Damo Suzuki's starting point was linked to his life as a bohemian and hippie seeking a borderline of freedom rather than as a musician or artist. in the late 1960s, he experienced the hippie life in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and at the age of 14 at the time, was also called "the youngest hippie". At the time, Damo was also a fan of jazz, James Brown, and the Kinks. In particular, he ran a private fan club for the Kinks. In the late 1960s, after dropping out of high school, he left Japan on his own and smuggled himself into the United States. Thereafter, he wandered around the world alone as a hippie. He traveled through 25 states in the U.S., toured Southeast Asian countries, and then moved to Europe, where he continued his wandering while playing the guitar. As for why he decided to go wandering abroad, Damo cited his love of geography and growing up near the U.S. military base in Atsugi, Japan, as factors. He had no money at the time, so he placed an ad in a European newspaper asking for patrons, and a rich man with a penchant for the arts took him under his wing for a while. In Europe, Damosuzuki got tired of this lifestyle and began playing guitar on the street, but at the time he only knew about three guitar chords and improvised all of his songs (this would be the beginning of his later vocal style). He also repeatedly performed odd acts, such as setting his long hair on fire and stripping naked, to attract attention, and wandered around Europe. The name Damo Suzuki comes from Kenji Morita's manga "Marude Dameo. However, "Dameo" was not easy to pronounce for Europeans, and before long the name was changed to "Damo" with an accent. In those days, CAN's live performance style was to play continuously for 24 hours or more, even in the countryside, taking turns to take a nap and eat during the performance before returning to the stage again. （In April 1970, during a chat in a café in the middle of a live show, the question of who should be the next vocalist after Malcolm Mooney, who had left CAN, was discussed with Holger Czukay, who was taking a short break while the band was performing, and Jaki. Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit had done so. They had already held a number of auditions, but had not been able to find the ideal candidate (and that was also due to the fact that he was "too good a singer"). One day, Czukay and Liebezeit found Damo Suzuki on the street playing guitar and making strange noises during a short break in a live performance in Munich. Damo was in Munich at the time to perform in the musical "Hair," but he was bored with that as well and had taken to the streets. Damo Suzuki was hired on the same day and was allowed to appear at the concert. At this time, a brawl broke out among the audience against the backdrop of the situation in Germany at the time, resulting in dozens of people being taken away by the police. However, the band was very happy with the result, and Damo was welcomed as an official member from then on. However, Damo himself had no interest in CAN's music, and only joined by chance. Damo himself said of this encounter, "I thought it was a strange band with a bunch of old people.
Damo, the lead singer still does improvisational shows with random bands you should check out his show he did with black midi that is somewhere on RU-vid although just audio it’s really great:)
@@sir.public Oh, I think they did aswell. Considering how huge Frank Zappa was in Germany, Beefheart was just one step away. But Can were very early to the party to begin with. Delay came out in 68..
The free concert was my very first concert at the age of 14, can´t remember what I told my parents but well that I was a bit overwhelmed. A year later I got the Tago Mago album and since than its one of the rare albums I listen to every now and then. Since my old records are ruined by last years flood I was searching Can on youtube and found that there is this video . Thank you so much
Think about those times what a gift to us Can where going their own way need no light show like Pink Floyd they're my favorite band at the 70ties 🥫 Can comes to me when I'm 44 year's old now I'm 66 and listen to the music 🎶 🎼 🎸 I love and Put up the Volume. So your neighbors can dance with me and you 😂❤ 31:59
I live for a while in Germany (Rheinland Pfalz), listened to Can for a long time, but it's a sad fact that most of the youngsters here never heard of them. "OK, let me teach you some German music", I tell them.
In all of the history of 20th century recorded western pop music, I don't think there's been a more-talented and eclectic collective of musicians to have ever formed a band than Can!
In all of the history of 20th century recorded western pop music, I don't think there's been a more-talented and eclectic collective of musicians to have ever formed a band called Can!
More than 30 years listening Can music, and the feelings are always the same: wonderful!!!The Can legacy was enormous. (Damo is a fabulous singer, but we can't forget Malcolm.)
they were truly ahead of their time. one of the only bands that affect me in the same (mainly live in this context) are Swans, but only with their epic comeback trilogy of The Seer, To Be Kind, and Glowing Man. Mainly the ceaseless repetition of a single riff or chord for 15-30 minutes while augmenting the energy until it becomes a bombastic orgiastic freakout.. all while being based off one of their 3-7 minute studio cuts, lol. They’re definitely different, and I think I prefer Can in the end, mainly because they came up with this avant garde approach to rock music before anyone else did. Velvet underground were amazing in their own right, another of my favs, but never went as far as Can either live nor in a studio, not as hard and heavy, all while Can was incorporating many other genres such as middle eastern and afro beat, and magical electronics/studio wizardry (courtesy of Holger). Strong contender for the top 3 acts of 20th century for me
I know them all personally Holger Jacky Damo Irmin ..... We live together in Odenkirchen in a big farm 1990. It was a 300 People smal town near Cologne. As I went in, i knew Can from the Ege Bamyasi record but nobody personally. As i saw who my roommate's was i was kicked. Sorry for bad English im German friends
Back in the 80s, this footage would be considered rare. I used to collect this stuff on video. I wonder what my reaction would be if I time-traveled to my past self and said that in 30 years, all the Can footage ever released would be available for free on the Internet
Ronnie M Saw Can in 73 ,I think, at the Roundhouse London and I loved them, Carole was not to keen though.Ended up with 7 or 8 of their original albums- best for me Can Tago Mago.
let me tell you about luck, Andy. sometime in 1996, when I was working at Mtv in camden, a tiny excerpt of this popped up in Mtv's "news at night" programme. I was in the tx suite when I saw it, & ran straight up to the news department, where I enquired of merri randall- "where did you get that footage of can?" ""you mean this?" she said, handing me the beta SP master, on loan from Mute. I grabbed it & went back down to VT, where I made a copy onto another beta SP (broadcast quality) & then returned the cassette. about a year later, another colleague called to tell me that there'd been a fire at Mute & the tape had been destroyed. I made another copy of my copy & sent them the first one. otherwise it would probably not exist now. :-)
@@Wane34565 No wonder. They don't exist anymore since three of the five guys seen in this clip are dead. Why don't dipshits like you get informed before posting idiocies?
Some stats: Filmed by Peter Przygodda (26 October 1941 - 2 October 2011) at the Kolner Sporthalle, February 1972. The shots of Can in the studio environmernt were filmed at Inner Space, shortly after they'd installed themselves there in the early parts of '72, and possibly prior to the the recording of the Ege Bamiasy album.
Sidebar: A full-sized Can promotional poster was included with LP copies of Ege Bamyasi. The image was a still frame from this performance film. I believe some were used in certain repressings of Tago Mago, too.
You have to understand them as an integral part of the german music scene of that time. There where bands like Guru Guru, Amon Dül, Kran, Nektar, Ashra Tempel, Xhol, Limpe Fuchs and her husband, Tangerin Dream, Ton Steine Scherben and they all shared this vision of improvised music, creating in time and in communion with the audience. A symbol of breaking free from the repressive past
i saw Can on the first UK tour. They let too many people in and it was dangerously over packed. Damo fell off the stage. Jaki was a machine. Must admit it was better than the tour they did without Damo. Never seen so many stoned people in one place.
I was 15 when I saw them at Brighton University May 1972 and it still remains the best gig I ever have experienced. The strangest part is that there were probably less than 20 people in the audience but that gave plenty of room to enjoy in your own way. I remember just laying on the floor for some time just letting the music envelop me. Before the band came onstage some guy was laying on the stage for some time and I just assumed he was off his head but as soon as the band started playing it was Damo Suzuki (RIP) ! Wow I still get the shivers thinking back!
Sie haben ein paar Wochen vorher im Hoersaal 17 der Bonner Uni ein Konzert gegeben, das war auch sehr schoen. Wie danach im gleichen Hoersaal nur noch Willy Brandt 4 Stunden lang ueber die deutsche Wiedervereinigung.
@@kofferfischii sehr cool!!! Ich bin ein Ami, aber ich hab für ein Jahr beim uni Bonn studiert. Wo genau war es in der Uni? Es gibt Konzerthalle da? Ich erinnere mich nicht… Ich hab da in 2010 studiert, und liebe Bonn noch heute :)
I suffer from all three of them. OCD causes my Anxiety and then I Panic. I do enjoy Can from time to time for anxiety. Usually its Tangerine dream tho. Have a nice day friend
spoon is fantastic the power and energy and trance psychedelic explosions with damo's mad hair dancing !! Brilliant. Cheers Can always my favourite. Met Damo once he is a dead nice guy, gave him a hug.
I went to see them around that time at the Imperial College London, got there and the doors where shut not letting anymore in because of overcrowding issues.
9:38 - 10:38 during this minute Irmin Schmidt nearly manages to shift into another dimension as he is constantly alternating between focussed t-shirt Irmin and troll leather jacket Irmin.
Lovely to see the band members in close up and in their prime. Oh how I loved them, so sad that Holger, Jaki and Michael have left us for other realms RIP guys a great album a "solo" of Holger's is Radio Wave Surfer I am pretty sure that most other members of Can contributed to it. Thanks for this and cheers.
WOW !! This is such a good editing job... not to mention the inspired performance... This is ESSENTIAL VIEWING for anybody interested in MUSIC.... CAN is not everybody's favourite band..... yet!
2:07 to 2:27. Holger is really getting in the zone. I saw Can just once, round about the time of this gig. It was an all-nighter at Brunel Uni in Uxbridge
@@hp3191 …hmm, don’t know 🤷🏻. Might be a glorification of the past … the human brain tends to forget more of the bad things and remembers the „good ol‘ days“ a lot more.
