Emtidi - Emtidi (1970/2009, Garden of Delights)
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Artist: Emtidi
Album: Emtidi
Released: 1970/2009
Garden of Delights (CD 145)
Genre: Prog-Folk/Krautrock
EMTIDI were one of the most famous German folk groups and consisted of only two people, Maik Hirschfeldt from Bavaria and Dolly Holmes from Vancouver at the Canadian west coast. It had all begun when Maik fell out with his father because he wanted to forbid him learning to play the guitar. Thus, Maik quit his Ising secondary school even before concluding his education and started exploring the world. He rented a flat in Berlin and went to Paris, Istanbul, and finally London, where he became acquainted with Dolly Holmes, who had dropped out of university and had instead graduated from a hotel-management school. The two of them became friends and decided to make music together in Berlin. Together with a certain Tim, they founded the band Emtidi. The name consists of the initials of the three first names (MTD). When Tim had quit the group, they nevertheless kept the name. Finally they met Hanjo Nuglisch, who had already played in several Berlin groups and had bought himself a Farfisa organ which he practised a lot. Dolly took a fancy to the instrument, borrowed it from Hanjo from time to time, and first played it on stage in the Berlin Quartier Latin in Potsdamer Street. As Maik and Dolly didn't have a driving license - let alone a car - , Hanjo brought them and the organ to the gigs with his VW minibus and finally became Emtidi's regular roadie.
When they had written a number of tracks and elaborated their skills so that they satisfied even higher demands, they decided to perpetuate their work on a record. Thus, they contacted Helmut König from Wedemark, a teacher who had beside his job built up a record label called Thorofon in the aftermath of the Hessian Waldeck festival. At that time, he released mainly folk and chansons, sometimes, however, also exceptional and off-mainstream classical music. Later, Thorofon completely abandoned the folk/ chanson scene as it had become a bloated bubble from which the major labels sucked off their profit until it collapsed back upon itself, and in this bloated bubble the small independent labels did no longer have a say. At that time, Helmut Konig offered Emtidi the recording and release of an LP, and they agreed. The recordings with Xenophon studio equipment took place in a Darmstadt church on July 8th and 9th, 1970, under the direction of Helmut König. Dolly was on six-string guitar, bouzouki, and kazoo, Maik on seven and twelve-string guitar and flute, and both of them sang, all in English. They did not use any electric guitars, only acoustic ones. Maik and Dolly had written the five tracks on the front side together, the five slightly longer pieces on the flipside were written by Maik alone. In order to keep down costs, they abstained from an LP cover in colour. The design was dealt with by Uwe Offenborn, the little photograph on the front side was shot by Torsten Langemann. The record was released in that very year of 1970, simply under the name of "Emtidi". As Helmut König's means of distribution were initially very modest and Emtidi not yet widely known, the edition of this album was limited to a few hundred copies. For this reason it is today one of the most sought-after LPs in the area of Kraut rock and, if it is to be found at all, then only for an exorbitant price. Maik about the music: "Making a differentiated analysis of the first LP, starting with the tracks on the front side and moving on to those on the flipside, a development can be substantiated to more experimental parts (the use of open keys, etc.). The first tracks correspond to the beginning of our musical career, and on the flipside some other instruments are introduced in addition to the new experimental factors." In retrospect, however, Maik is no longer absolutely pleased with the album, because he always makes extremely high demands on the artistic quality.
With the LP, Emtidi could now show something, so that it became easier for them to attain gigs. Untiringly they refined their playing skills. At the end of 1971, Maik thought it was time to get in touch with his parents again, to whom his connection had been largely broken off. He thus dropped in on them unannounced, together with Dolly and Hanjo. For his parents this was a pleasant surprise, and subsequently the three of them moved the centres of their lives more and more to Bavaria. Maik's father owned an upholstery firm which he had moved from Heidelberg to the Bavarian Seeon in the Chiemgau, into an old castle which had once been used as a monastery. Furthermore, he ran a guesthouse in this area, and another one on the Schanzenberg, a bit farther away in this town. As his parents weren't that young any longer, Maik now took over the guesthouse together with Dolly, which he was to run for the next decades. This, however, did not signify the end of Emtidi: The group kept on playing, but it now had to win a new audience in Bavaria. As Emtidi were not very pleased with the Thorofon sales figures, they were looking for a bigger label with better distribution for their second LP. They held talks with Ariola, CBS, and Ohr. They took the latter one for the lesser evil, and thus came into contact with Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser who then established the labels Pilz - mainly for folk music -, Ohr, and Kosmische Kuriere. He inked with Emtidi a contract for two LPs on Pilz, and in February 1972, the two of them recorded 6 tracks at Dieter Dierks's studio in Stommeln near Cologne for their new album. This time Dolly even played the Mellotron, in which she was initiated by Dieter Dierks. The LP was released in a tasteful fold-out cover under the name of "Saat" ["Seed"], and it came out with a much higher print run than their first album. The band had meanwhile slightly veered away from their folk roots, and vocals were used only scarcely now. The next Emtidi release on the Pilz label, however, was not realized as Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser and his colleague and girlfriend Gerlinde "Gille" Lettmann gradually went crazy because of too many LSD trips they couldn't take; they thus took their labels with them into the downward spiral. The sad end of a promising development.
Emtidi, however, carried on undeterred with or without a record contract. Around 1975, a man working for the Bavarian radio station invited them to make demo recordings for their third LP. Due to a wrongly directed microphone they didn't, however, achieve the best sound quality possible. The tapes are still in Maik Hirschfeldt's possession. There wasn't to be a third contract. Yet Emtidi were not only inspired by music but also by the fine arts. They took a special fancy to the bronze sculptures by Prof. Heinrich Kirchner from the neighbouring town Pavolding. When the two musicians had a quarrel in 1975, Dolly went back to Vancouver. On Maik's farm in the Bavarian village of Emertsham near Trostberg was now developing an augmented Emtidi line-up, with Janette Huber singing and on violin, Albrecht Döderlein singing and on saxophone, bassoon, and trumpet, Elmar Ludwig singing and on bass as well as Kurt Thalhamm on drums. They were moreover looking for a keyboarder playing the Mellotron. Their aim was to create a fusion of folk elements with jazz, classical music, rock, and electronic components. Role models were now King Crimson, Yes, Gentle Giant, Genesis, Tempest, and Greenslade. Maik continued making music with various people for many more years. As finally, however, there was hardly anyone left to satisfy his high artistic demands, there were frequent changes in line-up and no more gigs. Today, by the way, Maik doesn't have a lot of good words to say for the music business as he feels cheated concerning the payment of artists as well as regarding GEMA fees. This is a complaint also made by other musicians working with Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser. When the first LP was released, something must have gone wrong with the GEMA registration (GEMA = musical copyright watchdog body) which is obligatory for composers. Until today, the tracks have not been listed on the GEMA website as Maik Hirschfeldt had obviously failed to have them registered there: According to Helmut König, at least Thorofon and the pressing plant registered the pressing according to the regulations. Today, Maik Hirschfeldt is not making music any more and has meanwhile given up his guesthouse on the Schanzenberg. Instead, he runs an association for vintage cars which demands all of his time. Dolly is still living in Canada where she is married to a lawyer. Hanjo Nuglisch has not come to regret leaving Berlin and has stayed in Bavaria. There were several re-editions of both "Emtidi" and "Saat", on both LP and CD. The firstling was re-released after about ten years, probably in 1980, and again only in a small number of copies; the reference books are also mentioning the years 1978 and 1984. These projects were a co-operation of Thorofon first with Bernhard Rössle from Larry's Record Syndicate, and then with Joachim Kern from Run Records. In Japan, this LP was distributed by Disk Union. The best thing distinguishing this label from the one of the first edition is the small additional order number. On the back of the cover - which now was the usual kind of folded LP cover with a slot on the right - there is an addition as distinguishing feature. After the millennium, Helmut Konig sold his label to Bella Musica for reasons of age. From them, Wah Wah Records from Catalonia bought the rights for another vinyl new edition which was released in a limited edition of 1000 copies in 2007. On CD, there is as yet only one illegal edition from 1995 on a Luxemburg bootleg label, which has been copied from record and is made up cheaply. The imprint "OSA" on the label indicates that the CD is a Czech product - there is no pressing plant in Luxemburg itself. The CD on hand, as well as the Catalan release, was drawn from the master tape and remastererd. There were even more re-issues of "Saat", and at least in this case a precise number can be given: in 1982, an impressive 10000 copies were made of the LP re-issue "Saat".
Last but not least some comments on the first Emtidi-LP In "The crack in the cosmic egg", Steven and Alan Freeman are writing: "Emtidi's roots are most obviously in traditional folk, and the music of Bob Dylan or Donovan, et al., but they were highly original too. By the time of their debut album Emtidi were no longer a conventional folk duo. Though very lyrical and totally acoustic, they had moved on and developed a style uniquely their own, a trippy folk-based music with an ethereal kind of cosmic edge. It is comparable in its innovation to, say, Pentangle's 'Basket of light', yet the Teutonic oddness of it all makes for a different experience." In "Cosmic dreams at play" by Dag Erik Asbjørnsen one reads: "Emtidi was one of the finest folk-rock duos recording in Germany. The Canadian Dolly Holmes had been a guest on Incredible String Band's The hangman's beautiful daughter' and 'U'. Their first album contained the couple's fragile hippie-folk songs (in the tradition of the International Submarine Band, early Bob Dylan, and Roy Harper). The majority of them featured acoustic guitar and vocals only and still retain a romantic charm (some will go as far as calling it magic) of an era long gone. Close your eyes and imagine them singing in a park during summer. The hippies among you will love it." Wah Wah Records wrote in the announcement of their LP edition: "This superb debut album is filled with charming folk-oriented material. 6, 7, and 12-string acoustic guitars and beautiful flute arrangements surround the lovely female/male duet voices of Hirschfeldt and his Canadian partenaire Holmes, making this album a pleasure for the listener, a nice piece for the collector and a source of good taste influences for the young musicians into today's new folk scene. Yes: this LP will give satisfaction not only to kraut-rock collectors, but also to all those into old folk gods like Pentangle, Vasthi Bunyan, Bridget St. John, Book Of Am... Plus to all those into the Devendra Banhart, Espers, Circulus... sounds!" Ferran Llauradó writes in "Rockdelux": "Emtidi were the forerunners of what could be named krautfolk; that is: the effort to create a true German folk movement, with a cosmic, avant-garde aim. Dolly and Maik formed a mysterious, unusual duet, with English lyrics that were either plenty of hippie mysticism at times as they were of parody at others. Although 'Saat' is their most known record, 'Emtidi' already showed the group's personality keys: orirism, hallucinated vocals, and an extraordinary sense of humour." Then Paul Rigby in the English collectors' journal "Record Collector": "This LP was presenting an acoustic arrangement recalling the early 60s folk revival. Though their material isn't consistently strong, Emtidi's honest, pre-electric Dylan folk has an endearing innocence."
Track List:
01. Lookin' For People [0:03:59.64]
02. Shadow On Your Face [0:04:00.12]
03. Long Long Journey [0:02:31.50]
04. No Turn Back! [0:02:00.63]
05. Space Age [0:04:19.37]
06. Let The Joint Go Round [0:05:00.27]
07. Yvonne's Dream [0:02:40.05]
08. Birds On Agraveyard [0:03:30.49]
09. Flute Piece [0:07:21.28]
Line-up/Musicians:
- Maik Hirschfeldt / seven & twelve-string acoustic guitar, flute, vocals
- Dolly Holmes / six-string acoustic guitar, bouzouki, kazoo, vocals
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