Czukay, Holger
Czukay, Holger
Czukay, Holger , German new-wave composer; b. Danzig, March 24, 1938. A musical iconoclast, Czukay fell through the cracks of both jazz and classical instruction until he studied with Stockhausen (1962). He subsequently went to Switzerland, where he encountered rock music through the guitarist Michael Karoli, with whom he formed the pioneer new-wave group Can (1968–78). Can followed the early Stockhausen aesthetic, utilizing “found” music from shortwave radio as well as the techniques of tape splicing and the collage of ethnic music. Czukay anticipated trends in alternative pop music not apparent to most people until well into the 1980s; the ethnic-based constructions in his Forgery series of the 1970s were acknowledged by David Byrne and Brian Eno as an influence in their collaboration, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire