Klaus Harmony and his Accordion of Pain 08/23/2010
 People often are asking me why Klaus Harmony, when he was so famous for the accordion in the 1960's, did not incorporate more of the versatile and universal instrument onto his soundtracks for the Erotik Expressionist movies with Friedrich Wohlfäht. Well, of course, I cannot say precisely because I am not Klaus and would not presume to know the inner workings of a genius brain but I do have a thesis on the subject. It is well noted and documented in the biography of Klaus, 'Porno Sonatas' by Godfrey Gilliam, that Klaus may have some less than happy associated memories of the accordion in his life, in particular in connection with his mother Lotte Schmitt.  "In 1948 with a child to support, with Orff having departed from the film circuit to open a chain of stores selling sex toy vent dummies, Lotte embarked on new creative ventures. Influenced by her earlier incarnation as a supporting artiste in the clubs of 1930's Berlin, she created a new form of cabaret, breathtaking for its daring employment of street theatre as a medium from which to comment on events in post-war Berlin. Dressed only in a negligée, she would stand in the windows of shop fronts singing her songs accompanied by the young Klaus on accordion. These songs soon became well known, and ballads such as Der Nun und das Pferd and vaudevillian foot-tappers like Wo Loflt Meinen Kleinen Sturzhelm Gehen? have become standard repertoire in certain German circles. During the early-fifties a new aspect of her 'Vaudeville Nouveau' developed whereby she would wait for a man to approach her and together they would retreat upstairs enigmatically, leaving Klaus to carry the act and learn his trade alone. Ailing health and an utterly rampant drinking problem beset Lotte over the ensuing years and eventually Klaus had to become a solo artiste. His tender age notwithstanding, he knew the songs intimately and, with his accordion, performed them with an uncanny likeness to Lotte's own delivery, moves and all. The part of the act that involved disappearing upstairs he found difficult however, preferring to simply kiss the men on the cheeks. [He later noted, that they seemed to be just as happy with this, sometimes making favorable remarks about his underdeveloped pubescent moustache.] "  He did base his early pop career on this instrument but he soon moved forward into the Progressive Rock style and left it behind. There is always somewhat pain and yearning to be found in the life of an artist to make his art and here, I think, is the pain of Klaus Harmony. Peace, Jan Sink These Klaus Sightings 04/10/2009
I suppose I should be most invigorated by these reports of the Klaus Harmony sightings (isn't it like Elvis?) but I am sure to confess that I am finding them somewhat irritating. Klaus disapeared after an explosion in London in 1984 but no body was left behind - only his desert boots, smoking in the wind. But the police said at the time that they could not find him and that he was dead.  And now these reports about a vagrant in America trying to con us for a Winnegago and Sting from The Police getting invlolved (such a busy body!) On top of this also the man from the London recordng studio who believes he saw Klaus at a party living it up and having good times. Pah! Let me say this most certainly. We (me and Klaus) were very much the closest of friends (apart from Klaus and Friedrich). I should also say we were not gay at all. But I would know if he were alive still. We had a connection which was like brothers also and a sure that Klaus died that day. It's as though someone suddenly had turned down the brightness on a television set. So tragic. |   About Jan Sink
Jan Sink was born in Utrecht, Netherlands in 1944 and, following a largely unsuccessful career as a roadie, became a recording engineer at the infamous Amsterdam recording
studio, The Velvet Glove. In 1969 he was hired by legendary erotik film composer Klaus Harmony to engineer sessions for 'Elektrische Lippen', the composer’s first collaboration with director, Friedrich Wohlfäht. Jan went on to engineer and mix and co-produce soundtracks for classics such as 'Die Sins des Apostles', 'The Ladies Man' and 'Die Sexorcist'. Following the composer’s death in 1984, Jan took the role of CEO of HarmonSink Corp founded with Klaus’ son, Helmut Harmony, to administer the Klaus Harmony publishing catalogue. In 2005 HarmonSink Corp acquired the rights to the complete recorded work of Klaus Harmony which is now being re-released in the form of the acclaimed multi-volume 'Oeuvre' series. Jan divides his time between Amsterdam and London and sometimes lives with his wife, Pupu. CategoriesAll ArchivesAugust 2010 |