The Zodiak Free Arts Lab, sometimes known as the "Zodiak Club" or "Zodiac Club," was a short-lived but highly influential experimental live music venue, founded in the then West Berlin in late 1967 by German artists/musicians Conrad Schnitzler (b. West Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990 Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Conrad Schnitzler (b Düsseldorf, 1937 is a prolific German experimental Musician. Dusseldorf, 1937) and Hans-Joachim Roedelius (b. Düsseldorf (ˈdʏsəldɔɐf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Hans-Joachim Roedelius ( Hans-Joachim Rödelius, born October 26, 1934 in Http//www Berlin, 1934), together with Boris Schaak. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Year 1934 ( MCMXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
The Zodiak Free Arts Lab was based in a large rented backroom area within a building in Halleschen Ufer, along the north bank of the Landwehrkanal in the Kreuzberg district of the city, near the corner of Großbeerenstraße. The Landwehrkanal is a Canal in Berlin, Germany, built between 1845 and 1850 to plans by Peter Joseph Lenné. Kreuzberg, since 2001 part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin The main purpose of this building from 1962 until 1981 was as the first home of the Schaubühne, a politically inspired and motivated theatre company. Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 The Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz is a famous theatre in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin. Hence, the Zodiak could not open until late in the evening after the theatre itself had closed, so that the theatrical performances would not be drowned out by the noise.
The Zodiak itself was sub-divided into two main performance areas, one of which was painted completely white and the other completely black, and was filled with all kinds of instruments, amps and speakers which people could more or less do with as they pleased. Here, musicians were allowed to experiment with free jazz, psychedelic rock and avant-garde styles. For the Ornette Coleman album after which this genre was named see Free Jazz A Collective Improvisation. Psychedelic rock is a style of Rock music that attempts to replicate the mind-altering experiences of hallucinogenic drugs. Avant-garde (avɑ̃gaʁd in French) means "advance guard" or "vanguard Conventional forms of music were frowned upon: a phrase frequently used to describe the spirit of the times was that "songs were considered bourgeois. "
Among the many artists and bands who passed through the Zodiak in their early days were Ash Ra Tempel, Klaus Schulze and, most significantly, Tangerine Dream. Ash Ra Tempel are one of the most notable German Krautrock groups of the 1970s and are a notable example of cosmic or Space rock. Klaus Schulze (born August 4, 1947) is a German Electronic music Composer and musician. Tangerine Dream is a German Electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. While not quite reaching the status of being "house band," Tangerine Dream certainly played there frequently, sometimes for five or six hours a night and for little or no payment, and the loud, iconoclastic improvised music sometimes climaxed with Who-style destruction of equipment. The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964. The primary lineup consisted of guitarist Pete Townshend The club played an important role in the development of a style of music that would later be called krautrock. Krautrock is a generic name for the Experimental music scene that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s especially in Britain
Whether due to the Schaubühne's management calling for things to be toned down, or the restlessness of the West Berlin scene simply seeking other outlets for expression, has not been recorded, but the Zodiak lasted only a few months, closing in early 1968. Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Nevertheless, it earned a significant place in German rock history and is fondly remembered by all who were associated with it. In 1969 one of its founders, Conrad Schnitzler, joined Tangerine Dream for a while, playing on their first album Electronic Meditation, released in 1970. Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Electronic Meditation is the debut album by the German Electronic music group Tangerine Dream. Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. After leaving Tangerine Dream, Schnitzler rejoined one of the Zodiak's other founders, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, together with Dieter Moebius (b. Dieter Moebius ( Dieter Möbius, born 1944 in Switzerland) is a German / Swiss experimental / Krautrock / ambient / Switzerland, 1944), and formed his own band, Kluster (name later anglicised to Cluster). Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Kluster was a German Krautrock or experimental musical group whose work often resembles later Industrial music.
As for the building that once housed the Zodiak: in 1981 the Schaubühne relocated to its present home in a former cinema (the Kino Universum, designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn in 1926), in Lehniner Platz, along the Kurfurstendamm. Erich Mendelsohn ( 21 March 1887 &ndash 15 September 1953) was a German Jewish Architect, known for his Year 1926 ( MCMXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Kurfürstendamm, known locally as the Ku'damm, is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin, Germany. Its old home then became the Theater am Halleschen Ufer. Today it is one of two additional venues complementing the Hebbel Theater nearby in Stresemannstraße; specifically it is now known as Hebbel am Ufer 2 or HAU 2.
External links
- (French) Zodiak Club, overview at Néosphères
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