BONNEN - BONNEN LIEDER BOOK VOL VII (LP)

"In addition to Bonnen's own pieces, the album features interpretations of music by composers as diverse as John Cale, George Harrison and Frank Zappa, as well as musical settings of texts inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke, Joachim Ringelnatz and the Daodejing. Side A begins with a live recording by Belgian Radio from the Zappa Festival in Brussels in December 1995: »Uncle Remus« in a campfire version with a wonderfully out-of-tune guitar. Everything drifts by in the »Strömung«. Ringelnatz's poem certainly contains Daoist elements. This piece was recorded in 1984 using very basic equipment. George Harrison's connection to Eastern philosophies is well known; together with his Armenian colleagues from BAMBIR, Bonnen created an ambient version of Harrison's song in 2019. Sometimes less is enough, sometimes even more. A church organ, historical recordings of revolt and war, plus a few electronic sounds from the early 90s are enough to create an unusual ambience for John Cale's song. The circle is completed once again with a live production; the entire B-side, with its trance-like atmosphere, was recorded in Itzehoe in 2025. »Words« plays with Rilke's words." (label info)