Popol Vuh (band)

Popol Vuh (German: [pɔpl̩ vuː]) were a German musical collective founded by keyboardist Florian Fricke in 1969 together with Frank Fiedler (sound design), Holger Trülzsch (percussion), and Bettina Fricke (tablas and production). The band took its name from the Mayan manuscript containing the mythology of highland Guatemala's K'iche' people. During the next two decades the membership often alternated, most notably including Djong Yun, Renate Knaup, Conny Veit, Daniel Fichelscher, Klaus Wiese, and Robert Eliscu.

Popol Vuh began as an electronic music project, but under Fricke's leadership they soon abandoned synthesizers for organic instrumentation and world music influences. They developed a productive working partnership with director Werner Herzog, contributing scores to films such as Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), and Fitzcarraldo (1982). The group are associated with West Germany's 1970s krautrock movement and are considered progenitors of new-age and ambient music. Pitchfork magazine called Hosianna Mantra (1972) Popol Vuh's classic release.