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By freshoj
#59848
Deep Cut Record 17 – Aguirre by Popol Vuh

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dbBur_bSUE[/video]

Do take a moment to watch the above vid. Based on your enjoyment of that, you may want to stop reading. Ideally to run off and see the film and/or find the soundtrack, but maybe not...



This deep cut is the Popol Vuh soundtrack to Werner Herzog's 1972 film "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" starring Klaus Kinski as a Spanish conquistador in search of El Dorado. The film follows this band of conquistadores as they travel downriver into tragedy and madness. While inspired by the story of the actual conquistador Aguirre, the film is purely a work of fiction.

This was the first of many Herzog/Popol Vuh collaborations. Popol Vuh's Florian Fricke had been friends with Herzog for a few years when Herzog asked him to score the film. When reviewing the film, Roger Ebert said "The music sets the tone. It is haunting, ecclesiastical, human and yet something else. It is by Florian Fricke, whose band Popol Vuh (named for the Mayan creation myth) has contributed the soundtracks to many Herzog films. For this opening sequence, Herzog told me, “We used a strange instrument, which we called a ‘choir-organ.’ It has inside it three dozen different tapes running parallel to each other in loops. ... All these tapes are running at the same time, and there is a keyboard on which you can play them like an organ so that [it will] sound just like a human choir but yet, at the same time, very artificial and really quite eerie.”" (full review here)

This isn't my favorite Herzog film (though I am hard pressed to settle on just one) or even my favorite Popol Vuh soundtrack (Heart of Glass has that honor) but it is the film that turned me on to them both. The above opening sequence was a bit of an epiphany for me when I originally saw it (though I didn't watch on a youtube window embedded in a forum post - so don't expect the same if this your first time watching it :))



The album can be found here: http://www.discogs.com/Popol-Vuh-Aguirre/master/12337

It isn't a soundtrack per se as it features two tracks from the film and 3 other tracks recording during the same period. It has been reissued numerous times over the years on vinyl and CD and rumor has it a new vinyl reissue might be in the works (apologies if this makes the cut less deep).

Here is the complete album as a youtube playlist:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNWsP9R ... BCEgFhLucO[/video]



p.s. a few random notes about the above:
1. Coincidentally, my last Deep Cut also came from a film featuring Kinski. Maybe I'll keep that theme going for a while.
2. Thanks to the Zombi 2 synced viewing I keep hearing 'conquistadore' in my head every time I type conquistador.
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By deafmetal
#59850
Great choice, one of my favorite Popol Vuh albums, and an enthralling film as well. Otherworldly ambience.
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By freshoj
#61066
Just noticed that Spence has a preorder on his shop site for a reissue of this. Guess it isn't as 'deep' a cut as I might have thought. Maybe should have done Heart of Glass! :)
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By Hatter313
#61069
i wouldn't worry about it, Wah Wah is reissuing everything this year.

PS i'll have mine up this weekend