THE HELIOPOLAR EGG ~ GOETHE INSTITUTE CAIRO EGYPT ’72, PART II

LP (180 Gram)
Original Artwork by Hartmut Geerken
Numbered & signed edition of 25 ex.
d’or055
SOLD

Hartmut Geerken * Stuttgart 15 January 1939 – † Wartaweil 21 October 2021
It is with great sadness that we learned that Hartmut Geerken has passed away on 21 October.
We’re honored that we were able to work with him. A great artist and inspiring musician, ahead of his time. We wish to his family and friends much strength and positive energy.

Hartmut Geerken born 1939 in stuttgart/germany. studied oriental languages, comparative religious studies and philosophy (ernst bloch) at the universities of tuebingen/germany, constantine/algeria and istanbul/turkey. worked for goethe-institutes in cairo, kabul and athens (1966-1984).
author, composer, musician, film-maker, actor, mycologist, bumble-bee-keeper, publisher of authors from the circle of literary expressionism and dada etc.
in the age of 8 years he started piano lessons and with 14 he gives his first public solo piano radio concert performing works of bela bartok. after finishing his classical piano education he switched to jazz and new music. studied with karlheinz stockhausen, lukas foss, györgy ligeti, aloys kontarsky et al. worked with john tchicai, salah ragab, famoudou don moye, sunny murray, grace yoon, don cherry, takehisa kosugi, sainkho namtchilak, sun ra, robert lax, the art ensemble of chicago, the sun ra arkestra et al. in the end 60’s he co-foundes the “cairo jazz band” with salah ragab & directed the “cairo free jazz ensemble”. in 1976 he toured in duo with michael ranta far east from teheran to osaka. 1985 he was on an extensive tour through west afrika with john tchicai & famoudou don moye. he has more than 40 vinyls & cds in his name. from 1991-1992 he held the chair of poetics at he the folkwang university in essen.
living in cairo for 6 years he invited sun ra to his spiritual homeland. geerken runs one of the most complete sun ra archives worldwide and organizes from 1994 to 2010 the annual “waitawhile international sun ra conventions”. since 2005 he is co-editor of a 40 volume edition of the complete works of the german philosopher salomo friedlaender/mynona. since 1953 he came up with about 200 radio-broadcasts, numerous books, lps, cds, exhibitions & films.
Hartmut Geerken Website

Michael Ranta Percussionist/composer Michael Ranta (US, 1942) is a key figure in the world of contemporary avant garde music. He studied composition with a.o. Lejaren Hiller and Herbert Brün, recorded and performed in all Harry Partch productions between 1960 and 1968. In the late 60’s he moved to Cologne and worked with Lachenmann, Kagel, Stockhausen, Riedl… In 1970 he took part in the Osaka World Expo as member of Stockhausen’s ensemble. Ranta lived in Taiwan from 1972 till 1979 where he taught music history and percussion. Meanwhile he performed with a.o. Takehisa Kosugi, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Toru Takemitsu and worked in the electronic music broadcast studio in Tokyo (NHK). He was also part of the ephemeral group ‘Wired’ with Mike Lewis, Karl-Heinz Böttner and Conny Plank that only did one single studio session resulting in that legendary LP on the ‘Free Improvisation’ box set on the Deutsche Grammophon. In the mid 70’s Ranta performed intensively with Hartmut Geerken all over Asia and North Africa. Back in Germany Ranta formed the percussion group Transit, worked with Jean Claude Eloy and also provided music for theatre, dance and documentary film. Ranta privately released a couple of intriguing solo albums through Asian Sound which is also the company he founded specializing in distribution of Oriental percussion instruments. Since 2010 Belgian label Metaphon has been releasing major works from his archive including the highly acclaimed ‘MU’ sessions with Mike Lewis and Conny Plank. Michael Ranta is one of those rare composers able to organically melt his wide artistic span into a singular but yet diverse universe morphing his rich vocabulary as a percussionist with the Oriental esoteric tradition, the psychedelic underground and the realm of electronic/concrete minimalism. Michael Ranta Website

Leaflet for the 15-2-1972 concert at the Goethe Institute Cairo. Artwork Hartmut Geerken.
Leaflet for the 15-2-1972 concert at the Goethe Institute Cairo. Backside.

a side
-february 15, 1972, goethe institute cairo, egypt. 15:09
b side
-february 15, 1972, goethe institute cairo, egypt. 17:24

very first concert by the heliopolar egg, february 15, 1972, goethe institute cairo, egypt. personel: geerken, ranta, von puttkamer, el hakim.

All Music by The Heliopolar Egg
Production, mastering, vinylcut by Astres d’Or

THE HELIOPOLAR EGG ~ GOETHE INSTITUTE CAIRO EGYPT ’72, PART II A Excerpt
THE HELIOPOLAR EGG ~ GOETHE INSTITUTE CAIRO EGYPT ’72, PART II B Excerpt

Artwork Description:
Artwork by Hartmut Geerken.
Photography, paper, cellotape on LP jacket.

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This publication is sold out at AD. But you can still try to contact The Heliopolar Egg for copies. See for contactdetails the website of Michael Ranta.