* * * * * * * kdm

Compared to the whizz of the light, the SOUND comes gently along. It is considerably more earthly and closer to us. The auricle has the shape of a funnel and one imagines hearing as if something were poured into us as into a vessel. Music penetrates right into our centre and twitches from there through all our limbs. You can lie down in music like water, drink it like wine, be shaken by it like wind, irradiated by it like light; beat and rhythm drive into your bones and muscles as a moving force, in short: it has body and is in our body. There are people on whom it has the effect of a drug, stimulating to the point of ecstasy, destructive in its after-effects, dissolving and softening; Wagneritis at times certainly had the effect of an alcoholic epidemic, violent wine injected directly into the veins. A very coarse variety is the raucous concert in the beer and coffee house, which drives out all contemplation with its din and numbs the nerves like a thick beer vapour. No art gets into the blood as strongly as music. The physical effect is often stronger than the artistic effect.

Does Klaus play Ambient?
. . . .An American journalist is writing a book and he sent me some excerpts of his writing, in advance. He tried to describe all the seventies' albums by Klaus and to my surprise he marked them all (!) as "ambient" music. ... Therefore, I wrote him:
. . . .Yes of course you can use a modern word for an older music. It's just that there is TOO MANY "ambient" in your reviews that catched my attention; as if KS only, mainly and consciously did "Ambient Music", but the opposite is true.
. . . .Neither KS nor the fans or the press heard Schulze's music at time of release (and many years after) as "ambient" in a way Eno meant it and did it later: as a kind of "Muzak for the educated classes".
. . . .Maybe you should turn up the loudness when listening to Klaus' music? "Moondawn" for instance was very well received when it came out, and I heard many people speak about it, read hundreds of reviews and articles about it, it was in French hit lists, but no one ever said that "Moondawn" is an "ambient" album. Because for this genre it's much too lively. Same with "Body Love" and the rest of your many "ambient" described albums. After 26 years of work with KS I can easily separate all this boring, dead, new age, ambient, and noodling music, ...from the very emotional (which is the opposite of "ambient"), and partly even soulful music of Klaus Schulze.
. . . .It's not that I am a big fan of his music (I prefer completely other music), but I can hear this stark difference. Schulze's music touches the people, it is full of passion. In fact this is Klaus' trademark. Pause. On the contrary, "Ambient" is used to fill the ambient of rooms with nice sounds that does not disturb the people.
. . . .Of course, if you really see it (hear it) your own way, and if you are not just using a fashionable term, feel free to call Klaus' music "ambient", even if - historically & musically - it isn't.
. . . .It reminds me on a scene in a funny Hollywood movie: A hillbilly hears an LP with some Beethoven or Brahms and he proudly announces: "That's classical music, yep? Well, I hear that at once: No singing!" (The KS Circle # 47, from summer 2000)

Es sind die Laien die abhängig sind von Stimmungen; ein professioneller Musiker gibt sich immer Mühe.

"Vor den Erfolg haben die Götter den Scheiß gesetzt."

...gab's im "The KS Circle" zum Beispiel dies:

Jemand fragte: Du hast in einem der letzten Circles geschrieben, daß von der 1979er Tour noch etliche Tapes existieren. Ist da auch das aus der Bielefelder Oetkerhalle dabei? Und hast Du irgendwelche Aufzeichnungen darüber in Dein Tagebuch geschrieben? Es war mein erstes Schulze-Konzert (als 18jähriger) und soweit ich mich erinnere, war ich ziemlich begeistert. Anschliessend habe ich dann die mir noch fehlenden Schulze-Platten erworben und sozusagen "auswendig gelernt."

...und ich antwortete:

➪ Die ersten Städte der langen 1979er Tournee sind nicht bei den Bändern mit den Konzertmitschnitten. Also leider auch nicht Bielefeld :-(
. . . .Ich erinnere mich aber daran: Gütersloh & Bielefeld wurden vom gleichen örtlichen Veranstalter durchgeführt und in Gütersloh mussten wir feststellen, dass der für beide Orte eine riesige(!) Laser-Show angekündigt hatte, die wir angeblich beim Konzert machen würden. Dabei hatten wir nur einen kleinen Mini-Laser mit, den wir (unangekündigt) an nur einer bestimmten Stelle kurz und überraschend einsetzten. Wegen dieser völlig überzogenen Vorankündigung entschlossen wir uns, den kleinen Laser in beiden Städten nicht einsetzen. Er hätte die Erwartungen der Zuschauer in Gütersloh & Bielefeld überhaupt nicht erfüllen können; also dann lieber überhaupt nicht. Natürlich waren wir stinksauer auf den Veranstalter, denn wir liebten diese kleine Einlage. Wenn ich mich recht entsinne, hat unser Tourmanager dem Veranstalter verabreicht, was er verdient hat: ein paar Backpfeifen. Das ist meine Erinnerung an Bielefeld 1979.