From Detroit to Tokyo, today’s techno musicians and electronic avant-gardists invoke Hans-Joachim Roedelius’ hypnotic sound experiments. As early as the 1970s, he had a decisive influence on the British pop scene around David Bowie and Brian Eno; during that decade, Eno described Harmonia as the “most important rock band in the world.”
In 2007 Herbert Grönemeyer’s label Grönland released a recording of a Harmonia concert from 1974, followed in 2009 by a re-release of the 1976 Eno-produced album “Tracks & Traces”. Roedelius continues to work on numerous projects, both solo and with band. He most recently released the 2013 album “Tiden”, a coproduction with Stefan Schneider of To Rococo Rot.
http://https://youtu.be/NTNEd5ZQ7Jw
Roedelius looks back on a colorful life not just within, but beyond music as well: he served time in East Germany’s notorious Bautzen prison for trying to flee the GDR, took up a practice in the 1960s as a qualified physical therapist and masseur for celebrities, and in the 1970s founded a nudist colony on Corsica. About his biography he says, “I’ve been a miner in a coal pit, a shepherd, a toilet cleaner, a roofer, and a nurse who looked after the dying […]. My university was life itself.”
Having hosted Harmonia’s legendary revival concert in 2007, HKW now undertakes an intensive exploration of Roedelius’s work, from music to the visual arts, in this three-day Lifelines program. His diverse creative achievements will be presented and reflected on from various perspectives in discussions, films, an installation, and, above all, concerts. Roedelius will be joined by fellow travelers from his past and present.
http://https://youtu.be/EHuEyIUFTa0
With: Hans-Joachim Roedelius, E S B, Peter Kruder, Caramusa, Richard Fearless, Qluster, Christoph Müller, Tempus Transit, Lloyd Cole, Christopher Chaplin, Astronauta Pinguim, Stefan Schneider, the Chor der Kulturen der Welt, a.o.
The Lifelines festival, held at irregular intervals, is dedicated to the lifework of artistic personalities. The series so far: Lifelines #1: Hugh Masekela, May 2009; Lifelines #2: Nuruddin Farah, December 2009; and Lifelines #3: Rubén Rada, April 2010.
Lifelines #4: Hans-Joachim Roedelius
Thursday, 03 September – Sunday, 06 September 2015
HKW / Haus der Kulturen der Welt | John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10 | 10557 Berlin/Tiergarten
