I learned to play the piano. It’s just not always so easy to take the Bechstein grand with me on the train. That’s why I like to take my ukulele with me on the road and write a lot of songs with it.
With the song Bundeswehr, I thought it actually sounded great and just skipped the step to the piano.
I am lucky to be part of the best collective this side of the Elbe, the Neustadt Art Kollektiv. It is this collective that organises the annual Neustadt Art Festival, where we like to throw various ideas around on Sundays.
Fabi came up with the idea in 2021 that we needed a collective shanty. Ok, I thought, and started and a little more than a year later the recording followed – of course with the whole collective. Rumour has it that there will be a video soon…
Every year, the adriAkustik Liedermachenfestival calls for the Liedermachenliga. In this league, a song has to be written within four weeks on a given theme or keyword.
In 2021 I took part in it, the theme was Spätverkauf (late shop). As an old jazzman, I stole the harmony and melody from the 1930s “All of Me” and put lyrics to it: An ode to late shops!
On 12 June 2022, there will be an election for mayor of Dresden. Dr. Martin Schulte-Wissermann is a candidate for the Pirates. Reason enough for me to make a musical statement.
As it happened, I was able to accompany the wonderful Omani Frei to the Cinanima Festival in Espinho in 2021. Inspired by the concentrated load of animated films, I started working on my own animated film while still there.
The song Ufo by Yok Quetschenpaua, which has been with me for a long time, is the template for this and is now being filmed in an English and German version in an animated cartoon. 🎉
The song, freshly mastered from the studio, is here. Bilingual, of course:
I gather three other musicians – Atze, Henk & Achim – around me to record the song in the recording studio. We rehearse for six weeks and on 25 February the time has come and we record in the Virtuos Vibes recording studio in Dresden.
In parallel, the great Alina Milkina creates the world in which the film will take place. Berlin as a cartoon:
The text is ready. \o/
Still in Espinho, I start working on the storyboard and the translation of the German text, with great support from the lovely Brad Hock.
The keyword of the adriAkustik-Liedermachenliga 2020 was “Humming”. So I sat down in the Alaunpark and wrote a song about humming. Now this word doesn’t even appear in it, only twice someone “hums”. The result is a story full of utopias that clears up this employer/employee doctrine.
Update: As part of the »mp3+4 :: 4 Werke« project, a music video is being produced for it. 🥳
Ich habe zur Besetzungswelle 2009 in Dresden den Hörsaal mit besetzt. Gleichzeitig fand in den USA die Occupy-Bewegung statt, die einen herausbrachte. Dieser war so beeindruckend und passend, dass ich eine deutsche Übersetzung und eine einfache Klavierkomposition dazu anfertigte.
I helped occupy the POT81 auditorium in Dresden during the 2009 occupy wave. At the same time, the Occupy movement was taking place in the USA, which released a song. It was so impressive and fitting that I made a German translation and a simple piano composition for it.
The first song completely written by me, 2018 that was. Since then, I don’t play this one anymore from time to time, after all, a lot has happened and everything is evolving.
I never really liked Monty Python, British humour is less my thing. Nevertheless, I found the Galaxy Song catchy and the idea of proving the absurd existence with numbers – catchy. I translated the song into German and wrote a piano version.
Funnily enough, I learned at the La Libertad festival 2021 that the Duo Sonnenschirm had the same idea back in 1993. You can find their version of the Galaxy Song on YouTube.
I’ve had quite a few relationships in my life. When I was desperate once again and couldn’t find anyone, I decided without further ado to simply stop looking. And – yes, I can already hear your sceptical intake of breath – no sooner had I made this decision than a wonderful evening and a tender night happened.
