HUBL GREINER | Vita

Musician / Composer / Sound Researcher / Producer / Filmmaker / Photo Artist

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Hubl Greiner, 2022

HUBL GREINER

is a musical border crosser who likes to lean over the abyss and sometimes even further. He is best known as the former leader of the German cult band THE BLECH and as the producer of countless acts and projects. He has made a name for himself beyond Germany’s borders as an unconventional, innovative and experimental musician, composer and producer. In addition to music, he has been a film director since 2004 and is also active in the art of photography.

Looking back

Inspired by the musical subculture outside the mainstream, he began playing drums and bass in the early 1970s. His influences range from Bavarian folk music to jazz, rock, punk, sound art and new music. >> More information on his career up to 1980!

Meeting other musicians opened up new horizons for Hubl. His encounters with the avant-garde musicians of the European Rock-in-Opposition and Canterbury scene (Henry Cow, Etron Fou Leloublan, Fred Frith, Ferdinand Richard, Tim Hodgkinson, Chris Cutler, Ken Hyder etc.) and the musicians of the independent music scene were particularly influential. ) as well as the musicians of the independent musician network “Schneeball” (Embryo, Christian Burchard, Roman Bunka, Edgar Hofmann, Checkpoint Charlie/Uwe von Trotha, Missus Beastly, Nikel Pallat/Ton Steine Scherben, Chris Karrer/Amon Düül II, Kling Klong, Munju etc.), Yoruba drummers, Yoruba drummers and the musicians of the “Schneeball” network. ), Yoruba drummers from Nigeria (Dun Dun Orchestra), North American Indians (Navajos, Northern Tutchones, Lakotas, Cherokees and O’odhams), Mani Neumeier and Roland Schaeffer (Guru Guru), musicians from Asian and Arabic cultures, underground musicians from the former Eastern Bloc, hip-hop artists from France, the unique Iva Bittová, the Sudanese Sufi Mohamed Badawi, the legendary South Indian Tavil master Paramashivam Pillai and the equally legendary shamanistic singer Stepanida Borisova from Siberia.

Hubl has received international awards and toured as a musician through Western and Eastern Europe, North and South America, Canada, Japan, Siberia, Russia, Sudan, Egypt, Lebanon, Cuba, Iceland and Estonia. He has contributed to around 65 CDs as a musician, composer and producer and has been invited twice to the “documenta” in Kassel.

In addition to THE BLECH, he has been involved in formations such as jazzrock allgäu, SCHÄGGI BÄDSCH, the HULU PROJECT (with Luigi Archetti) and THE DJ HOERSPIEL ENSEMBLE (together with his friend, the author Franz Dobler) since 1978.

Film

As a film director, he has released 9 documentaries and countless reports and portraits.

Photography

In 2008, he founded the Fotoristen together with other photographers in order to document current social developments critically and photographically.

Today

Since 2015, he has been a member of the artist collective FRAU.BACH, which develops interdisciplinary performances. In 2020, the trio created a documentary-audiovisual stage format with Silvia Pfändner and Thomas Maos on the subject of death and dying. Since 2018 he has been a permanent member of the Hamburg band KLING KLONG. In 2018, he founded the band THE GUERILLA BOPS together with musician and actor Danny Exnar.

In 2020, he launched his solo project MU 無 and released the album Moon Dance. Since 2020, duo concerts have been held together with Rupert Volz under the name “FREUNDE IM GARTEN”. From time to time, the concerts are accompanied by actress Claudia Knupfer (lyrics, voice).

In addition to music, he is working on the film “tabu or not tabu” in 2024

Hubl with Sufi musicians in Sudan, 2010

PRESS EXTRACTS

«…a devil-of-a-fellow and probably one of the most creative producers and musicians in his profession in Europe.»
Ear Magazine, New York

«Already climbing the World Music charts in Europe, it’s sure to become a classic in the experimental sub-genre. TranceSiberia breaks barriers most musicians wouldn’t even consider, let alone ponder. A must have.»
Folk-tales, Portland, USA

Competent spinner
Spiegel

Probably the most exciting, contemporary and irritating attempt to break new ground in music
Magazyn Muzyczny – Warschau

… supplies the broad ass of the citizens with pepper.
Radio Spazio Uno / Neapel

… exotic rhythms and a sense of twisted, tongue-in-kitsch
Artemy Troitsky / Moscow Times

One of the most interesting new bands of the time
Jazz Magazin – Paris

O sucesso mais irritante
UH Revista – Rio de Janeiro

and so on

AWARDS

International awards as a musician, composer and producer.

• 12 record awards
• “Musician of the Year” in the ČSSR 1989
• “Selection Swiss Radio International”, Switzerland 2000
• World Music Charts Europe 2002 (3rd place)
• Amadeus nomination, FM4 Vienna, 2006
• Pasticcio Prize (for the most outstanding CD production), ORF 2006

 

2021: Soundcheck for a duo concert with Danny Exnar (The Guerilla Bops) at TOBS Biel, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Swiss Stage Association, with special guest, the Swiss Federal President Moritz Leuenberger.

COMMISSIONED COMPOSITIONS

Theater music | Film music for documentaries and short films.

TEDx Talk

In 2021, Hubl gave a TEDx Talk together with Mohamed Badawi on the topic of „Bridging Cultures through Music Interchange„.

 

Hubl at the “Live in den Fabrikskes” festival in South Westphalia (Germany) 2013. photo: Ralf Litera

THE BLECH

was founded in 1985 by Hubl Greiner and Rupert Volz. The two formed the foundation of the band. They toured worldwide for 12 years, were invited twice to the “documenta” in Kassel and performed at rock, jazz, punk and classical music festivals as well as at festivals for new music. The musicians have received international awards and shared the stage with Elvis Costello, Henry Rollins, Nick Cave, Herbie Hancock, Nina Hagen, Klaus Doldinger, Cecil Taylor, Einstürzende Neubauten, Elliott Sharp, Iva Bittova, Fred Frith, Chaka Chan, John Zorn, Arto Lindsay, Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann, Mauricio Kagel and Luciano Pavarotti, among others.

CONCERT-HIGHLIGHTS – THE BLECHdocumenta Kassel 1987

• documenta Kassel 1992
• Dom Omladine Beograda – Jazz Festival in Belgrade
• Victoriaville Festival – Montreal/Canada
• Festival MIMI – Marseille/France
• International Festival Interweek – Novosibirsk/Siberia
• Festival BERLIN IN MOSCOW – at the Theater Mossowjet, Moscow / Report in ARD Tagesthemen
• Talk show with Artemy Troitsky on Russian television
• Concert in the Dynamo soccer stadium in Moscow (live broadcast on Russian television)
• Al Bustan Festival – Beirut/Lebanon
• Klaaspärlimäng Music Festival – Tartu/Estonia
• Area Sismica – Forli/Italy
• Concerto EXT – Rio de Janeiro/Brazil
• Tour Brazil
• Festival at the Opera House St.Petersburg/Russia
• Festival Barbue – Copenhagen/Denmark
• Tour Japan
• Tour ČSSR, Germany, Austria, Switzerland
• Festival Ballon d’Alsace – France
• Festival – Kufstein/Austria
• Odenwald Festival (Mani Neumeier)
• Jazzfeszival Berlin (Jazzfocus)
• Jazzhausfestival Cologne
• Tour with the Deutsche Bundesbahn – (Red Train), concerts in main stations
• ZKM Multimediale – Karlsruhe 89
• International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt (with Joachim Krebs, Uwe von Trotha, Tilman Küntzel)
• Transmission – Tempodrom Berlin
• Porta Festival – Vlotho, 1990
• Solidarity concert for Václav Havel’s Civic Forum – ČSSR
• “Rockfestival” – Ice field hockey stadium Prague/ČSSR
• WRO 90 Sound Basis Visual Art Festival – Wroclaw/Poland
• Dissonanten Festival – Rotterdam
• Tours through Western and Eastern Europe, North and South America, Canada, Japan, Siberia, Russia, Sudan, Egypt
• etc.

More about THE BLECH

LECTURE at the University of Yakutsk/Siberia

Hubl’s lecture on the power of music on 2010 (in German)