Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser (born June 18, 1943) is a German writer and record producer. He is best known as the founder of the

Ohr ''Ohr'' ("Light" he, אור; plural: ''Ohros/Ohrot'' "Lights" ) is a central Kabbalistic term in the Jewish mystical tradition. The analogy of physical light is used as a way of describing metaphysical Divine emanations. ''Shefa'' ("Flow" an ...

, Pilz, and

Cosmic Couriers Cosmic Couriers / Cosmic Music (also known as by its German name Kosmische Kuriere / Kosmische Musik) was a German experimental/space-rock label set up by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser in 1973 following his association with Ohr and Pilz. A number of influe ...

record labels. These labels released many of the earliest Krautrock albums in the early 1970s, and Kaiser is often cited as a pivotal figure in the development of the genre.

Biography

Kaise was born in Buckow, Brandenburg. His early interest focused on folk music, and he joined the staff of the magazine . In 1967 he published a book on the international folk scene featuring interviews with

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

and others. He was the chief organiser of the in September 1968 which showcased bands and musicians such as

Amon Düül Amon Düül was a West German political art commune formed out of the student movement of the 1960s that became well known for its free-form musical improvisations. This spawned two rock groups, Amon Düül (sometimes referred to as Amon Düü ...

, Floh de Cologne,

Guru Guru Guru Guru is a German krautrock band formed in 1968 as The Guru Guru Groove by Mani Neumeier (drums), Uli Trepte (bass) and Eddy Naegeli (guitar), later replaced by the American Jim Kennedy. After Kennedy collapsed on stage due to a serious ill ...

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...

Franz Josef Degenhardt Franz Josef Degenhardt (3 December 193114 November 2011) was a German poet, satirist, novelist, and – first and foremost – a folksinger/songwriter ( Liedermacher) with decidedly left-wing politics. He was also a lawyer, bearing the academic d ...

The Fugs The Fugs are an American rock band formed in New York City in late 1964, by the poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of The Holy Modal Rounders. Ku ...

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Early life Brötzmann was born in Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement ...

Julie Felix Julie Ann Felix (June 14, 1938 – March 22, 2020) was an American-British folk singer and recording artist who achieved success, particularly on British television, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She later performed and released albums on h ...

Julie Driscoll Julie Driscoll Tippetts (born 8 June 1947) is an English singer and actress. Career Driscoll is known for her 1960s versions of Bob Dylan and Rick Danko's "This Wheel's on Fire", and Donovan's " Season of the Witch", both with Brian Auger and ...

and

Brian Auger Brian Albert Gordon Auger (born 18 July 1939) is an English jazz rock and rock music keyboardist who specialises in the Hammond organ. Auger has worked with Rod Stewart, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Sonny Boy Williamson, a ...

and, for the first time in Germany, Frank Zappa. Kaiser published numerous books on rock music between 1968 and 1972 for the German market. In 1969 Kaiser founded the

('Ear') record label, dedicated to the underground German rock scene, which became one of the most important labels for Krautrock and German

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

. Ohr released albums by Floh de Cologne, Tangerine Dream,

Ash Ra Tempel Ash Ra Tempel was a West German krautrock group led by guitarist Manuel Göttsching that was active from 1970 to 1976. Their debut album '' Ash Ra Tempel'' was released in 1971. Following the band's demise, Göttsching released music under the nam ...

Klaus Schulze Klaus Schulze (4 August 1947 – 26 April 2022) was a German electronic music pioneer, composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried and was a member of the Krautrock bands Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, and The Cosmic Jokers ...

, Guru Guru, Amon Düül, Embryo,

Witthüser & Westrupp Witthüser & Westrupp was a German singer-songwriter duo from Essen. The guitarist Bernd Witthüser (1944-2017) and the multi-instrumentalist Walter Westrupp (* 1946) had their roots in the folk and protest song movement, and their joint titl ...

, Birth Control,

Hoelderlin Hoelderlin were a German progressive rock band that was formed in 1970 as Hölderlin by brothers Joachim and Christian von Grumbkow with Nanny de Ruig, whom Christian was married to. They were influenced by rock, jazz, and folk music. History ...

and others. Due to his success, in 1971

BASF BASF SE () is a German multinational chemical company and the largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The BASF Group comprises subsidiaries and joint ventures in more than 80 countries ...

offered to fund another record label by Kaiser, which was named Pilz ('Mushroom'). Pilz released more 'cosmic folk' material by

Popol Vuh ''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popol Wuj'' or ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples, who inhabit Guatemala and the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and ...

, Grinder,

Wallenstein Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein () (24 September 1583 – 25 February 1634), also von Waldstein ( cs, Albrecht Václav Eusebius z Valdštejna), was a Bohemian military leader and statesman who fought on the Catholic side during the Th ...

and Witthüser & Westrupp. In 1972 Kaiser and his girlfriend Gerlinde "Gille" Lettmann visited

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...

in his Swiss exile, and under his influence became enthusiastic proponents of

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

use. On one visit to Switzerland Leary recorded with members of Ash Ra Tempel, later released as the album ''Seven Up'' on Kaiser's third record label Kosmische Kuriere ('Cosmic Couriers') – a name inspired by Leary's view of himself as a cosmic messenger for the benefits of LSD. Partly as a result of Kaiser's increasing LSD experiments, A&R men Bruno Wendel and Günter Körber left Ohr in 1972 and founded

Brain Records Brain was a Hamburg-based record label prominent in the 1970s releasing several important Krautrock records by bands such as Neu!, Cluster and Guru Guru. Many of its more prominent records are currently being reissued on CD by Repertoire Recor ...

, soon signing many former Ohr artists. Kaiser continued to issue albums by

Walter Wegmüller Walter Wegmüller (25 February 1937 – 26 March 2020) was a Swiss painter and recording artist. As a recording artist, he was best known for the Krautrock album ''Tarot'', which was released on the Cosmic Couriers label in 1973. Biography Wegm� ...

and Sergius Golowin, but got into trouble when he started releasing albums under the name of the Cosmic Jokers, a supergroup made up of artists who did not even realise they were participating in such a project: Kaiser had taken recordings of informal jams by various artists from the label and had released them under the Cosmic Jokers name without their knowledge. The musicians affected – and in particular Klaus Schulze – were far from impressed with Kaiser's release of this material and took legal action. Wallenstein accused him of unpaid royalties, while Tangerine Dream and Hoelderlin were wary of his affinity for Leary. As a result of this and negative press attention, Kaiser's contracts with his bands were voided by the German courts, thus spelling the end for the Cosmic Couriers label. The last album he had released was '' Einsjäger und Siebenjäger'' by Popol Vuh in 1974. Kaiser and Lettmann immediately retired completely from the public eye. During the 1980s the label

ZYX Music ZYX Music GmbH & Co. KG is a German record label that was founded in 1971 by Bernhard Mikulski. It is one of the most successful German record labels of the 1980s and 1990s. Until 1992, the label's name was Pop-Import Bernhard Mikulski. The labe ...

reissued many of these titles on CD, using direct contracts with the artists. Kaiser made some attempts to claim a share of the royalties from these reissues but this was quickly dismissed. Because of the continuing appeal of the albums he released, Kaiser and Lettmann have regularly been the subject of journalistic investigations to trace their subsequent activities, all with very little success.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaiser, Rolf-Ulrich German record producers Krautrock 1943 births Living people People from Märkisch-Oderland