Welcome
to the homepage of Mediterranean Music!
This site contains CDs and other information to keep yourself
informed about my music, all activities and concerts from BEAVER
& FRIENDS as well as new productions - or just listen to
the music.
In
this history section I´d like to tell you about the important
phases of my musical life as well as a few anecdotes. I was
born Bernhard Kohles in 1961 in the south of Munich. At the
age of six, I felt my first desire to make music and wanted
a piano. The financial situation at the time would only allow
an accordion which I never seemed to acquire a taste for. It
was probably my trait of musical stubbornness which I have to
thank that my parents finally relented in giving their "last
shirt" for an acoustic piano. Having some basic knowledge
in classical music, I then went to the boys´ choir in
Regensburg - the Regensburg Domspatzen.
There
in the boarding school, we concentrated mainly on the art of
singing which I afterwards made a wide turn from. I´m
very grateful though, for this fundamental education in music
which proved very useful for the future. Owing to a very tolerant
piano instructor who provided the opportunity to even work with
an orchestra, I discovered my tendency toward composing and
my fascination for a pop-rock-classic mix. Endowed with these
cross-over experiences, I first fulfilled my "national
duties" in the way of various jobs which included working
for an insurance company. On the side, I made my way across
the country with various bands thinking that I would soon receive
a lucrative record contract.
Because
the success with the larger major companies was less than modest,
I decided, together with my bass player at that time, to take
history into my own hands. In the mid 1980s we founded the recording
studio and the music label I-Records. In this way, I gained
entrepreneurial knowledge that would prove to be very productive
for the future. In the beginning of the 1990s I gathered together
some of my musical friends and
studio colleagues and we worked on various songs of |
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our own from the last 14 years. The
result was the CD "FRIENDS" which came out in 1993.
During my stay in Greece, I met the Greek painter and my future
good friend MINAS VLAHOS on the island Karpathos in the Aegean
Sea.
Due
to a conscious preoccupation of his surrealistic painting and
tuition, my music changed. The history and atmosphere of this
rugged wild-romantic island at the edge of Europe and the melancholy
and self-confidence of the people here also played a major role
in this change. During solitary moments along the beach, I experienced
God and one case of deja vu feeling after another. The death
of my cousin and the poem titled "Footprints in the Sand"
which closely interrelates to my above-mentioned experiences
inspired me to compose the meditative-esoteric album "BLUE"
in 1993 in a time-span of only three months. This production
brought into motion a creative phase which led to my second
album "GEMINI" in the same year. After "BLUE",
it was impossible to follow along the same musical line in style
and conception. My musical background was too strong and I was
too influenced by the Mediterranean way of living so that in
the end a cross-over album with epical elements that loves musical
diversion and plays with dual moods was created.
At
the end of the 1990s, my close to 15 years of studio work came
to a end. A musical cooperation with a large German charter
airline and the desire to not just have CD conserves but to
play again "on stage" induced me to organize my first
big concert in over a decade. In the millenium year 2000, together
with a group of music friends that harmonized well, BEAVER &
FRIENDS was born and we played various concerts in Tunisia.
Subsequently, I decided to separate myself not only musically
but totally from I-Records. In January 2001, I founded MEDITERRANEAN-MUSIC.
My
guide for this new phase is the motto "CREATE YOUR DREAMS
FOR LIFE". This life philosophy represents the new company
and also helps to shape the character of my music in the future.
PANTA
REI- All is in a state of flux!
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