Vladimir Estragon were an

avant-rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

group founded in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in 1988 by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

composer and reed player

Alfred Harth Alfred Harth, now known as Alfred 23 Harth or A23H, is a German multimedia artist, band leader, multi-instrumentalist musician, and composer who creatively mixes genres. Career Harth founded a free improvisation band, Just Music (1967 to 1972) ...

with

FM Einheit Frank-Martin Strauß, better known as F.M. Einheit and also known as Mufti, (born 18 December 1958, in Dortmund) is an industrial and electronic musician and actor from Germany. While primarily known for his percussion work with the influential ...

Ulrike Haage Ulrike Haage (born in Kassel, lives and works in Berlin) is a German pianist and composer, producer for radio plays and a sound artist. Biography The jazz years Ulrike Haage spent her childhood in Ruhr. She grew up listening to the big jazz r ...

, and

Phil Minton Phil Minton (born 2 November 1940) is a British avant-garde jazz/ free-improvising vocalist and trumpeter. Minton is a highly dramatic baritone who tends to specialize in literary texts: he has sung lyrics by William Blake with Mike Westbrook's ...

( UK). In 1980 Harth produced the LP ''Es herrscht Uhu im Land'' on JAPO/ ECM with the idea of integrating punk rock,

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

and followed this design throughout the 80s in the groups

Cassiber Cassiber were a German avant-rock group founded in 1982 by German composer and saxophonist Alfred Harth, German composer, music-theatre director and keyboardist Heiner Goebbels, English drummer Chris Cutler from Henry Cow and German guitarist ...

Duck and Cover "Duck and cover" is a method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear explosion. Ducking and covering is useful in offering a degree of protection to personnel located outside the radius of the nuclear fireball but still within su ...

Gestalt et Jive Gestalt et Jive were a multinational avant-rock group founded in West Germany in 1984 by multi-instrumentalist Alfred Harth, comprising Steve Beresford ( UK), Anton Fier ( US), Alfred Harth (FRG), Peter Hollinger (FRG), Ferdinand Richard ( F) and ...

and ''Vladimir Estragon''.''Vladimir Estragon'' were using electronic arrangements whose preset-derived poetry was poisoned by oblique complexities and sudden animations entering the picture when less expected. Vladimir Estragon performed their

postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

program during the years 1988–1989 as well as on the

Berlin Jazz Festival JazzFest Berlin (also known as the Berlin Jazz Festival) is a jazz festival in Berlin, Germany. Originally called the "Berliner Jazztage" (''Berlin Jazz Days''), it was founded in 1964 in West Berlin by the Berliner Festspiele. Venues included B ...

and the Jazzfestival Münster. Despite having invitations for upcoming tours to Australia and the United States the group stopped too early when Haage left to join the pop group

Rainbirds The Rainbirds are a German pop rock band established in 1986 around singer Katharina Franck. Their greatest hit is the song "Blueprint". History The band formed in 1986 and named themselves after an instrumental track by Tom Waits. When they won ...

Name

The group’s name referred to the characters in '' Waiting for Godot'' by

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

. The group's album title was taken from a phrase in

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

's ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction whi ...

''. Both names were chosen by Harth who had favored Samuel Beckett as a writer from around 1968 on. Harth interpreted the two characters Wladimir and Estragon in ''Waiting for Godot'' as

and

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

during the Cold War who are waiting for unification. Surprisingly to everybody the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

collapsed some months after the foundation of the music group Vladimir Estragon.

Members

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

works, drums, stones *

- composition, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet *

– composition programming, piano, synth *

– vocals, trumpet

Discography

''Three Quarks For Muster Mark'' (LP+CD,

Enja Records Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971. The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and Jap ...

/Tip Toe, 198

References

Sources

*Jürgen Schwab: ''Der Frankfurt-Sound. Eine Stadt und ihre Jazzgeschichte(n).'' Frankfurt/Main: Societäts-Verlag, 2005, with 2 CDs, *Christoph Wagner: ''Brüche und Kontinuität''.In “Neue Zeitschrift für Musik” 6/2007 *FM Einheit in the www
Webpräsenz von FM Einheit

External links

* * {{Authority control German progressive rock groups Musical groups established in 1988