23/09/2024
How I became a gong artist.
Thanks to Jens Zygar, Gongteacher, cosmic octave, integral soundmusic
It all began around millennium when my friend and I organised Psychedelic Trance events in Germany. At some point, we managed to do a series of events in one of the biggest electronic music clubs in the area where I was living, in Bavaria.
So, we booked some live acts and DJs and one live act was called SSO (Star Sounds Orchestra). SSO are Steve Shroyder and Jens Zygar.
Steve on the keyboards and Jens playing these impressive gongs and percussions.
I was fascinated by those instruments when they set up the stage and man, I was impressed even more when I heard their sound.
Some of them had planet symbols on them and I got interested in the meaning. So, I did the research right after I came home from the party and learned about the Cosmic Octave and Hans Cousto, the Swiss mathematician, who discovered it.
SSO is the first band to be fully dedicated to the Cosmic Octave and creating music tuned to the planetary orbital frequencies.
In those days I had a ROLAND 505 Groovebox and when I found out the Earth Year key being a C # and its frequency 136.1 Hz, which results in a Master Tuning of 432.1 Hz, I tuned my Grovebox to 432.1 Hz and started a single note drone in C # and played it in a loop.
It was playing the rest of the day constantly.
I was captivated.
The reason was that I seemed to have discovered the soul of sound.
Tuning is changing the character of the sound.
This was the starting point for me to dive into the world of frequencies and I am still in it today.
Eventually, we booked SSO again for another event and Jens decided to stay a few days at my house it was the start of a lasting and sometimes challenging friendship.
Challenging, because Jens is very direct and he is very good in pointing out weaknesses, which need correction to evolve as an artist.
He said something during his visit, which stayed with me especially. He said: "What are you doing here in the Bavarian Forest with your talent, and why don't you come to Hamburg and join us?"
It didn't take me too long and a few months later I quit my job, got rid of most of my stuff and moved to Hamburg. The first thing we did there was jump in the van and having a gig in Istanbul.
The journey with SSO was packed with outstanding experiences and adventures and it was the initiation into the life of fully being dedicated to music and living with it.
I am not starting to tell all those stories in detail, but fast forward in 2007, I moved to Thailand to fully focus on my production skills and hopefully start to perform more often on stage myself.
The plan worked well. Jens and I stayed in contact and at some point I told him about a dream I just had the night before.
I saw myself playing a gong at sunset in the jungle on the Island in Thailand, where I was living.
Jens said: "Sounds like I have to visit you and bring some gongs."..and he did. It was probably 1 or 2 years later, that the 2012 event was ahead and it was the year, when Jens decided to come. He sent 6 of his Symphonic Planet Gongs in 2 flight cases by air cargo shipment to Thailand, just to arrive in time to receive them at his arrival.
I was already having the resident opening show spot at the Halfmoon Festival.
When Jens arrived we found a nice spot for him to offer some gong mediations at Orion Healing Center, while on the island for the next 3 months and I took him on stage at the Halfmoon along with other artists.
We called it the Space Brothers.
We had some great shows and some additional gigs at smaller events. At some point, Jens looks at me after his gong meditation at the Orion Healing Center ( Detox & Yoga ) Koh Phangan and asked me: "The gongs work really well here. Why don't you buy them and keep playing them at the Halfmoon and for the gong meditations at Orion?"
I looked at him, thought for some moments, this happy feeling came up, I smiled and said "Yes, you are right."
Some words about Jens and the gongs.
Jens had the idea to tune gongs to the planetary frequencies because he was thinking about how to experience these sounds in the most immersive way. When he had the idea, he instantly called the German gong manufacturer Paiste Cymbals and talked to the founder Mr. Paiste about his idea, who straight away invited Jens to visit and talk about it.
This is the story of how the Symphonic Planet Gongs were born. Jens sold to me four of the six gongs he shipped to Thailand, which are the first planet gongs ever made.
I felt greatly honoured to even have the opportunity to buy these gongs and I knew what responsibility it is to own and play these gongs. One day they will go to a museum as the first of their kind.
In the moment I played these gongs everything changed. I felt very comfortable playing them. They speak to me and I decided I will always play the gongs in the best way I possibly can.
Jens trained me in the Soft Manner playing technique, which is very fluid, breathing, and when performed ideally the gongs will literally sing.
In 2015 I left Thailand, sent the gongs to Moscow, played at the MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM , some other events and in various yoga studios. Then I went back home to Germany, prepared for the next season, bought a car and trailer, and drove 2700 km to Moscow to stay a half year this time with a final concert in the St. Peter and Paul cathedral, with Igor Goldenberg playing the church organ. The concert “Sounds of the Universe” can be found on the Gong Master YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/fNsP4SATUSA?si=5pYBXmgyht6jD9If
I remembered a friend inviting me to check out Ibiza and in 2017 I ended up staying there till the pandemic shut my stay down and again back to Germany. The time in Ibiza is a story by itself.
https://youtu.be/1hF8chSRkcw?si=XPiuq5IqdBu2KqJ6
This is where I met Marko Bussian, a brilliant producer and performer on the synthesizers. It was my dream to have a project for the Cosmic Octave with an artist or more, who understands music in the same way I do and he does.
When the pandemic hit Ibiza and we sat out our first lockdown, Marko called me at the opening to come around with my gongs to his house, set up at his terrace and do a Cosmic Octave live stream. So we did and it was fantastic. We never played together before or rehearsed in any way. We just set up and performed a concert tuned the the Earth Year orbital frequency.
The Constellation was born.
It was then Marko who said sometime later, that we agreed that another COVID wave and lockdowns would come, so he offered to take all our equipment and move to his house in the Alps in Austria to make music and to sit out the virus.
This became the most productive time of my life and the final product is the best music I was ever part of creating.
We decided to do every Saturday a live stream of another planet concert for one hour, fully improvised and all tuned precisely to these frequencies.
We ended up doing the entire Solar System, which you can find on the Constellations's YouTube channel:
https://youtube.com/
In 2022 I went back to Ibiza for another season with the gongs and realized that my work there was done and I had to move on.
For many years, already back in Thailand, I had in mind to go to Greece one day with my gongs and possibly live there.
So I went one more time back to Germany to prepare moving permanently to Greece. I chose Crete as my destination for various reasons.
First of all, I like living on an island and Crete is special in many different ways. It is the birthplace of Western Culture, ancient history, high mountains, caves, beautiful crystal clear sea, amazing food, wonderful traditional music, and I love the Cretan people.
When I arrived here I felt at home and this is where I am starting all over again to build up my gong work.
