Between

In 1970, Peter Michael Hamel founded BETWEEN, an international band specialised in improvisational / « ethnic » rock music. The name Between comes from the fact that Hamel's music is originaly "in-between", always making a combination between "popular music" and "serious music". The classical musician Robert Eliscu (born American), responsible of oboe parts in POPOL VUH can be considered as the major member of the musical tribe next to Peter Michael Hamel. With a small community of six members, BETWEEN recorded its first album “Einstieg” in 1971. It directly announces the musical orientation to come, timeless ethnic rock compositions, mixing together several acoustic instruments (bongo, flute…) to folk and jazz. “And the waters openened” recorded in 1973 carries on improvisations and acoustic exploration, played in a rather “spacey” rock atmosphere, sometimes closed to krautrock, weird flavour. “Dharana” (1974) is seen as a classic album and marks a new step in the launch of “world” music. It contains long epic, acoustic pieces with a few minimalist, oriental accents. “Hesse Between Music” (1975) is a concept album, always improvised, featuring Indian scales and recitation. During and after BETWEEN’s career, the front man Peter Michael Hamel has developed the possibilities of spiritual effects of music on mind thanks to a great variety of solo albums in search of East meets West.