– 9 October 2024
Carried away on the wings of sound
by Nirbija
Swami Prem Vardan (Hanns Fuchs) was also known in art under the alias Hans Spielmann. He was a social worker specialized in youth care, an actor and later became a well-known singer-songwriter and street musician, based in the Thübingen area in southern Germany.
In the early 1980s he came to Pune and became a disciple of Osho. When he was afterwards interviewed by the local press, he openly spoke about his Master, a detail which was included in the published article.
Vardan was the author of about 30 CDs, which he recorded together with musician friends. He composed music to texts by Rilke, Hesse, Goethe, Novalis, van Veen, Michael Ende and many other German poets. He was able to modulate his voice in such a way that he could recite one of Rilke’s night poems equally well as perform a cheeky children’s song full of rebellion. The children came in droves wherever he was on stage, and they adored him. When in the mid-80s he visited the Osho Commune again, he played and sang with the kids of the private sannyas kindergarten.
I was lucky enough, in the early 1990s, to live in the Osho Paki Centre near Stuttgart for a few months at the same time he was there. With his humour and music, Prem Vardan was something of a soul therapist in our commune full of ‘Encounters’. He once advised us in a meeting: instead of shouting out our anger, to belt it out like an aria in a tragic opera. My rage was gone in no time! When Vardan moved away, I missed him terribly!
When in November 2023 he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, he launched one last musical project: a double CD entitled, Meine Seele singt in mir – eine kleine Liederapotheke (My soul sings within me – a small apothecary of songs). In a newsletter he wrote: “These are songs which I found particularly beneficial and healing in my life… songs which delight the heart and soul and encourage us to go our own way.”
Vitalia, his partner, remembers well the time when the project came to an end. In the leaflet accompanying the double CD, Vardan describes the small miracle with these words: “When finally – after many weeks – the CDs came from the pressing plant and the songbooks from the printers, I received the news from my doctor that the metastases had stopped growing. Amazingly, they had receded. I am overjoyed!… My own therapy – namely carefully compiling all the songs that I have found particularly beneficial and healing in my life – has certainly contributed to it.”
“He was so happy to hear that he had successfully fought the illness. His doctor was very optimistic and assured him that he would live another 10-13 years,” writes Vitalia. “But then he got a nasty case of pneumonia and within less than two weeks it was all over.”
I had called Vardan earlier, in March 2024. He sounded almost cheerful. He was hoping to be able to again play, as usual, at Vatayana’s birthday party, which he did. But he was clear that whenever he came to the point where he had to leave this earth, then… his wish was: “When I go, I definitely want to be carried away on wings of sound.” And so it happened, in October.
Vitalia was with him in his last hour when quite spontaneously a good musician friend came for a visit: “When I briefly left the room, this friend had started singing for him and – oh, wonder of wonders – she managed to wake him up from his deepest sleep with the magic power of music. When I came back, Hanns was beaming with happiness, humming along and wanted to hug us all. ‘Everything is love, everything is connected’, he said. It was so wonderful to see him laughing and beaming and showering us with his love. His friend continued to sing and – just as he had wished – he was carried away on the wings of sound.”
Professional photography by Klaus Franke, submitted by Vitalia – Vardan’s songs can be downloaded from: liedersonne.com
Obits in the media (in German)
- Obit in the Reutlinger General-Anzeiger (11 October 2024): Gomaringer Barde Hans Spielmann gestorben
- Obit in Südwest Presse (17 October 2024): Der Übriggebliebene aus der Folkszene
- Obit in Fassadenkratzer (22 October 2024): Zum Gedenken an Hans Spielmann, den schwäbischen Barden
- Bio and obit in Tü Pedia (with video): Hans Spielmann
Articles and interviews in the media (in German)
- Interview in the Reutlinger General-Anzeiger (11 July 2024): Stockacher Hans Spielmann: »Ich habe meine Heimat in mir«
- Interview in Freies Radio Wüste Welle (18 July 2024 – with audio): Interview mit dem Tübinger Liedermacher Hans Spielmann
- Article in Südwest Presse (5 May 2020): Hans Spielmann: Musik am „Liedertelefon“
- Announcement in Schwarzwälder Bote (26 September 2018): Auf Weltreise mit Hans Spielmann
More Tributes
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