Embryo (band)
Encyclopedia
Embryo is a musical collective from Munich
which has been active since 1969, although its story started in the mid-1950s in Hof
where Christian Burchard and Dieter Serfas met for the first time at the age of 10. It was one of the most important German
jazz-rock bands during the 1970s and has also been described as "the most eclectic of the Krautrock
bands."
, santur
, keyboard
) and Edgar Hoffmann (saxophone
, flute
s). To date more than 400 musicians have played with the collective, some, such as Charlie Mariano
, Trilok Gurtu, Ramesh Shotham
, Marty Cook
, Yuri Parfenov, Allan Praskin, X.Nie, Nick McCarthy, Monty Waters
and Mal Waldron
, have played on multiple occasions. Longtime members are Edgar Hoffmann (sax,violin),Dieter Serfas (drums), Roman Bunka
(guitar, oud
), Uve Müllrich (bass), Michael Wehmeyer (keyboard), Chris Karrer
(guitar, oud, violin, sax), Lothar Stahl (marimba
, drums), and Jens Polheide (bass, flute).
With Ton Steine Scherben
a. o. founder of the first German independent label Schneeball in 1976.
In 1979 the band started a nine month tour to India
by bus, which was documented by the movie "Vagabunden Karawane".
Embryo developed from jazz
y Krautrock to a world music
band, which is able to merge different styles and trends. Many of their albums originated during collective journeys on 4 continents. The band played many festivals around the globe: in India
(Mumbai Jazz 1979), England
(Reading 1973
), Nigeria
(Port Harcourt Jazz 1987), Japan
(Wakayama 1991) to name a few. In July 2008, Embryo was awarded the German World Music Award RUTH 2008 at the TFF.Rudolstadt
Festival.
In 1981, Müllrich and Wehmeyer left Embryo to form "Embryo's Dissidenten" who soon became Dissidenten
.
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
which has been active since 1969, although its story started in the mid-1950s in Hof
Hof, Germany
Hof is a city located on the banks of the Saale in the northeastern corner of the German state of Bavaria, in the Franconia region, at the Czech border and the forested Fichtelgebirge and Frankenwald upland regions....
where Christian Burchard and Dieter Serfas met for the first time at the age of 10. It was one of the most important German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
jazz-rock bands during the 1970s and has also been described as "the most eclectic of the Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
bands."
History
In 1969 the band was founded by multi instrumentalist Christian Burchard (drums, vibraphoneVibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
, santur
Santur
The santur is a Persian hammered dulcimerIt is a trapezoid-shaped box often made of walnut or different exotic woods. The Persian classical santur has 72 strings. The name santur was first referenced in ancient Persian poetry...
, keyboard
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
) and Edgar Hoffmann (saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s). To date more than 400 musicians have played with the collective, some, such as Charlie Mariano
Charlie Mariano
Carmine Ugo Mariano was an American jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Cologne, Germany.-Biography:Mariano was the son of Italian immigrants....
, Trilok Gurtu, Ramesh Shotham
Ramesh Shotham
Ramesh Shotham is a percussionist and drummer.-Life:Ramesh Shotham was born in Madras, South India. He graduated with a degree in zoology from Loyola College, University of Madras...
, Marty Cook
Marty Cook
Marty Cook is an American jazz trombonist.Cook was born in New York and raised in Ohio, where he began playing trombone at age seven. He played in New York in the late 1960s, recording with Marzette Watts in 1968. He played in a rock band in California from 1971–72 and then returned to New York,...
, Yuri Parfenov, Allan Praskin, X.Nie, Nick McCarthy, Monty Waters
Monty Waters
Monty Waters was an American jazz saxophonist , flautist and singer. Waters received his first musical training from his aunt and first played in the church. After his education in college, he was a member of a Rhythm & Blues band...
and Mal Waldron
Mal Waldron
Malcolm Earl Waldron was an American jazz and world music pianist and composer, born in New York City.Like his contemporaries, Waldron's roots lie chiefly in the hard bop and post-bop genres of the New York club scene of the 1950s; but with time, he gravitated more towards free jazz and composition...
, have played on multiple occasions. Longtime members are Edgar Hoffmann (sax,violin),Dieter Serfas (drums), Roman Bunka
Roman Bunka
Roman Bunka is a German guitarist and composer.His second instrument is the Arabic Oud. He is known for his work with Embryo, Fathy Salama, Mal Waldron, Dissidenten, Trilok Gurtu, Charlie Mariano, Mohamed Mounir and Malachi Favors.Roman Bunka lives in Munich.-Awards:* 1993 BBC Prix Futura for...
(guitar, oud
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
), Uve Müllrich (bass), Michael Wehmeyer (keyboard), Chris Karrer
Chris Karrer
Chris Karrer is a German guitarist and composer. He also plays oud, saxophone and violin.He is known as co-founder of Amon Düül and for his collaboration with Embryo.With his band Amon Düül II he composed film music for Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Niklashauser Fart...
(guitar, oud, violin, sax), Lothar Stahl (marimba
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
, drums), and Jens Polheide (bass, flute).
With Ton Steine Scherben
Ton Steine Scherben
Ton Steine Scherben was one of the first and most influential German language rock bands of the 1970s and early 1980s. Well-known for the highly political and emotional lyrics of vocalist Rio Reiser, they became a musical mouthpiece of new left movements, such as the squatting movement, during...
a. o. founder of the first German independent label Schneeball in 1976.
In 1979 the band started a nine month tour to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
by bus, which was documented by the movie "Vagabunden Karawane".
Embryo developed from jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
y Krautrock to a world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
band, which is able to merge different styles and trends. Many of their albums originated during collective journeys on 4 continents. The band played many festivals around the globe: in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(Mumbai Jazz 1979), England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
(Reading 1973
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...
), Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
(Port Harcourt Jazz 1987), Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(Wakayama 1991) to name a few. In July 2008, Embryo was awarded the German World Music Award RUTH 2008 at the TFF.Rudolstadt
TFF.Rudolstadt
The TFF Rudolstadt is Germany’s biggest folk, roots and world music festival. It takes place annually on the first full July weekend in Rudolstadt/Thuringia and lasts from Thursday evening to Sunday night...
Festival.
In 1981, Müllrich and Wehmeyer left Embryo to form "Embryo's Dissidenten" who soon became Dissidenten
Dissidenten
Dissidenten are a German rock band known for their collaborations with Middle Eastern, African and Indian musicians and the main protagonists of what the New York Times described in the 1980s as "world beat movement, led by groups like Dissidenten...."...
.
Discography
- 1967: For Eva (released on CD, featuring Mal WaldronMal WaldronMalcolm Earl Waldron was an American jazz and world music pianist and composer, born in New York City.Like his contemporaries, Waldron's roots lie chiefly in the hard bop and post-bop genres of the New York club scene of the 1950s; but with time, he gravitated more towards free jazz and composition...
) - 1970: Opal (released on LP and CD on Ohr (cat. 56003 and 556003))
- 1971: Embryos Rache (released on LP and CD)
- 1972: Father Sons & Holy Ghosts (released on LP and CD)
- 1973: Steig aus (released on LP and CD, featuring Mal Waldron)
- 1973: Rocksession (released on LP and CD featuring Mal Waldron)
- 1973: We keep on (released on LP and CD, featuring Charlie MarianoCharlie MarianoCarmine Ugo Mariano was an American jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Cologne, Germany.-Biography:Mariano was the son of Italian immigrants....
) - 1975: Surfin (released on LP,featuring Charlie Mariano)
- 1976: Bad Heads & Bad Cats (released on LP, featuring Charlie Mariano)
- 1977: Live (live, released on LP, featuring Charlie Mariano)
- 1977: Apo Calypso (released on LP, featuring Trilok Gurtu)
- 1979: Embryo's Reise (released on double LP and CD)
- 1980: Embryo+KCP+Charlie Mariano (live, released on LP)
- 1980: Every Day is ok (compilation, released on LP and CD featuring Charlie Mariano)
- 1982: La Blama Sparozzi (released on double LP)
- 1984: Zack Glück (released on LP)
- 1985: Embryo & Yoruba Dun Dun Orchestra (released on LP, collaboration with the Yoruba Dun Dun Orchestra)
- 1987: Afrika (released on LP)
- 1989: Turn Peace (released on LP and CD, featuring Mal Waldron)
- 1994: Ibn Battuta (released on CD, featuring Marty CookMarty CookMarty Cook is an American jazz trombonist.Cook was born in New York and raised in Ohio, where he began playing trombone at age seven. He played in New York in the late 1960s, recording with Marzette Watts in 1968. He played in a rock band in California from 1971–72 and then returned to New York,...
) - 1996: Ni Hau (released on CD, featuring X. Nie)
- 1998: Live in Berlin (live, released on CD)
- 1999: Istanbul - Casablanca Tour 1998 (live, released on double CD, featuring Alan Praskin)
- 1999: Invisible Documents (released on double CD)
- 2000: One Night at the Joan Miró Foundation (released on double CD, featuring Yuri Parfenov)
- 2001: Live 2000 Vol.1 (live, released on CD)
- 2001: Live 2001 Vol.2 (live, released on CD)
- 2003: Bremen 1971 (live, released on CD)
- 2003: Hallo Mik (liverecordings 2002 & 2003)(live, released on CD)
- 2006: Embryonnck (collaboration with the No-Neck Blues BandNo-Neck Blues BandThe No-Neck Blues Band, also known as NNCK, is a seven-member free-form improvisational musical collective from New York City. Formed in 1992, the original band was of eight members , and has practiced weekly in a space in Harlem since...
, released on CD) - 2007: Live im Wendland (live, released on CD)
- 2008: Freedom in Music (released on CD, featuring X. Nie)
- 2008: Live at Burg Herzberg Festival 2007 (live, released on CD)
- 2009: Wiesbaden 1972 (live, released on CD)
- 2010: Embryo 40 (compilation, released on double CD)
External links
- Website of the Band
- Complete Discography
- [ allmusic biography]
- Gnosis2000 Reviews