There are multiple bands named Popol Vuh: 1) A krautrock band from Germany.… Read Full Bio ↴There are multiple bands named Popol Vuh: 1) A krautrock band from Germany. 2) A progressive rock band from Norway later renamed Popol Ace.
1) Popol Vuh was a proto-ambient / experimental / krautrock band from Germany founded by Florian Fricke in 1970 together with Holger Trulzsch (percussion) and Frank Fiedler (electronics). Other important members during the next two decades included Conny Veit, Daniel Fichelscher and Robert Eliscu.
It began with an electronic approach as heard on first album "Affenstunde", inspired by the invention of the Moog synthesizer. This continued for only one more album, "In den Gärten Pharaos", before Fricke largely abandoned electronic instruments in favour of piano-led compositions from 1972's "Hosianna Mantra" forward. This album also marked the start of exploring overtly religious themes rather than a more generally spiritual feeling within the music. The group evolved to include all kinds of instruments: wind, percussion and strings, electric and acoustic alike, combined to convey a mystical aura that made their music spiritual and introspective.
Popul Vuh influenced many other bands from Europe with their uniquely soft but elaborate instrumentations, that took inspiration from Tibet, Africa, and Precolombian America. They created dream-like soundscapes along with psychedelic walls of sound, and are considered by some to be precursors of contemporary world music, as well of new age music and ambient.
The band contributed soundtracks to the films of Werner Herzog, including "Nosferatu", "Aguirre, the Wrath of God", "Fitzcarraldo", and "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser", in which Fricke appeared.
Florian Fricke died in Munich on December 29, 2001, and the group disbanded.
In October 2003 Klaus Schulze wrote "Florian was and remains to be an important forerunner of contemporary ethnic and religious music. He chose electronic music and his big Moog to free himself from the restraints of traditional music, but soon discovered that he didn't get a lot out of it and opted for the acoustic path instead. Here, he went on to create a new world, which Werner Herzog loves so much, transforming the thought patterns of electronic music into the language of acoustic ethno music."
2) Popol Vuh is one of the most infuential progressive rock bands from Norway. The band was formed in 1971, but had to change their name in 1975 because of a conflict with the German Popol Vuh. They later renamed themselves Popol Ace.
1) Popol Vuh was a proto-ambient / experimental / krautrock band from Germany founded by Florian Fricke in 1970 together with Holger Trulzsch (percussion) and Frank Fiedler (electronics). Other important members during the next two decades included Conny Veit, Daniel Fichelscher and Robert Eliscu.
It began with an electronic approach as heard on first album "Affenstunde", inspired by the invention of the Moog synthesizer. This continued for only one more album, "In den Gärten Pharaos", before Fricke largely abandoned electronic instruments in favour of piano-led compositions from 1972's "Hosianna Mantra" forward. This album also marked the start of exploring overtly religious themes rather than a more generally spiritual feeling within the music. The group evolved to include all kinds of instruments: wind, percussion and strings, electric and acoustic alike, combined to convey a mystical aura that made their music spiritual and introspective.
Popul Vuh influenced many other bands from Europe with their uniquely soft but elaborate instrumentations, that took inspiration from Tibet, Africa, and Precolombian America. They created dream-like soundscapes along with psychedelic walls of sound, and are considered by some to be precursors of contemporary world music, as well of new age music and ambient.
The band contributed soundtracks to the films of Werner Herzog, including "Nosferatu", "Aguirre, the Wrath of God", "Fitzcarraldo", and "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser", in which Fricke appeared.
Florian Fricke died in Munich on December 29, 2001, and the group disbanded.
In October 2003 Klaus Schulze wrote "Florian was and remains to be an important forerunner of contemporary ethnic and religious music. He chose electronic music and his big Moog to free himself from the restraints of traditional music, but soon discovered that he didn't get a lot out of it and opted for the acoustic path instead. Here, he went on to create a new world, which Werner Herzog loves so much, transforming the thought patterns of electronic music into the language of acoustic ethno music."
2) Popol Vuh is one of the most infuential progressive rock bands from Norway. The band was formed in 1971, but had to change their name in 1975 because of a conflict with the German Popol Vuh. They later renamed themselves Popol Ace.
Aguirre I
Popol Vuh Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Popol Vuh:
Queen Of All Queens Blond haired baby-doll glamour-girl long and tall, blue-eyed…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
EditioPrinceps
Fron Julian Cope´s "Head Heritage" site (http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/thebookofseth/popol-vuh-music-from-the-film-aguirre):
(...) "I only offer this preamble of minutiae to clear away some of the many misconceptions about a very overlooked and misjudged album that offers so much in terms of substantially transcendental moments. Moments which were the direct result of Fricke’s interfacing with not only the Moog synthesizer (in 1969, Fricke owned one of the very first Moog synthesizers in West Germany) but also the lesser known choir-organ. The choir-organ was a unique, handmade instrument capable of producing sounds similar to a mellotron recorded with substantial tape echo. The creator of this machine was an Austrian by the name of Herbert Prasch, owner of Bavaria Studios in Munich where his self-made keyboard instrument was stored. This machine, according to Amon Düül II guitarist John Weinzierl, was ‘comprised of four big boxes with tape recorders and four sets of keyboards’ and was initially used by American keyboardist Jimmy Jackson on Amon Düül II’s 1971 album, “Tanz Der Lemminge.” Jackson later continued his choir-organ contributions throughout Amon Düül II’s fifth album, “Wolf City,” as well as the one-off Amon Düül II project, Utopia. (The highlights included: “Surrounded By The Stars,” “Green-Bubble-Raincoated-Man,” “Jail-House Frog” and most noticeably of all -- both Amon Düül II’s and its offshoot Utopia’s respective versions of the terrifying “Deutsch Nepal.”)
It was at this time of the “Wolf City” sessions that Florian Fricke lent his Moog synthesizer to Amon Düül II, which indirectly led to his discovery of the choir-organ through several hubs of associations: not only with Bavaria Studios (where Popol Vuh had recorded many of their albums since their inception) but Amon Düül II (who shared a common member with Popol Vuh in Daniel Fichelscher) as well as Herbert Prasch (who also worked as a sound engineer on films directed by Werner Herzog.) Regardless of the sequence of events, Fricke did discover the choir-organ, did recordings for Werner Herzog’s film and then... "
also, from http://sanjindumisic.com/popol-vuh-and-the-choir-organ-sound-in-aguirre/:
"The choir sound in the film Aguirre: The Wrath of God, where the etheral sound is uniquely beautiful comes from a mellotron that was actually a choir organ. Created by Herbert Prasch and stored in his Bavarian studio in Münich. The first time it was used was when Jimmy Jackson together with Amon Düül recorded the album Tanz Der Lemminge. The choir sounds were recorded onto three dussins of tapes, that were hooked together parallel on a turning axle that turned all tapes continuously – resulting in that haunting ethereal sound. Some of the keys were colored to mark those that didn’t work, which must have given it a special look indeed.
The choir organ is supposed to be at some museum these days, in which I don’t know and haven’t found any information about it. I also haven’t found a photo of it, with neither Florian or anyone else playing the instrument. In an interview the Amon Düül singer, Renate Knaup says: 'It was a large, ancient Mellotron-type instrument that had been designed by some crazy instrument builder.' "
Mishta Romaniello
This is one of the only films that makes me feel like I’m in another universe. It’s still unbelievable that they made this film here on planet Earth, by human actors and human directors and human gaffers, for crying out loud. Truly a masterpiece.
Fabian Patrizio
totally agree.....it's like a dream
Mark Anderson
@Bonita Cacao i think this movie shows how horrible a supposed beauty is..
Bonita Cacao
Humans can be incredibly beautiful sometimes.
Dom H
One of the few films which haunts you forever, the beginning and the end are just unforgettable, Klaus Kinski is truly exceptional in his portrayal of a mad conquistador in search of Eldorado... Werner Herzog's masterpiece !
CDM192
I think a better alternative ending would be to have Aguirre seek Inez after the crew died off. He could apprehend her just before she dies in the forest. The last shot of him holding her limp body in his arms. A testament to all things lost as he years for future dreams with this woman.
Kalitas
I fucking love how Herzog allows every scene to just breathe, most evident by the opening. It makes a movie that's about 90 something minutes long feel like it was almost 3 hours in length and that's not a knock against it, it's one of the biggest reasons why this movie is so great. It really resembles the slow descent into madness that the crew experienced and the movie as a whole is simply mesmerizing and oozes with mystic atmosphere, that's elevated by this fantastic score. And gotta give props to Klaus Kinski because he was simply terrifying and a literal madman in it. Wonder how his version of Richard III would look like.
eyraudpa
Crazy adventure !! Herzog and Popol Vuh are magicians !!!
Stephen Parkin
What's weird is that the real Aguirre seems to have been even worse even than Kinski's portrayal of him. The expedition made it to the mouth of the river and up the coast until they found an island, which is where the real madness started. See Stephen Minta's 1995 book Aguirre: The Re-Creation of a Sixteenth-Century Journey Across South America. (from Wiki)
ulfingvar1
@Christopher Holmes Kinski was completely nuts, but with a great genius lurking in the darkness..