ROME REMAINS ROME

Upon examining the eventful life of Can bassist Holger Czukay, one might come to the conclusion
that this intrepid musician was a loner. His turbulent career exuded an enduring eccentricity governed
by a boundless free spirit. Yet Czukay, who passed away unexpectedly last year at the age of 79,
constantly emphasized that his creativity was always contingent upon a musical partner, whether that
was a skin-and-bones counterpart or an anonymous manifestation that interacted with him through
radio waves or, as happened later, the internet. Nonetheless, most of his partners were of flesh and
blood. His oeuvre, which is in itself cinematic in nature, boasts a cast worthy of a Martin Scorsese
film. Only the most interesting character actors were cast: Brian Eno, Phew, Rolf Dammers, David
Sylvian, Annie Lennox, Jah Wobble, his Can bandmates. The list could go on and on. Many of these
masterpieces are now out of print, so Groenland Records, which already released the highly
acclaimed retrospective CINEMA to mark the occasion of Holger's 80 th birthday at the beginning of the
year, has taken it upon itself to release reissues of Holger's music in order to make it accessible once
again.