Holger Czukay (Holger Schüring, 24 March 1938 – 5 September 2017) was a Ger… Read Full Bio ↴Holger Czukay (Holger Schüring, 24 March 1938 – 5 September 2017) was a German musician. He co-founded the influential rock group Can in 1968. He was a singer and played bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, percussion, drums, and French horn.
He was born in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdansk). Czukay studied under Karlheinz Stockhausen from 1963 to 1966.
Czukay recorded some notable early ambient albums, and is important for his utilization of shortwave radio sounds and sampling, and has collaborated with a considerable number of musicians.
Initially Czukay had little interest in rock music, but this changed, when a student played him the Beatles' 1967 song "I Am the Walrus", a 1967 psychedelic rock single with an unusual musical structure and blasts of AM radio noise. This opened his ears to music by rock experimentalists such as The Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa.
Czukay co-founded Can in 1968. He played bass guitar and performed most of the recording and engineering for the group. Rosko Gee, former bassist of the British band Traffic, joined the band in 1977, with Czukay handling only tapes and sound effects on album Saw Delight, his final LP with the group before departing for a solo career.
After his departure from Can, Czukay recorded several albums. One of his trademarks was the use of shortwave radio sounds and his early pioneering of sampling, in those days involving the painstaking cutting and splicing of magnetic tapes. He would tape-record various sounds and snippets from shortwave and incorporate them into his compositions. He also used shortwave as a live, interactive musical instrument (such as on 1991's Radio Wave Surfer), a method of composition he termed "radio painting". Czukay also stated "If you want to make something new, you shouldn't think too far beyond one certain idea".
Czukay collaborated with a considerable number of musicians, notably a series of albums with Jah Wobble and David Sylvian, two younger British musicians who shared his interest in blending pop music with experimental recording and sampling techniques. Other collaborators include U.N.K.L.E, Brian Eno, Eurythmics, and German Neue Deutsche Welle band Trio.
In 2009, after a problematic time with the record company that had been gradually re-releasing his albums on CD, Czukay began a new collaboration with the Claremont 56 record label, releasing vinyl-only remixes of tracks from earlier albums, as well as some new recordings. This approach changed Czukay's plans for his back catalogue, so that the original albums Der Osten ist Rot (1984), Rome Remains Rome (1987) and Moving Pictures (1993) will no longer be reissued (in the case of Moving Pictures, because the master tapes have degraded beyond repair). Instead, most of the tracks are being re-made and newly organized as limited edition vinyl releases.
He was born in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdansk). Czukay studied under Karlheinz Stockhausen from 1963 to 1966.
Czukay recorded some notable early ambient albums, and is important for his utilization of shortwave radio sounds and sampling, and has collaborated with a considerable number of musicians.
Initially Czukay had little interest in rock music, but this changed, when a student played him the Beatles' 1967 song "I Am the Walrus", a 1967 psychedelic rock single with an unusual musical structure and blasts of AM radio noise. This opened his ears to music by rock experimentalists such as The Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa.
Czukay co-founded Can in 1968. He played bass guitar and performed most of the recording and engineering for the group. Rosko Gee, former bassist of the British band Traffic, joined the band in 1977, with Czukay handling only tapes and sound effects on album Saw Delight, his final LP with the group before departing for a solo career.
After his departure from Can, Czukay recorded several albums. One of his trademarks was the use of shortwave radio sounds and his early pioneering of sampling, in those days involving the painstaking cutting and splicing of magnetic tapes. He would tape-record various sounds and snippets from shortwave and incorporate them into his compositions. He also used shortwave as a live, interactive musical instrument (such as on 1991's Radio Wave Surfer), a method of composition he termed "radio painting". Czukay also stated "If you want to make something new, you shouldn't think too far beyond one certain idea".
Czukay collaborated with a considerable number of musicians, notably a series of albums with Jah Wobble and David Sylvian, two younger British musicians who shared his interest in blending pop music with experimental recording and sampling techniques. Other collaborators include U.N.K.L.E, Brian Eno, Eurythmics, and German Neue Deutsche Welle band Trio.
In 2009, after a problematic time with the record company that had been gradually re-releasing his albums on CD, Czukay began a new collaboration with the Claremont 56 record label, releasing vinyl-only remixes of tracks from earlier albums, as well as some new recordings. This approach changed Czukay's plans for his back catalogue, so that the original albums Der Osten ist Rot (1984), Rome Remains Rome (1987) and Moving Pictures (1993) will no longer be reissued (in the case of Moving Pictures, because the master tapes have degraded beyond repair). Instead, most of the tracks are being re-made and newly organized as limited edition vinyl releases.
Music In The Air
Holger Czukay Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Music In The Air' by these artists:
Christmas We're walking in the air We're floating in the moonlit sky T…
Dolf van der Linden & His Orchestra There's something in the air That wants me to beware tonight…
Fire & Rain Christmas is in the air You sense it this time of…
Luis Eduardo Aute Invisible is music in the air, but thought your eyes... I…
N/A Pretty girl why sad eyes? They said as she passed by Taking…
Sibongile Khumalo You'll find love You'll find love in music You'll find love …
The Royal Bopsters Music in the air Can be heard wherever you go, Every breeze…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Holger Czukay:
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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David Mantripp
One of the most gorgeous pieces of music I've ever heard. I've got lost in this a million times. RIP, Holger.
Joseph Whitaker
Ditto x
Γιάννης Καραβίτης
HUGE MUSICIAN! THANK YOU FOR THE TREASURES
Michael Wosslert
So lovely.
BuddhaBoy
RIP, and thank you...
Anselm Andrian
R.I.P. Rest in peace .
Amapola Ernst Fernández
<3
markkeogh18
Apparently Sylvian was invited to do a vocal on this.
Moose TheDJ
I just read that. Were they not used or was it just distorted?
markkeogh18
Probably the former. Perhaps Anthony Reynolds upcoming book will clarify things.