“There's no real objection to escapism, in the right places... We all want to escape occasionally. But science fiction is often very far from escapism, in fact you might say that science fiction is escape into reality... It's a fiction which does concern itself with real issues: the origin of man; our future. In fact I can't think of any form of literature which is more concerned with real issues, reality.”
― Arthur C. Clarke
René Daumal (16 March 1908 – 21 May 1944) was a French spiritual para-surrealist writer and poet, most known for his posthumously published novel Mount Analogue (1952).
He was born in Boulzicourt, Ardennes, France. In his late teens his avant-garde poetry was published in France's leading journals, and in his early twenties, although courted by André Breton co-founded, as a counter to Surrealism and Dada, a literary journal, "Le Grand Jeu" with three friends, collectively known as the Simplists, including poet Roger Gilbert-Lecomte . He is known best in the U.S. for two novels; A Night of Serious Drinking, and the allegorical novel Mount Analogue: A Novel of Symbolically Authentic Non-Euclidean Adventures in Mountain Climbing, both based upon his friendship with Alexander de Salzmann, a pupil of G. I. Gurdjieff.
Daumal was self-taught in the Sanskrit language and translated some of the TripitakaBuddhist canon into the French language, as well as translating the literature of the Japanese Zen scholar D.T. Suzuki into French.
He married Vera Milanova, the former wife of the poet Hendrik Kramer; after Daumal's death, she married the landscape architect Russell Page.
Daumal's sudden and premature death of tuberculosis on 21 May 1944 in Paris may have been hastened by youthful experiments with drugs and psychoactive chemicals, including carbon tetrachloride. He died leaving his novel Mount Analogue unfinished, having worked on it until the day of his death.
The motion picture The Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowsky is based largely on Daumal's Mount Analogue.
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Mount Analogue is an album by John Zorn released in January 2012. It was recorded in 13-15 June 2011 and mixed in September 2011 at EastSide Sound, New York.
- Amon Düül II (or Amon Düül 2) is a German rock band. The group is generally considered to be one of the founders of the Krautrock scene and a seminal influence on the development of it.
The band emerged from the radical West German commune scene of the late 1960s, with others in the same commune including the future founders of the Red Army Faction. Founding members are Chris Karrer, Dieter Serfas, Falk Rogner (b. 14 September 1943), John Weinzierl and Renate Knaup (b. Renate Aschaver-Knaup, 1 July 1948).
The band was founded after Weinzierl (b. 4 April 1949) and the others met at the Amon Düül "art commune" in Munich.
The commune consisted mainly of university students, who formed a music
group initially to fund the commune, with everyone who lived there
joining in to play music whether or not they had any experience or
ability. The commune split when they were offered an opportunity to
record, which was boycotted by the more musically proficient members of
the commune (who went on to form Amon Düül II). Recordings were made by
the other members but were of very poor quality and were only released
later (under the name Amon Düül) to capitalise on the success of ADII's
albums. As Amon Düül II grew and personnel changed they still remained a
commune, living together as a band.
Their first album Phallus Dei
('God's Penis'), released in 1969, consisted of pieces drawn from the
group's live set at the time. By this time the line-up was built around a
core of Karrer (mainly violin and guitar), Weinzierl (guitar, bass,
piano), Rogner on keyboards, bass player Dave Anderson,
and two drummers (Peter Leopold (b. 15 August 1945) who had joined the
group from Berlin, and Dieter Serfas). Renate Knaup at this point was
only contributing minimal vocals but was very much part of the group.
According to Weinzierl by this time "The band played almost every day.
We played universities, academies, underground clubs, and every hall
with a power socket and an audience".
Releasing an album brought the group greater prominence and they began
to tour more widely in Germany and abroad, playing alongside groups such
as Tangerine Dream, and in Germany staying in other communes including the pioneering Kommune 1 in Berlin.
Their second album Yeti
saw them introducing arranged compositions along with the bluesy violin
and guitar jams such as the long improvised title track. The next album
Tanz der Lemminge was based on four extended progressive rock suites. By this time bassist Anderson had returned to England and joined Hawkwind,
to be replaced by Lothar Meid (born 28 August 1942), and the group was
augmented by synthman Karl-Heinz Hausmann (Karrer had formed a
short-lived group in 1966 - supposedly named 'Amon Düül O' - with future
Embryo founders Lothar Meid and drummer Christian Burchard).
Still touring widely, they recorded their Live in London album in 1973 and in 1975 signed with Atlantic Records in the US, and United Artists Records Germany and initially disbanded in 1981.
As well as their albums and live shows ADII received offers to write music for films, winning a German film award, the Deutscher Filmpreis, for their contribution to the film San Domingo.
Amon Düül II's drummer Peter Leopold died on 8 November 2006. A
memorial service was held for Leopold in Munich, where the remaining
members of Amon Düül II sang a song for him. Leopold was replaced by multi-instrumentalistDaniel Fichelscher, for many years guitarist and drummer of Krautrock group Popol Vuh.
Fichelscher is not new to the group, and in fact has had a long
affiliation with Amon Düül II, having played with them as early as 1972
in Carnival in Babylon. -
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Albums:
1969 – Phallus Dei
1970 – Yeti
1971 – Tanz der Leminge)
1972 – Carnival in Babylon
1973 – Wolf City
1973 – Live in London
1974 – Vive la Trance
1974 – Hijack
1975 – Made in Germany
1976 – Pyragony
1977 – Almost Alive
1978 – Only Human
1981 – Vortex
1972 – Utopia
1973 – Live in Concert (BBC recording from 1973)
1995 – Nada Moonshine
2009 -- Bee as Such
- Amon Düül II was born of an artistic and political community’s scission called Amon Düül
(who recorded during the late sixties a long live session made around
collective and free musical improvisations). The band emerged from the
underground German rock scene with a very original and eccentric album
called "Phallus Dei" (1969). The musicians who participated to this
delirious and psychedelic experience were (among others) Peter Leopold (ex Amon Düül), the front woman and singer Renate Knaup, John Weinzierl on the guitars... with guests as Holger Trützsch who plays tribal percussions (original member of Popol Vuh).
Then almost with the same musicians the band recorded the seminal
"Yeti" (1970). An album in a similar vein than the previous but more
accomplished (with a couple of structured songs always with numerous
pieces of epic improvisations). "Yeti" will launch Amon Düül II career
outside Germany. The same year the bass guitarist Dave Anderson leaves
the band to join Hawkwind.
"Tanz
Der Lemminge" which follows directly "Yeti" is an impressive work with a
great diversity of powerful, emotional songs with some folk accents
next to long free space jamming. Recorded in 1972, "Carnival in Babylon"
announces a slight new musical direction taken by the band. This album
is dominated by shorter songs with the omnipresent and beautiful Renate
Knaup’s vocals. A more conventional work with a few memorable prog-folk
ballads. The classical period of the band will end with "Wolf City"
(1972) and "Vive La Trance" (1973). After the departure of Renate Knaup
who joins Popol Vuh in 1974 and the release of a few albums, Amon Düül
II split up. In 1981, with the album "Vortex" Chris Karrer tried without
success to reform the band.
- http://www.amonduul.de/main.html http://www.discogs.com/artist/Amon+D%C3%BC%C3%BCl+II http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amon_D%C3%BC%C3%BCl_II
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