • Peter Käseberg (bass)
  • Michael Bruchmann (drums and percussion)

The group's initially German texts were mainly written by Christian von Grumbkow and Peter Käseberg, influenced by the work of the poet and namesake Friedrich Hölderlin . The first album "Hölderlins Traum" was recorded from January 1972 under the direction of Dieter Dierks for Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser's label Ohr and was released in the same year on his sub-label Pilz . Through appearances and interviews with many German radio stations, Hoelderlin became known and also received critical acclaim. The band worked with texts by Bert Brecht , Erich Fried and HC Artmann and played over 80 concerts within a year.

At the end of 1973 Nanny de Ruig, Christian von Grumbkow's partner, left the stage because of her pregnancy. The sound of the group, which became more and more rock during the concerts in 1973, changed steadily during the numerous other concerts in 1974 due to the lack of a singer, with improvisations in the style of progressive rock taking up a lot of space. Due to differences in content with Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser, however, no new album was produced and the contract with Ohr was finally terminated in October 1974.

After switching to the Intercord (Spiegelei) label , the album "Hoelderlin" was released in 1975, the original partly German lyrics of which were recorded entirely in English at the pressure of the record company. Conny Plank took over the production . Due to musical differences, Peter Käseberg left the band in 1975 and was replaced by Hans Bäär . The band played over 80 concerts again this year, partly as a sextet with saxophonist Büdi Siebert . With this line-up, the concept album "Clowns & Clouds" followed again in 1976 under the sound direction of Conny Plank and production by Karl-Heinz Borchert. In 1977 Hoelderlin also played as a backing band on Ina Deter's debut album and at festivals with the Scorpions and Guru Guru .

In the summer of 1977 Christian von Grumbkow withdrew from the band as an active musician, but continued to work as an author and pioneer for the visual design. For him came the Spanish guitarist Pablo Weeber , with whom the LP Rare Birds was recorded. During the live concerts, the band worked more with visual effects, projections and costumes. The style had evolved into progressive rock. At some of the almost 60 concerts on the autumn tour, recordings were made for a live album, which was released as a double LP in 1978 under the title Traumstadt . With 30,000 copies in 6 months, the record sold significantly better than the previous ones and was voted one of the three best albums of the year by the Sounds readers .

For Pablo Weeber, however, Thomas Lohr came on guitar in the spring of 1978 and the group completed two tours in spring and autumn, after which Christoph Noppeney and Michael Bruchmann left the band to devote themselves to their professions. Rüdiger Elze (guitar) and Eduard Schicke (drums, ex- Schicke Führs Fröhling ) came as new members . Back at Conny Plank, the album “New Faces” was created in 1979 with compositions by Christian von Grumbkow, Christoph Noppeney and Hans Bäär. After your last album Fata Morgana was released , Hoelderlin disbanded in 1982.

Joachim von Grumbkow died at the end of 1990. In February 2005, EMI / Capitol Records released the live album Traumstadt as a digitally remastered version with two previously unreleased bonus tracks: Before you lay Down and Traum .

Since autumn 2005 a new Hoelderlin formation with the original members Hans Bäär and Michael Bruchmann has been performing live again. One of the concerts was recorded by Westdeutscher Rundfunk in December 2005 as part of the WDR Rockpalast series. In July 2006 Hoelderlin played in front of 10,000 concert-goers at the Burg Herzberg Festival. From June to December 2006, the band worked with sound engineer and co-producer Dieter Krauthausen in Cologne on a new studio album entitled  8 .

On February 2, 2007 EMI released some old Hoelderlin albums (Hoelderlin, Clowns and Clouds, Rare Bird, New Faces and Fata Morgana) as digitally remastered versions with bonus tracks and an elaborate artwork with previously unpublished photos from the original production time of the respective albums . On March 9, 2007, the band's new studio album entitled 8 was released on EMI / Odeon.

Occupations

  • Nanny de Ruig - vocals (until 1973)
  • Christian von Grumbkow - guitar (until 1977)
  • Joachim von Grumbkow - cello, flute, guitar, keyboards, vocals (until 1981)
  • Christoph Noppeney - viola, guitar, keyboards, vocals (until 1978)
  • Peter Käseberg - bass, vocals (until 1975)
  • Joachim Käseberg - guitar, live sound (1972–1981)
  • Michael Bruchmann - drums, percussion (1971–1978)
  • Hans Bäär - bass, guitar, vocals (1975–1981)
  • Pablo Weeber - guitar, vocals (1977–1978)
  • Thomas Lohr - guitar (1977–1978 / 1980–1981)
  • Ede Schicke - drums (1979–1981)
  • Rüdiger Elze - guitar (1979)
  • Bernd König - vocals (1979–1981)
  • Dirk Schilling - guitar (2005-2006)

Current line-up from 2005:

  • Ann-Yi Eötvös - vocals, violin
  • Andreas Hirschmann - keyboard, vocals
  • Hans Bäär - bass, guitar, vocals
  • Michael Bruchmann - drums, percussion

Discography

  • Hölderlin's Dream (1972)
  • Hoelderlin (1975)
  • Clowns and Clouds (1976)
  • Rare Birds (1977)
  • Hoelderlin Live - Dream City (1978/79)
  • New Faces (1979)
  • Mirage (1981)
  • 8 (2007)

Web links