Manuel Göttsching was born in Berlin in 1952. He started a band with his friends Hartmut Enke (bass) and Klaus Schulze (drums). He was only fourteen years old at that time and listening to Cream, Fleetwood Mac and the Jimi Hendrix Experiece. The band changed name to Ash Ra Tempel where “Ash” means the ash, the remains, the final curtain. “Ra” stands for the Egyptian Sun God, the energy, the source of our lives and “Tempel” a place for rest and contemplation. Together they made five classic ‘Krautrock’ albums full of Blues and rock tinged psychedelic trips with extended space excursions, free flowing improvisations and instrumental music.
His later solo recordings are much influenced by his discovery of minimal music by composers like Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Terry Riley. Especially Steve Reich’s “6 Pianos” and “Music for 18 Musicians” had a huge influence on him. He created music with a minimum of equipment. Playing a single guitar, recording backwards at double or half speed, tuning the strings different and using dynamic pedals, and with the aid of lots of echo. The result became his trademark: remarkable free floating music.
Manuel Göttsching also had contact with members of Can. He visited them in Can’s studio near Cologne and did a session with them (1976), staying at Michael Karoli’s house. It would be interesting to know if there are recordings made at that time.
The song you can hear below is a favorite tune that i’ve edited a little for not making the file too big for this blog. It’s a great example of how his repeating music can get a grip on you, almost hypnotizing… The photo’s, text, and music from this article were collected from the big internet and it’s only purpose is to show this beautiful music to a much wider audience.
Click on the picture to watch the video (excerpt from “Zerfluss”)
