At the end of the 1960s, a group of excellent musicians formed in Germany that soon attracted the attention of the music world. They all not only came from different countries of the world, but also had different musical backgrounds: musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic played with musicians from Africa, South America, Asia. They came together to compose and improvise together. What happened musically was (according to a German expression) "between all stools", hence the group called itself "BETWEEN". The Carl Orff composition student and pianist Peter Michael Hamel was a constant in this project. During the 1970s, BETWEEN recorded six albums, which were first released on WERGO and later on its sister label INTUITION. To this day, these albums enjoy great popularity, have been re-released several times and are among the standard repertoire in international playlists with world music, a genre that BETWEEN has played a major role in shaping. Half a century later, some of the still living musicians from back then have come together again and, with some additional excellent new members, have developed and recorded this album: Free Music. It is now released again on INTUITION and sounds very clearly like BETWEEN - aesthetically rejuvenated and technically up to date. The auratic spirit of this music for people who do not wear blinkers, yet have sympathetic ears is conveyed very directly even today.
