Guru Guru

Guru Guru
From left: Hans Reffert, Peter Kühmstedt, Mani Neumeier, Roland Schaeffer (2007)
Background information
Origin	Heidelberg, Germany
Genres	Krautrock, Experimental rock, Psychedelic rock, Progressive rock
Years active	1968–present
Website	www.guru-guru.com
Members	Mani Neumeier Peter Kühmstedt Roland Schaeffer
Past members	Hans Reffert Uli Trepte Eddy Naegeli Jim Kennedy Ax Genrich Bruno Schaab Conny Veit Hans Hartmann Houschaeng Nejadepour Jogi Karpenkiel Josef Jandrisits Butze Fischer Hellmut Hattler Dieter Bornschlegel Peter Wolbrandt Erwin Ditzner Barbara Lahr Uli Zuefle Razem Ruebel Luigi Archetti

Guru Guru is a German krautrock band formed in 1968 as The Guru Guru Groove by Mani Neumeier (drums), Uli Trepte (bass) and Eddy Naegeli (guitar) later replaced by American Jim Kennedy (guitar). In time for their debut in 1970, Ax Genrich had replaced Kennedy to solidify the classic Guru Guru line up.

Guru Guru were related to the free jazz music scene both through their work with Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer and through Neumeier, who had already won several jazz prizes. The band was also influenced by psychedelic rock artists, such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Rolling Stones and early Pink Floyd.

Among the band's friends were Amon Düül, Can and Xhol Caravan, with whom Guru Guru played jam sessions.

Frontman Mani Neumeier (drummer and singer) has an original style of playing drums, and is known in the European jazz rock-scene. He was also involved in numerous other projects, as Tiere der Nacht, The Psychedelic Monsterjam, Damo Suzuki's Network, Globe Unity Orchestra, Harmonia, Acid Mothers Guru Guru, Voodootrance & Lover 303.

Guru Guru's live performances in the late 1960s and early 1970s were politically left-oriented. They organized concerts together with the Socialist German Student Union, read political texts between the songs, and sometime played at the jails. Their shows were extravagant and anarchistic, some of the musicians lived together in a commune in German Odenwald region, experimented with hallucinogens (one of their songs is titled The LSD March/German: Der LSD-Marsch). Mani Neumeier is one of the organizers of the annual Krautrock-Festival Finkenbach ().