If you've ever seen a film by German director Werner Herzog, then
you've been enchanted by the music of Popol Vuh. Aguirre:
the Wrath of God, Fitzcaraldo, Nosferatu, and
Heart of Glass are among the films that garnered much of
their atmosphere from scores composed by Popol Vuh founder and
pianist, Florian Fricke. On December 29th, at the age of 57, Florian
Fricke died following a stroke.
Popol Vuh was a German progressive rock group that recorded over 24 albums from 1969 until the present. Florian Fricke was the founding member of the group. A classically trained pianist who gave performances of Bach, Mozart and Schubert in his youth, he even recorded an album of Mozart in 1991. But he told me that even as a child, he was improvising on the piano and making his own music. In the 60s, he was on the leading edge of the German progressive rock scene, affectionately called "Krautrock."
Always a spiritually-inclined man, he took his group's name, Popol Vuh, from the Mayan book of the dead. They recorded their first album, Affenstunde, in 1969. On its classic cover, Florian sits on the floor in front of a large Moog Modular Synthesizer as Holger Trulzsch plays tabla, and I believe their producer Bettina plays dumbek. The sheepskin vests, paisley shirts and headbands are a dead giveaway to the era.
Florian thought the Moog would open up new pathways, but he abandoned it after their second album, In Den Garten Pharoas and sold it to Klaus Schulze, who went on to become a legendary synthesist. Fricke switched to piano and brought on electric guitarist Daniel Fichelscher and singer Djong Yun. This is the classic Popol Vuh line-up that explored a sound driven by rock and world rhythms, with Fischelscher's ringing electric leads and Byrds-like chords and the Korean vocalist Djong Yun singing in German, but sounding wordless.
A string of albums that included Letzte Tage, Letzte Nächte, Das Hohelied Salomos and Einsjaeger und Siebenjaeger are classics, with echoes of the Grateful Dead, but shorn of the folk and blues basis of that group's music. Instead, Popol Vuh had an eastern sensibility that merged with Fricke's western Christian upbringing. Fricke visited India several times and was imbued with Indian spirituality, although he said, "I don't make eastern music." That accounts for bi-spiritual titles like Hosiana Mantra.
Popol Vuh's music captivated German film director Werner Herzog, and he used their music in almost all his films, beginning with Aguirre: the Wrath of God in 1972. The image of the Spanish explorers descending into the South American valley of their doom will forever be linked with Fricke's haunting score for mellotron and synthesizer. Florian actually appeared in one film, Every Man for Himself and God Against All (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser), playing the role of pianist Mr. Florian.
In the 1990s, Fricke experimented with his sound, employing Celtic themes and electronica rhythms, with mixed results. In 1983, I interviewed Florian in Munich. It was late at night and the interviewees were drunk, leading to a very chaotic exchange. Guitarist Daniel Fichelscher was riotously drunk, shouting comments like "Van Morrison is the tops," "I love Jimi Hendrix" and "Don't listen to me. I'm only the guitar player." Even though he was off-mike, he was the loudest thing in the room. Florian, on the other hand was reserved and a bit embarrassed by his compatriot's outbursts as he tried, in halting English, to explain his music. We couldn't use the interview in 1982 for our documentary series Totally Wired, and 20 years later, I still can't find much of coherence on it, except Florian Fricke saying "My entire life is in my music. All of it."
1973-1978 - TANTRIC SONGS 
If you can only get one Popol Vuh album, this is the one. It's
a U.S.-released collection containing all of Popol Vuh's 3rd album,
Hosianna Mantra, the first with Djong Yun. It's also their first
album without synthesizers and shows them moving towards a more
pastoral chamber music sound with eastern overtones. It also includes
about half of their 1979 album, Die Nacht der Seele, with Daniel
Fichelscher on guitars. But the main reason to get Tantric Songs
is for "Brothers of Darkness, Sons of Light." Originally
released as the title track to another album, this 16 minute opus
was also used in Herzog's "Nosferatu," but is not on
that soundtrack album. This is classic Popol Vuh, a deep, modal
groove anchored by Fricke's piano, chiming percussion and Fischelscher's
ringing guitar.
1972-1988 - IN THE GARDENS OF PHARAO/AGUIRRE 
This is another U.S. collection. It contains the haunting 6 minute
title theme to Aguirre, the Wrath of God, and both LP sidelong
tracks from Popol Vuh's second album, In the Gardens of Pharao.
Largely synthesizer drones and environmental sounds, the latter
doesn't quite hold up. The album concludes with a three part solo
piano suite called Spirit of Peace, recorded during a full moon
in 1982.
1974 - SELIGPREISUNG
1975 - EINSJÄGER UND SIEBENJÄGER
1975 - DAS HOHELIED SALOMOS
1976 - LETZE TAGE, LETZE NÄCHTE
These four albums weren't created as a quartet, but they form
one in retrospect. For me, this is the sound of Popol Vuh: heroic,
modal compositions with Daniel Fichelscher's electric guitar calling
out to the heavens against Djong Yun's ethereal voice, percussion
that rings and rattles, and Florian Fricke's urgent piano voicings.
Imagine the Grateful Dead at their "Dark Star" jamming
best, but without the folk and blues underpinnings and infused
with an eastern sense of time and timbre. This is dynamically
spiritual music, a celestial celebration as the titles suggest,
The High Song of Solomon, Last Days-Last Nights, and Beatitude.
The production is terrible, the sound mediocre, but the spirit
of this music is undeniable. These albums might be harder to find,
but are worth seeking.
BEST OF POPOL VUH-WERNER HERZOG 
One of those maddening collections with titles changed and alternate
versions of songs used. Nevertheless, it is a U.S. release and
has classic songs from throughout the span of Popol Vuh's early
music, including tracks from Nosferatu, Aguirre and more.
Albums to avoid:
1976 - YOGA
Really a CD of ragas featuring sitarist Al Gromer Khan
1995 - CITY RAGA
Florian submits himself to a techno remix.
1970 - AFFENSTUNDE
Their first CD. Drone zone synthesizer. For hard core fans only.
