1979 Albums

Born in 1936, Hans-Joachim Roedelius's life story before he arrived in Berlin in the late 60s is as interesting as his musical career. From his unwilling membership in the Hitlerjugend to forced conscription in the DDR's Volkspolizei to Stasi imprisonment to eventual refugee status in West Berlin, Roedelius had endured the worst of WWII Germany by the age of 25. But by the late 60s, Germany, like most of Continental Europe, was going through sweeping cultural changes; and in Berlin, Roedelius helped found the influential Zodiak Free Arts Lab with Conrad Schnitzler.