Witthüser & Westrupp
| Witthüser & Westrupp | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | song writer |
| founding | 1969 |
| resolution | 1973 |
| Website | Witthüser & Westrupp - The Book |
| Founding members | |
Bernd Witthüser |
Vocals, acoustic, electric and 12-string guitar, mandolin, tenor banjo, guitar banjo , harmonica, kazoo, tambourine, triangle |
Walter Westrupp |
Vocals, ukulele, acoustic guitar, trombone, trumpet, harmonium, xylophone, psalter, flutes, harmonica, zither, drum, washboard, jew's harp, congas, bells, cymbals, cymbals, kettledrum, tambourine, rattle, castanets, triangle |
Witthüser & Westrupp were a German songwriter duo from Essen . The musicians Bernd Witthüser (1944–2017) and Walter Westrupp (* 1946) had their roots in the folk and protest song movement, but their titles had predominantly slapstick and psychedelic elements. Her best-known album was the concept album Der Jesuspilz from 1971, on which an unspecified substance ("the crumb") becomes a symbol of the divine. The duo existed from 1969 to 1973 and during this time also took part in sessions by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser , which appeared on several albums under the band name Cosmic Jokers .
history
Bernd Witthüser and Walter Westrupp were active in the Essen folk scene. They worked together in the Podium cellar bar . After Witthüser initially worked as managing director of the Essener Songtage founded by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser , Tom Schroeder and others in 1968 (and also performed there), the two joined forces in June 1969 to form a folk duo with a psychedelic touch. The duo initially called themselves W & W's Pop-Cabaret , in 1970 they changed their name to Witthüser & Westrupp .
Career
Songs of vampires, nuns and the dead
The first LP Songs of Vampires, Nuns and the Dead was recorded in Hamburg in March 1970 and dealt thematically with life, dying and death. It appeared on the newly founded label Ohr by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser . In addition to his own texts, poems by Heinrich Heine , Novalis , Thomas Rother and Baltus Brösel were set to music. The music came exclusively from Witthüser & Westrupp. Incorrectly, only Bernd Witthüser was named on the front cover, who was previously known as the "Protest singer of the Ruhr area". In contrast to the following LPs, the instrumentation was kept simple and economical. Her stage show at that time consisted of only one red and one green light - alternately for love and coffin members.
Trips & dreams
Trips und Träume, W & W's second LP, was recorded in March 1971 in Dieter Dierks' studio in Stommeln . It was created with the help of the musicians Bernd Roland and Renée Zucker . The producers were Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser and Gille Lettmann . The LP was also released on Ohr. This album also contains the songs Take a Joint, My Friend and Let's Go on a Journey (Text: Thomas Rother), which are among the most famous of the band. Witthüser & Westrupp also worked on the stage at this time. a. together with the Essen violist Paul Pudel.
The Jesus mushroom - music from the gospel
The third LP Der Jesuspilz was produced in August 1971 as part of the Jesus People movement . It was based on the book Secret Cult of the Sacred Mushroom by John Marco Allegro . The basic idea for this LP was to reinterpret the Bible . So the "crumb" was declared to be the essence of life, and Jesus addressed his disciples as "boys". The Bible texts Genesis 1 (Creation), Luke 3: 21-22; 6.13 (enlightenment and calling), Luke 9.12–17 (assembly), Mark 4.26–32 (“Confession”) and Mark 16.15 (the broadcast) were musically implemented and interpreted by Witthüser & Westrupp. A few other songs were also written, such as B. The Fall, Resurrection and Ascension and Vision 1, which - except for Vision 1 (Bauer Plath) - were not published. The LP was recorded again in the Dierks studio in Stommeln, with Dieter Dierks participating as a musician alongside Gille Lettmann. This production was produced by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser and Gille Lettmann. The album appeared on the subsidiary label of Ohr, also founded by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser, Pilz .
The world premiere of the "Jesus Opera" took place in the Apostle Church in Essen . The media response was great, so that the duo appeared in over a hundred churches in the Federal Republic and on German television.
Farmer Plath
After W & W had toured all of Germany with the music of the Gospel, they moved back to the seclusion of the small village of Dill in the Hunsrück. This is where the fourth LP Bauer Plath was made. It was dedicated to its landlord and bears his name. The suggestions were based on German and Indian fairy tales as well as texts by JRR Tolkien and Carlos Castaneda . Music and text came exclusively from Witthüser & Westrupp. The LP was recorded in June / July 1972 in the Dierks studio in Stommeln. The LP was again produced by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser and Gille Lettmann. Jürgen Dollase , Jerry Berkers , Tommy Engel , Harald Großkopf , Gille Lettmann, Antje Dahlhaus and Dieter Dierks were guest musicians . The LP is from the same session that Jerry Berkers' on the go album was created in. Bauer Plath also appeared on the Pilz label.
In parallel to the studio work, Witthüser & Westrupp were regularly on tour. They played in clubs and on cabaret stages (e.g. in the Mainz lower house). In Berlin they performed with Ingo Insterburg , Reinhard Mey , Ulrich Roski , Schobert and Black and Hannes Wader . They played at various pop and blues festivals, including the Fehmarn Festival on September 6, 1970, where they performed in front of Jimi Hendrix . They completed various television appearances, u. a. together with Insterburg & Co. , Franz Josef Degenhardt and Wallenstein . The duo could also be heard in productions by Klaus Schulze , Tangerine Dream , Sergius Golowin , Walter Wegmüller , Hoelderlin and Bröselmaschine .
Witthüser & Westrupp dissolved in March 1973. Bernd Witthüser traveled to India, then went to Berlin and later to Italy, where he lived as a street singer until the end. Walter Westrupp settled in Essen again.
At the end of 1973 a live double LP with concert recordings from Freiburg and Koblenz was released. This last LP of the duo was mixed by Dieter Dierks and produced by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser and Gille Lettmann. It also contained songs that had not been released on any of the previous LP.
A DVD, which was published by Walter Westrupp in 2005 under the title As if it had only been yesterday , shows the career of the two musicians using old television recordings, documentaries and pictures from 1968 to 2003 including the history of their invention (the tea bag lifting machine - TEHOMA) and the solo concert for electric coffee grinder.
The history of the duo is described in detail in Walter Westrupp's online book 68er nach Noten .
Web links