Popol Vuh

德國最經典的前衛(wèi)迷幻樂隊Popol Vuh，1969年成立于慕尼黑，樂團名字來自瑪雅文化關于人類起源的神圣之書，意指“相約之處”。樂隊廣泛涉足於搖滾，電子，民謠，世界音樂，New Age ...作品風格大多飄渺出世，充滿神秘主義，并融合不同民族元素。提起Popol Vuh，總讓人自然想起另一個傳奇的名字，那就是德國導演Werner Herzog。他的電影幾乎都是由Popol Vuh創(chuàng)作配樂，Aguirre，Fitzcarraldo，Cobra Verde， Nosferatu……電影與音樂相得益彰，都是同樣的經典。
 
樂隊靈魂人物Florian Fricke，是德國最早在音樂中使用MOOG合成器的人，創(chuàng)新一派的德國電子樂先鋒，制作了Affenstunde，In den Gärten Pharaos 這兩張MOOG樂史上的杰作，并包攬了Tangerine Dream樂隊Zeit專輯的MOOG演奏部分。（之后Popol Vuh轉變風格，把MOOG琴賣給了Klaus Schulze；Klaus Schulze拿到MOOG以后當年就做出了震古爍今的Irrlicht，而沒有了MOOG琴的Florian Fricke領導Popol Vuh在年尾做出了幾乎不插電的Hosianna Mantra。就是在那架傳奇的MOOG琴上Klaus做出了一張又一張的宇宙交響，想想如果沒有那戲劇性的一轉又如何？歷史就是這么回事兒）。 Fricke 同時也是一名專業(yè)影評人。
 
2001年12月，Florian Fricke于家中去世。（據說是平靜地躺在床上往生的，這倒很符合popol vuh的風格)。
 
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.