Holger Czukay

Born in Gdansk on March 24, 1938, Holger Czukay joined Can as one of its founding members and helped shape the Krautrock movement from its underground roots; across decades of wide-ranging work he connected mainstream pop with experimental forms, introduced sampling methods early on, and examined how global musical traditions influenced Western listeners.

Music captivated him early, prompting formal studies in composition and conducting that often clashed with conventional standards; he was barred from a jazz festival after judges deemed his contribution “unclassifiable music” and was later dismissed from Berlin’s Music Academy for comparable artistic defiance. While studying under Karlheinz Stockhausen he sharpened his concepts, eventually taking on teaching duties himself; student Michael Karoli introduced him to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Velvet Underground.

Once he adopted the bass, Czukay joined Karoli, fellow Stockhausen pupil Irmin Schmidt, drummer Jaki Liebezeit, and American singer Malcolm Mooney to create the ensemble Inner Space in early 1968. The group soon adopted the name Can and issued its first album, Monster Movie, in 1969, launching a sequence of forward-looking records that secured the band’s status among the era’s defining acts. Concurrently Czukay partnered with Rolf Dammers on Canaxis 5, applying rudimentary tape-splice sampling and worldbeat elements; constructed from thousands of short-wave radio captures, the record drew on numerous international sources and established Czukay as an early advocate for incorporating global music into Western contexts.

Can dissolved after releasing Flow Motion in 1976, prompting Czukay’s first solo album, Movies, in 1979, which refined his short-wave collage approach. The record earned both critical praise and attention from fellow musicians, leading Czukay to several collaborative ventures: he contributed to Eurythmics’ 1981 debut In the Garden, joined Jaki Liebezeit and bassist Jah Wobble for the album Full Circle and its club single “How Much Are They,” and, through Wobble, met Japanese vocalist Phew, with whom he, Liebezeit, and producer Conny Plank recorded the 1982 album Phew.

His next solo outing, On the Way to the Peak of Normal, appeared in 1982 and again involved Wobble along with sessions from the Düsseldorf band S.Y.P.H.; it was followed by Der Osten Ist Rot in 1984 and Rome Remains Rome in 1987, the latter containing the contentious track “Blessed Easter” that incorporated a sample of Pope John Paul II. Much of the mid-1980s was devoted to production duties. In 1988 Czukay collaborated with David Sylvian on Plight and Premonition; the pair reconvened the next year for Flux + Mutability, after which Czukay rejoined Can to record the studio album Rite Time. Apart from the solo releases Radio Wave Surfer in 1991 and Moving Pictures in 1993, he largely stepped back from performing during the 1990s to concentrate on production, returning with Good Morning Story in 1999. La Luna, featuring his wife, vocalist U-She, appeared in 2000, and the pair issued The New Millennium in 2003. U-She’s death in July 2017 left Czukay bereft; he himself died the following September at age 79, his body found in the Weilerswist, Germany apartment that had once housed Can’s Inner Space Studio.