Kraftwerk are a German electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the genre. The group began as part of West Germany's experimental krautrock scene in the early 1970s before fully embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders. Wolfgang Flür joined the band in 1973 and Karl Bartos in 1975, expanding the band to a quartet. Since the band's formation, it has seen numerous lineup changes, with Hütter as its only constant member.
Kraftwerk performing in Kyiv, in 2008
Concert in Zürich, 1976
In Stockholm, February 2004
Early 1970s vocoder, custom-built for Kraftwerk
Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne, and the seventh-largest city in Germany, with a 2022 population of 629,047.
Image: Nacht in Düsseldorf cropped
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