Carsten Bohn (born 18 August 1948) is a German drummer and composer. He was the drummer for the German progressive rock band

Frumpy Frumpy was a German progressive rock/krautrock band based in Hamburg, which was active between 1970–1972 and 1990–1995. Formed after the break-up of folk rockers , Frumpy released four albums in 1970–1973 and achieved considerab ...

from 1969 to 1972 and had a long career in the German music scene. He has recorded with

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(ex-

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) and played as Drummer with the

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Band

Biography

Already in his youth he performed at Hamburg's legendary

Star-Club The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany, that opened on Friday 13 April 1962, and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the 1960s, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on ...

(where the Beatles started out), acting as the drummer in a variety of bands that gained a measure of local popularity. His breakthrough in Europe came in 1970 with Frumpy. The funky lounge sound of Carsten Bohn's soundtrack music for children's audio story books from the 1970s and 1980s has long been a hit in Germany. Between 1970 and 1972, Carsten Bohn was the leader and drummer of Frumpy, the German "Kraut Rock" band headlined by the Hamburg-born blues singer

Inga Rumpf Frumpy was a German progressive rock/krautrock band based in Hamburg, which was active between 1970–1972 and 1990–1995. Formed after the break-up of folk rockers , Frumpy released four albums in 1970–1973 and achieved considerab ...

. Bohn was already a fixture in the German music business when, as BERT BRAC, he began composing music for audio story books. The music accompanying the

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

s became just as popular as the stories themselves. Bohn's work was concentrated on multiple audio book series in which he left his own mark with his music. The record labels responsible for the audio story books, without Bohn's knowledge or permission, used his work to accompany the story telling in at least 16 audio book series totalling approximately 170 individual episodes. Bohn engaged

Europa Records Europa (styled as EUROPA) is a German record label, originally owned by Miller International Records Company (Germany). It has since belonged to the MCA Inc. and Bertelsmann Music Group, and is now owned by Sony Corporation of America. It wa ...

in a legal battle for

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...

that continues today, with the result that neither the record label nor Bohn were allowed to publish the original music used for the audio books. The

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

s of the old audio books had to re-record them with new music not composed by Bohn. This resulted in a full-blown run by fans on the early editions of Bohn's vinyl recordings. Special editions from that time, featuring full-length versions of Bohn's music, are sought-after collectors' items. In Germany, the original

vinyl LP The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and ...

of some of his recordings can command very high prices, in the region of $US 250. In addition, communities of fans took the trouble to remaster the new audio books, replacing "alien music" with songs from Bohn's older creations, and distributed them in a private pool. Carsten-Bohn

In 1973, Bohn formed the group Dennis, named after his son born in 1971 Between 1977–1981 Bohn formed Carsten Bohn's Bandstand and recorded 3 LP's with different lineups. He was member (drummer) of the

Band between 1982 and 1983 along with

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and

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, touring the US and Europe. Bohn has attempted twice to reform Frumpy, once in 1976, and once in 1989. The 1989 revival resulted in the release of two studio albums, and a live album in 1995. In 2004, Bohn and his band, Carsten Bohn's Bandstand, re-recorded the audio book music released by his own BigNoteRecords label, for re-release. Vol. I & II of a planned CD trilogy series were issued in 2004 and 2005 respectively. The songs therein feature Bohn's signature lounge beat which enjoy cult status among followers. For these re-recordings, the same instruments and equipment used to make the original recordings were used in order to replicate the original 1970s' and 1980s' recorded performances as closely as possible. Carsten Bohn now composes and records music for films.

Discography

Frumpy

* ''All will be changed'', 1970 * ''

Frumpy 2 ''Frumpy 2'' was the second album by the German progressive rock band Frumpy. It was released in 1971. Track listing Tracks on the original release of the album were: Side one #"Good Winds" (Rumpf) – 10:02 #"How the Gypsy Was Born" (Kravetz/R ...

'', 1971 * ''By the Way'', 1972 * ''Frumpy LIVE'', 1973 * ''Now!'', 1990 * ''News'', 1991 * ''Frumpy (live '95)'', 1995

Other Projects

* Zabba Lindner - ''Vollbedienung of Percussion'', 1973 * Dennis - ''Hyperthalamus'', 1973 * A.R.Machine - ''A.R.4'', 1974 * Kickbit Information - ''Bitkicks'', 1975 * P. Baumann - ''Repeat Repeat'', 1981 * Georgie Red - ''We'll Work It Out'', 1986 * Georgie Red - ''Helpless Dancer'', 1987 * Udo Lindenberg - ''Atlantic Affairs'' 2001

Carsten Bohn's Bandstand

* ''Humor Rumor'', 1977 * ''Mother Goes Shoes'', 1978 * ''C.B. Radio'', 1979 * ''New York Times'', (Solo), 1993 * ''Brandnew Oldies Vol.1'', 2004 * ''Brandnew Oldies Vol.2'', 2005 * ''Brandnew Oldies LIVE'' - Limited Fan-Edition (DVD), 2006 * ''Brandnew Oldies LIVE,Hamburg,02.10.04'' (DVD+CD), 2006 * ''Brandnew Oldies Vol.3'', 2009 * ''Brandnew Oldies Vol.4'', 2018

References

External links

Official Website

Fansite (German)

* Annette Bastian "Kassettenkinder", Kapitel 4, S.88 "
Drei Fragezeichen Folge 29 (German)

H.G.Francis Grusel-Serie Folge 15 (German)

Wikinews: "Verlorene Hörspielmusik" erscheint nach 20 Jahren auf CD (German)

Interview 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bohn, Carsten 1948 births Living people Musicians from Hamburg Krautrock