Intuitive Music

Hans-Joachim Roedelius

Born in Berlin 1934, Hans-Joachim Roedelius is one of the pioneers of electronic music, synthesis and sound exploration.

As a child, Roedelius was witness of the National Socialism Stormtroopers’ marches, the Reichskristallnacht. He worked as child actor in various Universe Film AG (UFA) films and later moved out from Berlin with his mother in order to scape from the continual bombing of the city, staying in East Prussia and Sudetenland. After the war and during the communism, he worked as a coal miner working 1,000 metres underground and later was called for the military service in the National People’s Army, but he deserted with the tragic consequence of spending over two years’ imprisonment in East Germany. After his release, he became a nurse and was trained as a physiotherapist. He later moved to West Berlin where he did all short of jobs, including detective, painter and decorator, mountain guide, waiter, and chef in a nudist holiday camp. During the late 60’s, he worked as a freelance therapist and he even treated the wife of the then President of the French Republic and later co-founded the music commune “Human Being” and the Berlin Centre for Underground Culture “Zodiak”.

In 1969, during a trip to the island of Corsica, Roedelius offered his first solo concert for a group of students in a communist holiday camp, but his performance, which included recordings of car noises, was not very well received. Back in Berlin, Roedelius became the pupil of Josef Beuys and during the late 60’s he started his proffesional career as a musician and composer, making several dance and theatre works for Caroline Carlsen, Esther Linley, Mark Lintern-Harris and Joao de Bruco.

In 1968, Roedelius met Conrad Schnitzler and in 1970 they formed the band Kluster along with Dieter Moebius, which was one of the most creative bands from the krautrock scene during the 70’s. In 1971, the trio became a duo Cluster after a href=”conrad-schnitzler-biography”>Conrad Schnitzler’s departure. As a duo, Cluster was one of the most important pioneer bands in electronic experimentation, synthesis, and ambient music.

In 1974, Roedelius became part of the Harmonia trio, an extension of Cluster with the presence of Neu!’s guitarist Michael Rother, releasing the albums “Musik Von Harmonia” (1974) and “De Luxe” (1975). In 1977, Cluster after a href=”conrad-schnitzler-biography”>Conrad Schnitzler started a series of collaborations with Brian Eno with the album “Cluster and Eno” and Roedelius worked on different ocassions with Eno in the studio and in live performances.

In 1978, Roedelius started his solo career parallel to Cluster with the album ” Durch die Wuste” and he has released more than 80 albums during the last 3 decades since. An autodidact, Roedelius was primarly influenced by classical composers, such as Beethoven, Erik Satie, Rachmaninov, Claude Debussy, Pierre Henry, and Ianis Xenakis. Roedelius describe his music as the sound of literature, as philosophy in sound, sound cinema, or sound theatre. He has been one of the most important musicians to open new ways in the fields of free composition and ambient enviromental music. The work of Roedelius as influenced numerous electronic, new age and ambient artists, including Pete Namlook and Neina.

Roedelius has also collaborated with numerous composers and musicians such as Holger Czukay, Conny Plank, Peter Baumann, Fabio Capanni, Mani Neumeier, Jurij Novoselic, Hiroshi Kobayashi, , Alexander Czjzek, Brian Turrington, and many others.