Guru Guru
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Guru Guru is one of the most notable German Krautrock bands, existing from the late 1960s to the present.
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[edit] Music
Guru Guru was formed in 1968 as The Guru Guru Groove by Mani Neumeier (drums) and Uli Trepte (bass), both related to the free jazz music scene and both worked with Swiss female pianist Irène Schweizer. Neumeier already won several Jazz-prizes. The band was influenced by rock music, such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, The Who, Rolling Stones and early Pink Floyd.
Among the band's friends were Amon Düül, Can and Xhol Caravan, with whom Guru Guru played jam sessions.
Frontman Mani Neumeier (drummer and singer) has an original style of playing drums, and is known in the European jazz rock-scene. He was also involved in numerous other projects, as Tiere der Nacht, The Psychedelic Monsterjam, Damo Suzuki's Network.
[edit] Social environment
Guru Guru's live performances in the late 1960es and early 1970es were politically left-oriented. They organized concerts together with the Socialist German Student Union, read political texts between the songs, and sometime played at the jails. Their shows were extravagant and anarchistic, some musicians lived together in the communes at the farms in german Odenwald region, experimented with hallucinogens (one of their songs is titled The LSD March/german: Der LSD-Marsch). Mani Neumeier is one of the organizers of the annual Krautrock-Festival Finkenbach.
[edit] Publicity
Guru Guru released over 20 LPs, and over 500.000 copies of their records were sold (all releases together). The band played numerous live concerts, appeared in the films, radio and television. In 1976 Guru Guru was the first German band in the TV-show WDR-Rockpalast.
[edit] Discography
- 1970 UFO
- 1971 Hinten
- 1972 Känguru
- 1973 Guru Guru
- 1973 Don't Call Us, We Call You
- 1974 Dance of the Flames
- 1975 Mani und seine Freunde
- 1976 Tango Fango
- 1977 Globetrotter
- 1978 Live
- 1979 Hey du
- 1981 Mani in Germany
- 1983 Mani Neumeiers neue Abenteuer
- 1987 Jungle
- 1988 Guru Guru 88
- 1988 Live 72
- 1993 Shake Well
- 1995 Wah Wah
- 1996 Mask (limited edition)
- 1997 Moshi Moshi
- 1999 Live 98 (3 CD - Set)
- 2000 2000 Gurus
- 2003 Essen 1970
- 2005 In the Guru Lounge
Mani Neumeier's discography: see Mani Neumeier
