hartmut geerken & john tchicai: hindukush serenade

Remembering his old friend John Tchicai and the days when these live recordings were made, Hartmut Geerken says, "When John came to visit us in Afghanistan and in Greece, where we lived in the '70s and '80s, my wife, Sigi, had to extend his bed always with fruit boxes. His height didn't fit into a normal-sized bed as well as his musical dimensions were too far out to fit into the mainstream taste of the masses. It was wonderful to hike with him in the Hindukush mountains up the Salang Pass. Afghanistan was a very peaceful and hospitable country before the westerners destroyed this unique paradise." Every time Hartmut Geerken unveils one of the many tapes he recorded and archived in his extraordinary life, it's an incredible gift. Listening to these tunes almost 40 years after they were recorded, especially in the moment when John Tchicai stops playing and start his wild high-pitched singing, will really make you feel dizzy. Recorded live on May 12, 1977 at the Goethe-Institut Afghanistan in Kabul.