Sehr schnell…
1980s East Germany had an underground art, film and music scene that remains underappreciated and understudied. Some recent exploratory efforts have come from Sara Blaylock (Parallel Public: Experimental Art in Late East Germany), Jeff Hayton (Culture from the Slums: Punk Rock in East and West Germany) and Tim Mohr (Burning Down the Haus). A lot of music was released near die Wende (1989-1990). Early recordings were smuggled from East to West Berlin via GDR underground art-scene lynchpin/Stasi informant Sascha Anderson. Some of these tracks appeared on DDR von Unten (1983). The LP featured two bands—the outstanding Beefheart-inspired Zwitschermaschine and the less interesting punk group Schlein- Keim (going by the name Sau-Kerle in a failed attempt to avoid Stasi pressure). Being East German and appearing on a record pressed in West Germany brought trepidation as one could anticipate lengthy police interrogations and imprisonment. Due to restrictions on her ability to exhibit, Zwitschermaschine vocalist Cornelia Schleime—who’s had a very successful career as an artist—defected to West Germany the following year (1984).
Was noch?
As the GDR’s economy fell apart under an ailing Erich Honecker, new opportunities emerged. The police were unable to quell punk rock (the churches played a part here), so the SED (East German Communist Party) begrudgingly tolerated it as they struggled to maintain control. Some punks became Stasi informants for C-90 cassette bribes. Feeling B became a professional band. This was incredible as they were originally a marginal art-punk group with little hope of “turning pro.” In the GDR, one had to work or faced imprisonment. To go professionally meant a wage and a recognized job. Feeling B were featured in the DEFA (East German film studio) documentary Whisper and Shout (1988) alongside more traditional GDR bands like Silly and Chicoree. Several members of Feeling B went onto Rammstein.
Das Freie Orchester were also featured in a late GDR documentary, 1988’s The Free Orchestra. The band had “real” jobs and weren’t “professional.” They later collaborated with Kluster’s Conrad Schnitzler. Joerg Thomasius, whose solo work appears in this podcast, was a member. Truly avant-garde, performing in the late-GDR was paradoxically liberating as commercial opportunities were understood to be non-existent. Das Freie Orchester’s music hits as hard as anything cut by the Los Angeles Free Music Society.
Nina Hagen ist natuerlich in der DDR geboren. “Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen” was recorded in the GDR and released on the state-owned Amiga label. It’s standout schlager music. Hagen left the GDR claiming her mother’s boyfriend, dissident folk-singer Wolf Biermann, was her biological father and that she was also ready to bounce. Of course, Biermann was kicked out of the GDR—a move that blew up in the faces of Honecker and the SED leadership, creating an unexpected pushback from East Germany intellectuals and artists. But that’s a long story…
Das ist alles fuer den Moment.
Liebe gruesse
Ryan Leach
Playlist:
ZWITSCHERMASCHINE - “Geh über die Grenze”
ACLP - “Kriminelle Tanzkapelle”
FRANK BRETTSCHNEIDERr - “Lalentanz”
GRABNOCT - “Stille Nacht”
FEELING B - “Langeweile”
DIE FIRMA - “An solchen Tage” (Live)
ROSENGARTEN - “Keine Welle”
JÖRG THOMASIUS - “Uberdachtes Klavier”
DAS FREIE ORCHESTER - “We Shall Overcome”
NINA HAGEN - “Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen”
VANILLA C. - “Was jetzt kommt”