Dzyan

There are multiple artists named Dzyan: 1) the 1970s Krautrock band, 2) the world fusion guitarist. 1) Dzyan is a krautrock band founded in 1972 in Mannheim, Germany. They creatively blended elements of rock, improvised jazz, electronics, and ethnic music from Asia into something quite unique. The original group that consisted of Jochen Leuschner, Dieter Kramer, Gerd Ehrmann, Reinhard Karwatky, and Ludwig Baum came together in January 1972 as a studio project. By April, their eponymous first album was recorded and released on the Aronda label and upon completion of the record, Kramer and Baum left the group. The following month, Eddy Marron and Lothar Scharf were added to the lineup and the band played several live gigs over the next several months. After the departure of Leuschner and Ehrmann in November 1972, and Scharf in early 1973, by May 1973, Dzyan was pared down to the trio of Marron, Karwatky, and Scharf’s replacement on drums, Peter Giger. This all-instrumental version of Dzyan refined the sound further away from prog and toward jazz and Asian music. Later that year, Dzyan went into the studios of Dieter Dierks and recorded the album Time Machine, which came out in November 1973 on the Bacillus label. The next year, Giger had to leave the band for several months to work as a session player for ECM and also to tour with Eberhard Weber. While he was gone, Mark Hellmann of the Dave Pike Set briefly filled in. Giger returned to a different-sounding Dzyan, as Marron and Karwatky had been experimenting with a wider range of acoustic instruments and delving further into ethnic and experimental music. The trio cut another album, Electric Silence, in October of that year, again recorded in Dierks’ studio and released by Baccillus. By the end of 1974, with the departure of the last remaining original member, Karwatky, Dzyan called it quits. The remaining bandmembers, Marron and Giger, went on to form the trio Giger.Lenz.Marron with jazz bassist Gunter Lenz, sounding a little bit like a much jazzier Dzyan with less experimentation. 2) DZYAN began performing and publishing his original world fusion music online in 1997, publishing and selling his early works on various digital music sites and on his artist website dzyan.com. He produced his first CD, "Iludhra", in 2001 and toured briefly in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. in 2002. His timeless, visionary music is characterized by rich, evocative soundscapes and sensuous danceable rhythms. He deftly weaves rock, jazz, rhythm & blues and funk with international influences to create his innovative and highly original musical blend. His piece "Naga Raga" was licensed to Platipus Records to be included on "A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding In Your Mind Vol.2" Compilation CD, compiled and mixed by The Amorphous Androgynous. This CD won the MOJO compilation of the year award for 2010. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.