about
Friedrich Glorian CV
Multi-instrumentalist, composer, interactive art installations
I began my career as a professional musician in the late 1960s as lead guitarist in the rock band Prof. Wolfff, one of the first bands to use German lyrics.
In 1977, I completed a two-year course at Joe Haider's Jazz School in Munich, then toured with various rock-jazz formations and spent long periods in India during the 80s and 90s studying traditional North Indian singing (Dhrupad style) and percussion (cross-drum Pakhavaj).
During my studies in India, I worked intensively with Indian music therapy and colour therapy. From 1988 to 2001 I lived in the South of France, where I collaborated with the Chakra Center for East-West Synthesis. Since then I have also been teaching sound, meditation and healing courses. In 1988 I developed the therapeutic sound journey with singing bowls and gongs ‘innerSounds’. I perform ‘innerSounds’ and other world music and contemporary music projects extensively in France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland.
After my return to Germany in 2004, I founded the world music project ‘setu.bandh’ with musicians from India (Kamal Sabri), Georgia (Zaza Miminoshvili), Hungary (Zoltan Lantos) and Israel, wrote music for dance and theatre projects, for my own performances, for the film documentary ‘Return to the Ganges’ by the author and ethnobotanist Wolf-Dieter Storl, known for his books and television appearances.
From 2010 and until 2019, increased involvement in the socio-cultural field, such as the ‘Beatstomper’ project with socially disadvantaged young people, interdisciplinary projects on the theme of inclusion (percussion/painting), circledrum events, creative projects at schools in cooperation with the Kulturagenten programme funded by the Federal Government. I share my knowledge and experience in workshops and training courses (Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland) on the topics of drumming in groups, percussion and sound therapy. In addition to performing my own music, I also perform with dance and multimedia projects and collaborate with artists in the fields of dance, painting, sculpture, installation, video and new media.
I am currently composing new/ experimental/ electronic music for contemporary dance multimedia projects and art installations (including Quelle zur Mündung- Poesie der Donau 2011, Rückkehr an den Ganges 2013, towntalk 2018, wild_grandchild of tree/ electric 2019, human rights 2020, jeder mensch 2022, underwood 2022). In addition to solo performances of my own music, I perform internationally with dance and multimedia projects.
Musical Instruments
6 and 7-string bass, live electronics, live looping, theremin, pakhavaj (North Indian percussion), frame drums, udu, cajon, singing bowls, gongs, voice, Chinese guzheng, tanpura
Current location
72516 scheer/ germany
hauptstrasse 12
credits
released April 30, 2024
Portfolio
glorian.bandcamp.com/music
vimeo.com/glorian
Artist statement
Music has the wonderful ability to act as connective tissue - between people, between art-forms, between visual and emotional experiences, even between vast cultural differences. That connective tissue is where my musical practice most often resides. I strive to connect disciplines, connect people, and connect communities through performing music in collaboration with other disciplines, teaching music, and facilitating the production of collaborative experiences.
My musical work takes a critical view of social, cultural and environmental issues and explores the varying relationships between different musical styles and various traditions worldwide. Having engaged subjects as diverse as the declaration of human rights, the concern about disappearing forests, world music projects, contemporary dance produtions with live music and arts/ music installations, my work consists of collaboration, sharing and exploring various styles, arranging them into new conceptually layered performances and installations.
While I use a variety of musical styles, i.a. rock, jazz, world, experimental, new music, musique concrète, and sonic structures like noise, field recordings, found sounds and exploring instruments beyond their conventional playing techniques, in each project my approach is consistent. Although there may not always be material similarities between the different projects they are linked by recurring formal concerns and through the subject. Each project often consists of a collaboration of disciplines like live music, video projection, paintings/ sculptures, spoken word, often in a range of different media, grouped around specific themes and meanings. During research and production new areas of interest arise and lead to a further and interesting body of work. Interactive projects have become increasingly important to me in recent years.
