Popol Vuh, later known as Popol Ace, was a 1970s Norwegian

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

from

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, that became popular in the 1970s Norwegian rock scene with such

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

s as "All We Have Is the Past", "Queen of all Queens" and "Music Box". The band was originally a larger

jazz-rock Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music Music genre, genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, a ...

inspired act that featured a brass section named Arman Sumpe Dur Express. The horn players left the group and they named the new band Popol Vuh. The band later changed its name to Popol Ace to avoid confusion with the German band

Popol Vuh ''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people of Guatemala, one of the Maya peoples who also inhabit the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo, ...

. In 1972 they won Norway's Grammy award, the

Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...

, for the Group category. The band's downfall came with the

lead singer The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Jahn Teigen Jahn Teigen (born Jan Teigen; 27 September 1949 – 24 February 2020) was a Norwegian singer, musician and comedian. He represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest three times, in 1978, 1982 and 1983, From October 2006 until his death in F ...

leaving the band for a solo career. In 2017 they were inducted into Norway's

Rockheim Rockheim (also called ''Det nasjonale opplevelsessenteret for pop og rock'', The National Discovery Centre for Pop and Rock, and ''Det nasjonale museet for populærmusikk'', The National Museum for Popular Music) is Norway's national museum f ...

rock music hall of fame.

Grappa Musikkforlag Grappa Musikkforlag (established 1983 in Norway) is a Norwegian music company initiated and directed by Helge Westbye. It is one of the oldest and biggest independent record companies in Norway today. The company represents prominent Norwegian ar ...

released the 3LP box set ''It Was 50 Years Ago Today'' on November 11, 2022 featuring live recordings taken from

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio Aktiebolag, AB (; "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio programming, radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a television ...

and

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

's archives. Sven Ohrvik played keyboards on tracks 11-20. In 2023, French progressive rock label

Musea Records Musea Records (slogan: ''Les classiques du futur'', French for "The classics of the future") is a French non-profit recording company founded in 1985 by Francis Grosse and Bernard Gueffier in Dombasle-sur-Meurthe, specialising in progressive roc ...

reissued '' Stolen From Time'' in a remastered version.

Last line-up

– vocals * Pete Knutsen – guitar, keyboards * Arne Schulze – guitar * Terje Methi – bass * Thor Andreassen – drums and percussion * Pjokken Eide – flute, trombone

Honors

Spellemannsprisen

Spellemannprisen 1972 The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by IFPI Norge and FONO. It was first awarded in 1973 for the recording year 1972, and has been awarded every year since. It is the ...

won in the class Group

Other

*2017:

Hall of Fame inductees

Discography

as Popol Vuh *1972 ''

'', Polydor 2923 009 *1973 '' Quiche Maya'', Polydor 2382 038 as Popol Ace *1975 '' Stolen From Time'', Polydor 2480 332 *1978 '' Curly Sounds'', Polydor 2383 498 *1994 '' Cat of 9 Tales'', Polydor 523908-2 (compilation) *2003 ''All We Have'', Universal/Polydor (albums 1-4 + 5th disc of rarities) *2006 '' The Best of Popol Ace'', Universal (compilation) *2022 '' It Was 50 Years Ago Today,'' Grappa GRLP4748-1 (LP) *2023 '' Stolen From Time,'' Musea Records FGBG 5067 (CD + LP)

References

External links

* * Norwegian progressive rock groups Musical groups established in 1972 1972 establishments in Norway Musical groups from Oslo Musical groups with year of disestablishment missing {{Norway-band-stub