How the ARiDh era begun...

Two Greek and three German guys found each other in the Arabian desert; our Quintet...  
In the beginning, we started with a funny name: " The Shogulougu Non Gospel Singers" - after a few months the we decided on the name ARiDh, the bandname ARID was already taken so instead of the latin name for DRY we chose ARiDh which can be transformed to RIADH (our Band-Own form to write Riyadh... ;)) - where everything begun.  
In the first months, we did play cover songs and had a few gigs inside our recreation centre of the compound. After a while, we found out that we do all have "ancient stuff - music and lyrics from our "previous lives" and tried some of them out and saw that we could develop own songs, Every two months about we did have a gig and rented the restaurant and pool area of our compound and were astonished how many people showed up to our live events. For one event we had even more than 2.000 ticket requests... but this was not possible to realise in Saudi Arabia at this time...  

The 5-guy Quintet was expanded by a British Lady (Lynne) for later recordings. Within a period of 17 months, we worked out about 20 own songs of which 18 songs have been recorded and published in the Albums "Dialog!" and "Spring Season". The Lyrics were partly written in the 1980s already. This is the reason why some songs are in German language. The inspiration came from German Rock musicians as Westernhagen, Lindenberg and several other bands. The “ancient” lyrics were slightly modified in 2014 and 2015 fitting to the music, which is partly even elder than the lyrics. We produced homage to the “good old times” or better said, we grabbed out the forgotten stuff from our memory boxes and brought it alive again and added a range of new songs composed from 2014 on as well. 
An additional Thanks goes to the enthusiasm of Eugene and the endless work he invested in the recording and mixing the songs. We had prepared a basic recording setup in my house and did record there the 18 songs with REAPER package. The quality could have been better but he produced outcome is as it is. We love it, we are happy with it and it reflects the flashback of our youth… 
ARidh in the First Edition: 
Eugene Balasis (Bass / Guitar / Mixing)
Frank Neumann (Vocals, Lyrics)
Randolf Rausch (Drums)
Erwin Schulz (Guitar)
Tryfon Theodorou (Keyboard)

Randolf left Saudi and therefore we found 
Ingmar Obermann as the ARiDh drummer
In this formation, we had some absolutely amazing live-gigs and in addition, we did write and record 18 songs... 

Lynne Millne joined us as friend, as fan and as Background Vocals. Due to her luck with men, Frank wrote the song Shit Street for Lynne  to cheer her up and they sing the song as Duett...
From more or less the first day as ARiDh, our friend, colleague and fan Rainer Gerke was supporting us in technical issues
 
We had a great time and became kind of "famous" in Riyadh... but as time goes by and Saudi Arabia is a place with high fluctuation levels, Eugene, Erwin and Ingmar left the country and the great era of ARiDh in Saudi Arabia was over. 
But of course ARiDh did not break... We searched for new musicians and found a couple of,,, but not everyone did fit the the ARiDh Spirit of making Music...
We had some more live gigs with new musicians but the old spirit was gone and it was not the same feeling again.
So, we did find 
Vladislaff Nicolaison Guitar Player and music multitalent joined the old ARiDh before the break up and took over some roles in the recordings for the third Album
Walid Machat Guitar Player and music multitalent took over some roles in the recordings of the third Album.
The third Album "Speechless) was started with Tryfon and Walid in Riyadh right before the summer 2017 when Frank was also packing -up and leaving Saudi for good. We had about 6-7 songs ready with the Music but the vocal recordings were not in good quality before leaving Riyad. Frank returned to Germany and continued recording the vocals with a small digital mixer to some songs. We did make a test release of "Speachlesss" prenatal... and the quality was not satisfying. Frank was also working with Vlad on some songs for the third Album, like Memorandum during his stop over in Germany. 
It took three more years and a Corona Lockdown in Tanzania to finally complete the third Album in Mo`s Record Studio in Mwanza end of 2020... During Corona Lockdown Frank and Vlad were having online rehearsals and we finished Ziwa Victoria and Magic Dance that way.,,  
In July 2022 the third Album "Speechless" was finally released. after being developed and produced in Saudi Arabia, Germany, Russia, Lebanon, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Greece... uff... 
Since 2022. Frank is working already on the 4th Album and completed 13 Songs with the Lyrics and partly with Music ideas in Greece, Tanzania, Egypt and some Central Asian countries... He is building a new Music Studio and Stage in the blossoming Ecovillage and Farm "Hortus Cyrenaicus" in Northern Greece. As soon as the surrounding is ready to work, the 4th Album is scheduled to be finalised and published. 
Hopefully in September 2025, we will be able to bring ARiDh back to stage in the Hortus Cyrenaicus and then do a live Gig with the  Band once every summer... 
In the new Music Studio, a lot of ideas shall be developed and implemented and the studio and stage will be open for other bands, musicians and artists and a range of public events is foreseen.  

Contact: Frank_Neumann@ARidH.eu