The history of Lothlorien:
  B. Blanke   Beginning:

B. Blanke grew up (in the musical sense) in the nineteen-seventies and hence he was influenced musically by Glitter Rock bands like T. Rex, The Sweet, Slade and by rock bands like Pink Floyd.
But he was also influenced by singers - songwriters like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Simon & Garfunkel, Neil Diamond and German singers - songwriters like Klaus Hoffmann, Reinhard Mey and Mario Hene'.

At the age of seventeen B. Blanke began to play guitar on a borrowed old 12-string guitar. In 1980 he got his "first real six string" and he tried to play and sing all the singer - songwriter stuff he knew.		  
  Young People:

In the same year B. Blanke became member of the backing group of a choir called Young People who had just lost their original band.

The choir had a few gigs and it was common practice that the backing group played a solo on the concerts.		   Young People  
  Young People  
The musicians decided to play "Teach you children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. But they needed a singer for that song.

So B. Blanke became a lead singer and sang for the first time on a stage in front of an audience.
  
  Fynn:

From the backing group of the choir an independent band named Fynn emerged and they stayed together after the breakup of Young People in 1981

The band members were
   H. J. Zachrau (vocals, guitars)
   B. Blanke (vocals, guitars)
   B. Brüning (bass)
   R. Zachrau (drums)
   M. Böschen (keyboards; as of 1982)		   Fynn  
  Fynn   At the beginning Fynn was a cover band playing songs from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, America, CCR, Queen and so on.

But soon H. J. Zachrau and B. Blanke began to write their own songs and B. Blanke became more and more the prime songwriter of the band.

Fynn played a lot of gigs but the musical views of the band members drifted apart.
 
  The song writing of B. Blanke became more and more influenced by bands like Pink Floyd and Marillion, the songs became longer, the arrangements became more and more interlaced and the lyrics became darker.
So Fynn disbanded in 1983.

But there were some reunions: H. J. Zachrau and B. Blanke (and sometimes Bernd Brünings) had a few gigs under the name Fynn, where they played their songs in an "unplugged version":
(View a concert medley from 1989 here) 		  Fynn

 
  Fynn   1995 H. J. Zachrau and B. Blanke recorded the song
"Poor mans night song"
which was published on the album
"Local Band Aid - Come together",
a project to support mentally handicapped people.
(Listen to "Poor man's night song")

And 1997 they perormed the song
"Poor man's night song" at a TV-Show
(view video here)

For more details visite: www.fynn-music.com 		 
  Lothlorien:

In 1988 B. Blanke founded a new band named Lothlorien.
The band members were
   B. Blanke (vocals, guitars)
   K. Bösch (guitar)
   Bi. Blanke (bass)
   I. Blanke (piano, vocals),
   M. Böschen (keyboards; till 1995)
   H. Budde (drums; till 1996)
   S. Petereit (keyboards; as of 1995)
   T. Petereit (drums; as of 1997)		   Lothlorien
  
  Lothlorien   In those years B. Blanke began to put some songs together to tell complex stories and to play this stuff live on stage.

Well, the band got only one time on stage but they recorded four demo CDs and three of these CDs were already applied as a kind of short concept - albums. 		 
  The solo years:

After the split of the band in 2000, B. Blanke decided to use the band name further and to publish his music under the name Lothlorien. In 2001 he began with the recording of his first album.

Since this day Lothlorien published twelve albums:
    "About stepping stones and lost dreams" (2003),
    "Just another love song" (2006),
    "Jigsaw pieces" (2008),
    "A night in the city" (2010),
    "On this stage of life" (2015),
    "In spite of everything" (2018),
    "Nearly forgotten songs" (2019) and
    "Nearly forgotten songs (Vol 2)" (2020)
    "Paths of life" (2021)
    "The book of the nearly forgotten fairy tales" (2021)
    "The book of the nearly forgotten fairy tales (Vol 2)" (2022)
    "The book of the nearly forgotten fairy tales (Vol 3)" (2024)

   Lothlorien
  
  Lothlorien   Most of these CDs are concept - albums. Each album tells a complete story like a film or like a classical opera and the several songs are like chapters in a book.

On the recordings B. Blanke playes most of the instruments
(guitars, bass, drums, piano, keyboards, harp, mandolin)
himself, but there are also a few guest musicians supporting him
(for details see lyrics or friends).
  
  Live:

In 2007 Lothlorien hit the stage again
supported by some friends:
   Insa Scheller (violin, vocals, guitar),
   Marlies Curth (percussion, vocals),
   Jessica Malitius (saxophone, vocals),
   Julia Beckmann (piano, vocals, guitar),
   Christina Bädeker (vocals),
   Jonathan Hager (piano),
   Sebastian Hager (drums),
   Karin Rundel (bass) &
   Yvonne Runge (vocals, recorder)
   and others 		 

Lothlorien

  
 

Lothlorien live

   In a few concerts they performed the songs of Lothlorien in an "unplugged" version.

For more details
click here 		 
Lothlorien