Holy Blues

How African American Christian music influenced Western cultural history and forever changed the world of song. What do blues, jazz, soul, R&B, rock'n'roll, folk, country, rock, pop and hip hop have in common? Their origin, their fire! Holy Blues (Gospel Blues) is the source of all the roots music we love. The history of gospel music is 400 years old; its spirit even much older, and without it we simply would not be able to be enchanted by soulful music today.Reason enough to trace this good spirit, Holy Spirit. The award-winning Swiss musician and book author Richard Koechli embarks on an adventurous journey through American cultural history and shows with countless concrete examples how high the influence of faith on the music and its producers has been throughout the centuries, how decisive and mysterious the divine dimension shapes the music at every moment. Koechli does this in a double package: as a book author with a soul stirring history trip, and as a blues artist with very personal interpretations of timeless Holy Blues songs (free download).

DE: Richard Koechlis Gitarrenbuch 'Slide Guitar Styles' gilt seit über 20 Jahren als Standard-Werk im deutschen Sprachraum. Nun veröffentlicht der Schweizer Autor als Ergänzung ein Spielbuch mit ausgiebigen Übungsstücken: 12 Instrumentals aus verschiedenen Stilrichtungen (Blues, Folk, Pop, Rock, Country) mit mittlerem bis höherem Schwierigkeitsgrad. Stücke, die Spass machen und sich auch vor Publikum nicht zu verstecken brauchen. Das Buch ist multimedial, mit Audio- und Video-Download, QR-Codes, zusätzlichem e-book und in dreisprachiger Übersetzung.EN: Richard Koechli's guitar book 'Slide Guitar Styles' has been the standard work in the German-speaking world for over 20 years. Now the Swiss author publishes as a supplement a playbook with extensive practice pieces: 12 instrumentals from different styles (Blues, Folk, Pop, Rock, Country) with a medium to high degree of difficulty. Tunes that are fun to play and don't need to hide from the audience. The book is multimedia, with audio and video download, QR codes, additional e-book and trilingual translation.FR: Le livre 'Slide Guitar Styles' de Richard Koechli est l'ouvrage de référence dans le monde germanophone depuis plus de 20 ans. L'auteur suisse publie maintenant en supplément un playbook avec des pièces de pratique étendues: 12 instrumentaux de différents styles (Blues, Folk, Pop, Rock, Country) avec un degré de difficulté moyen à élevé. Des morceaux qui font plaisir et qui n'ont pas besoin de se cacher du public. Le livre est multimédia, avec téléchargement audio et vidéo, codes QR, e-book supplémentaire et traduction trilingue.

Tampa Red müsste im selben Atemzug mit Blueslegenden wie Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters oder B.B. King genannt werden. Während mehr als 20 Jahren war er in Chicago tonangebend - der Erste mit einer Blechgitarre, einer der Ersten mit einer E-Gitarre, pionierhafter Saitenvirtuose, Autor von über 300 Songperlen, Mentor vieler späterer Stars. Doch Hudson Whittaker, so sein bürgerlicher Name, verlor gegen Ende seines Lebens Glanz und Gesundheit, starb einsam wie ein Vergessener. Bis heute erschien kein umfassendes Buch über ihn, kein Film, nichts. Unbegreiflich! Mit einem literarischen Trick versucht der Schweizer Autor und Musiker Richard Koechli, das Steuer herumzureissen, dem vergessenen König nachträglich ein würdiges Ende zu bereiten. Eingebettet in eine fiktive Gesprächsrunde mit der jungen Pflegehelferin Anna und ihrem musikbesessenen Freund Eric, lässt er Hudson Whittaker kurz vor dem Tod (19. März 1981) gleich selber erzählen: Über das Leben in Chicago, über die Liebe, natürlich über seine Musik und seine Songs, über berühmte und weniger berühmte Kollegen, über Trauer, Verzweiflung, über die Angst vor dem Ende - und schliesslich über das Glück des Vertrauens, der Versöhnung mit der eigenen Geschichte. Spannend wie ein Krimi, berührend und humorvoll wie ein Drama, klärend wie ein Geschichtsbuch. Koechli zeichnet Tampa Reds Leben einfühlend und historisch präzise nach, vermittelt dabei entscheidende Ereignisse und Wesenszüge des Blues - und ruft nebenbei auch in Erinnerung, wie Rock'n'Roll und Rockmusik auf dem Rücken dieser Musik entstanden sind.Im Nachwort: Renommierte Musiker und Medienleute aus Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz erzählen ihre persönliche Tampa Red-Story - Hank Shizzoe, Peter 'Crow C.', Al Cook, Martin Schäfer, Gerd Vogel, Erik Trauner, Herby Dunkel, Klaus 'Mojo' Kilian, Tanja Wirz, Rainer Wöffler, 'Ro Lee' Sommer, Rolf Winter, Wale Liniger

Robert Johnson did not sell his soul to the devil. But how did he crack the Blues code...? While modern music historians have now almost completely stripped the Blues of its myths, award-winning Swiss singer-songwriter, slide guitarist and book author Richard Koechli gives him back the soul in a philosophical way. With a mystical story that deeply explores the question of what exactly might be behind the legendary "mojo" of the great Blues masters. Koechli embarks on a trip to the temples of the African-American musical soul, gets involved in strange thought adventures, meets all kinds of stars of Blues and Rock history - and in the end is haunted in a dream by the most famous of all Blues figures, by Robert Johnson (1911-1938). Johnson 'tells' him what really happened in Mississippi back then, how he got the Blues secret - and whether the devil really played a role ...A stirring story for all Blues lovers; full of light-footed poetry, spiritual depth and music-historical precision. You can feel in every line that the author is not a theorist, but a Blues artist down to the core.

Le livre le plus complet jamais publié sur Mark Knopfler et Dire Straits, écrit par un auteur reconnu. Conteur sensible, maître d'une virtuosité subtile, superstar détendue : la carrière de Mark Knopfler bat presque tous les records.Le musicien et écrivain suisse Richard Koechli plonge, avec un sens aigu du détail, dans l'univers du compositeur et chanteur britannique au son de guitare inimitable pour rendre hommage à une ¿uvre exceptionnelle. Avec passion, compétence, humour et un regard critique empreint de respect, il explore l'art et la philosophie de Mark Knopfler, l'influence de ses prédécesseurs et compagnons de route, ainsi que le contexte musico-historique des années 1960 à 1990.À elle seule, l'histoire de Dire Straits remplit plus de 500 pages. La suite de cette exploration est désormais disponible dans un second volume consacré à la carrière solo de Mark Knopfler.Une aventure multimédia inspirante, riche en anecdotes et en exemples audio-visuels - à ne pas manquer pour les fans de Mark Knopfler, les passionnés de guitare, les audiophiles et les amoureux de l'histoire de la musique.(Traduction française de l'édition originale allemande)

Music exhilarates, enchants, fires, liberates, calms, comforts, heals. Like hardly any other medium, it lets us take off into a world beyond time and space. How does that work? What is the mystery of sound? There are theories, suppositions and hunches from the most diverse fields, but in no epoch has it been possible to lift the veil definitively.Tenaciously, playfully and at times ironically, Swiss musician and book author Richard Koechli searches for answers as to how and why music touches us and, in the sense of transcendence, even takes us beyond ourselves. What processes are going on there, in the brain and in the soul? How has all this influenced the history of humanity? Meticulously, Koechli examines explanations from musicology, natural science, psychology, music therapy, sociology, literature, philosophy, mysticism, spirituality and metaphysics. He passionately quotes legendary stars as they experience the magic. Worried, he also asks why, since time immemorial, the 'drug' of music is often not enough for us, why we believe we can top the high with some substance or occult practice. Last but not least, Richard Koechli ends the 200-page book with a fascinating foray through the history of 'Psychedelic Rock', because it was this music from the hippie era that taught him how to take off. And in his role as a multiple award-winning blues musician and singer-songwriter, he complements it all with a very personal album: 'Transcendental Blues' (download link in the book), a complex musical trip through the ups and downs of being human. For anyone involved in music in any way. A relevant book because it multiplies respect for the mystery of sounds. A stirring one, because it takes the love for music to infinity.

How African American Christian music influenced Western cultural history and forever changed the world of song. What do blues, jazz, soul, R&B, rock'n'roll, folk, country, rock, pop and hip hop have in common? Their origin, their fire! Holy Blues (Gospel Blues) is the source of all the roots music we love. The history of gospel music is 400 years old; its spirit even much older, and without it we simply would not be able to be enchanted by soulful music today.Reason enough to trace this good spirit, Holy Spirit. The award-winning Swiss musician and book author Richard Koechli embarks on an adventurous journey through American cultural history and shows with countless concrete examples how high the influence of faith on the music and its producers has been throughout the centuries, how decisive and mysterious the divine dimension shapes the music at every moment. Koechli does this in a double package: as a book author with a soul stirring history trip, and as a blues artist with very personal interpretations of timeless Holy Blues songs (free download).