Biography and career
Little is known about Conny's life. In 1969 he founded Gila which, in 1971, recorded their first album, Free Electric Sound. In 1972 he joined Popol Vuh for a short period.
According to Conny: as for myself, in 1972, aged 21, I decided to move to Munich, because Popol Vuh’s Florian Fricke had invited me to collaborate on his new LP Hosianna Mantra. I had accepted the offer, yet I didn't want to leave Gila because Popol Vuh was a pure studio project. Anyway for me, it was not until I took that step that my life as a professional musician began. [3]
In 1973 he released the second Gila album, Bury my heart at wounded knee, with a new line-up featuring Daniel Fichelscher, Florian Fricke, Conny and his girlfriend Sabine Merbach. The second Gila iteration didn't have much of a lifespan either. Seemingly uninterested in touring, the band's focus splinted with Fichelscher and Fricke returning to Popol Vuh. For his part, Veit began working with Amon Düül II, before briefly hooking up with Guru Guru. He later turned his attention to painting. Suffering from alcoholism, Merbach died from liver failure. [4]
Daniel Fichelscher once stated that Conny was my best friend, I will never forget how we played 8 days a week. [5]
After the intensive work for Hosianna Mantra Conny Veit toured in France with Amon Düül II during the winter of 1973-1974 with Chis Karrer, John Weinzierl, Peter Leopold, Nick Woodland, Andy Vix and Jutta Weinhold. [3]
During 1985 and 1986 he was member of a band called Coney Island, under the name of Coney Fight.
In August 1999, Conny wrote to Wolf-Reinhart Kotzsch (owner of Second Battle recording company), stating that he had found suitable musicians for a new line-up of Gila, with whom he wanted to overdub some tracks recorded in their rehearsal studio in the eighties, which had not been released at that point in time. In Conny's view, the tapes were very interesting, because they offered a view about the possible development of the group at that period, if that should ever have materialized. In Hamburg I found some motivated musicians with close contacts to Berlin to bring Gila back to life again. There are some valuable tapes, although the material is not known to the public. [6]
Unfortunately, Second Battle couldn't get the project off the ground, because the label had to endure a lot of problems, like the insolvencies of business partners and the bootleg pirates, who have flooded the market of Progressive Rock for years and also destroyed more than one fellow company. Walter Nowicki released Gila's second album officially, so Conny had the chance to beat the bloodsucking "rip-off-managers" for once, just before his sad and untimely death. [6]
In 2008, Second Battle released the album Free Electric Rock Sessions, live in Koln 1972. [7]
Amon Düül II are a German rock band formed in 1968. The group is generally considered to be one of the pioneers of the West German krautrock scene. Their 1970 album Yeti was described by British magazine The Wire as "one of the cornerstones of ... the entire Krautrock movement".
Popol Vuh were a German musical collective founded by keyboardist Florian Fricke in 1969 together with Frank Fiedler, Holger Trülzsch (percussion), and Bettina Fricke. Other important members during the next two decades included Djong Yun, Renate Knaup, Conny Veit, Daniel Fichelscher, Klaus Wiese, and Robert Eliscu. The band took its name from the Mayan manuscript containing the mythology of highland Guatemala's K'iche' people.
Daniel "Danny" Secundus Fichelscher,, is a German multi-instrumentalist who played a pivotal role in Krautrock band Popol Vuh, was a member of the German group Gila and is currently Amon Düül II's drummer. Fichelscher is the son of jazz pianist and singer Toby Fichelscher.
Florian Fricke was a German musician who started his professional career with electronic music, using the Moog synthesizer, and was a founding member of the Krautrock band Popol Vuh.
Aguirre is the seventh album by German band Popol Vuh. It contains music used in the soundtrack to Werner Herzog's film Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), first released as an album in 1975 on Ohr, and reissued in 2004 by SPV with one bonus track. The soundtrack gained the band comparisons to renowned ambient musician Brian Eno. This score was the first of many filmic collaborations between the group and Herzog. Only two tracks are from the film; the rest were gathered from various recordings done by the group during the period 1972–74, including alternative versions of two songs originally released on the band's 1974 album, Einsjäger und Siebenjäger.
Hosianna Mantra is the third album by German band Popol Vuh. It was originally released in 1972 on the German record label Pilz. The album saw the band blend elements of Western classical music, Asian music, and space rock. For the release, bandleader Florian Fricke abandoned electronic synthesizers and instead employed acoustic instruments such as piano, oboe, and tambura. Prominently featured are Korean vocalist Djong Yun and electric guitarist Conny Veit.
Seligpreisung is the fourth album by German band Popol Vuh. It was originally released in 1973 on record label Kosmische Musik. The title is the German name for the Beatitudes, from Christ's Sermon on the Mount.
Einsjäger und Siebenjäger is the fifth album by Popol Vuh. It was originally released in 1974 on Kosmische Musik. In 2004 SPV re-released the album with two bonus tracks. "Wo bist Du?" was originally released on Popol Vuh's album Die Nacht der Seele as "Wo bist Du, der Du überwunden hast?".
Das Hohelied Salomos is the sixth album by Popol Vuh. It was originally released in 1975, on United Artists Records. In 2005, SPV re-released the album with three bonus tracks.
Nosferatu is the eleventh album by Popol Vuh and was released as the original motion picture soundtrack of Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht by director Werner Herzog. It was originally released in 1978 as On the Way to a Little Way. In 2004 SPV re-released the album with a slightly different track list and adding four tracks originally released on the Popol Vuh album Brüder des Schattens – Söhne des Lichts.
Brüder des Schattens – Söhne des Lichts is the tenth album by Popol Vuh. It was originally released in 1978 on Brain Records. In 2006 SPV re-released the album with one bonus track that was originally released on the remix compilation Sing, for Song Drives Away the Wolves in 1993. The first two tracks from this album were used for the soundtrack of Werner Herzog's film Nosferatu the Vampyre.
Sei still, wisse ICH BIN is the thirteenth album by Popol Vuh. It was originally released in 1981 on Klaus Schulze's record label Innovative Communication. In 2006 SPV re-released the album with one bonus track. "Wehe Khorazin", "Garten der Gemeinschaft", an extract of "Laß los" and "... als lebten die Engel auf Erden" were used in 1982 for the soundtrack of Werner Herzog's film Fitzcarraldo.
Agape – Agape / Love – Love is the fourteenth album by Popol Vuh. It was originally released in 1983 on Uniton. In 2004 SPV re-released the album with one bonus track.
Spirit of Peace is the 15th album by Popol Vuh. It was originally released in 1985 on Cicada. The first track was used by Werner Herzog in the soundtrack for his documentary film The Dark Glow of the Mountains about Reinhold Messner.
Cobra Verde is the sixteenth album by Popol Vuh. It was originally released in 1987 on Milan Records as the original motion picture soundtrack of Werner Herzog's Cobra Verde with Klaus Kinski. In 2006 SPV re-released the album with one bonus track.
City Raga is the eighteenth album by Popol Vuh which was originally released in 1995 on Milan Records.
Pilz was a German record label, set up in Berlin in 1971 by German music mogul Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser, who also established the label Ohr.
Gila was a psychedelic rock band from Stuttgart, Germany.
Romantic Warriors IV: Krautrock is a trilogy of feature-length documentaries about progressive music written and directed by Adele Schmidt and José Zegarra Holder. RW4 focuses on the progressive rock music from Germany popularly known as Krautrock, although the integration of Krautrock into the progressive rock genre is a purely American notion. In Europe, the conventional wisdom is that Krautrock can be considered at most as the connection between psychedelic rock and progressive rock. The term "Krautrock" was applied after-the-fact by British journalists, and in fact the German bands share very few similarities.
Gerhard Augustin was a German music producer. He was the first professional disc jockey in Germany and co-founder of the music program Beat-Club. Augustin helped generate a shift in German culture by introducing various genres of music at a time when schlager was the standard by giving exposure to krautrock bands such as Amon Düül II and Popol Vuh. He later became the head of A&R for United Artists Records in Munich, and then the producer and manager for American R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner.
