When the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, many East German artists’ careers ended abruptly. The rock band Karat survived, albeit barely, and is still around almost 35 years later. On November 18, the GDR’s most popular pop group will play in Bremen. Culture reporter Martin Groenewold explains why he is visiting that concert.
Hit lists in the GDR? You will search for it in vain on the world wide web. A ranking based on sales figures was not in line with the principles of the communist planned economy. Yet the German Democratic Republic, just like the countries on ‘our’ side of the Iron Curtain, had its own youth culture. And the rock band Karat was one of the most important exponents.
The country had exactly one record label for pop music: Amiga. Managed by the state. Anyone who wrote lyrics that were too critical had no chance to distribute their music. That is one of the reasons why many GDR artists lost their audience after the fall of the Wall: suddenly the way was open to all the music that the free West had ever produced. Why listen any longer to the censored surrogates from your own country?
A small miracle
The fact that Karat managed to survive the ‘Wendekrise’ can be called a small miracle. It didn’t exactly go without a fight. In her book Over Sieben Brücken Musst Du Gehn , after the most famous Karat song, author Christine Dähn calls this primarily the merit of Peter Maffay. This Romanian-born singer had in 1980 Over Sieben Brücken already entered the West German charts. Around the time of the reunification of the two Germanys, which took place on October 3, 1990, the duet by Maffay and Karat singer Herbert Dreilich became the anthem of the year and the soundtrack of German unification.
The song can also be found on the Karat LP …Im Nächsten Frieden , which actually started recording in the Amiga studio the day before the fall of the Wall. While in the following weeks hundreds of thousands of GDR citizens crossed the border in a jubilant mood, temporarily or otherwise, the recordings continued ‘as usual’ until November 17. However, the album cover does mention an ‘unvergesslichen Produktion, which affects the unknown people over borders’.
Open criticism of the GDR leadership
It raises the question to what extent Karat had allowed himself to be silenced by the communist regime in recent decades. In contrast to colleagues such as Wolf Biermann (‘the German Bob Dylan’, who lost his citizenship in 1976 due to open criticism of the GDR leadership) and Nina Hagen (who was no longer allowed to perform in the GDR as a result of her expression of support for Biermann). , Karat’s band members regularly commuted between East and West.
Little is known about Karat’s first visit to West Berlin, in June 1977. As part of a festival, the band took to the stage of the Neue Welt in Hasenheide, located in the American sector of the city. A few years later, a Karat LP was released for the first time in the FRG, which was promoted with numerous guest appearances.
Seven bridges
Karat was founded in East Berlin in 1975. Until the fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989, the group published seven studio albums. The music on those records largely falls under the heading of symphonic rock or prog rock. Later albums have more pop influences.
The most famous Karat song is without a doubt the ballad Over Sieben Brücken Musst Du Gehn , which was covered by Peter Maffay in West Germany. In a translation by Jan-Simon Minkema, Liesbeth List sang it as Through Deep Valleys Groninger Jur Eckhardt translated it for Dennie Christian & Marga Bult as Over Seven Bridges . Vicky Leandros and Chris de Burgh also tried their own version: Seven Bridges .
Prize from Head of State Erich Honecker
In their own country, the musicians were awarded the FDJ art prize (the Freie Deutsche Jugend was the youth movement of the communist party) and the National Prize for Art and Culture, awarded by the head of state and party Erich Honecker. Yet, according to the band members, there was no outright sympathy for the regime.
The fact is that they did not upset anyone with their dreamy, lyrical lyrics – and did not feel the need to do so. Al is The Blue Planet from 1982, an album made against the background of an impending nuclear war, which can certainly be interpreted as an indictment against the nuclear arms race and the role of the Soviet Union in it. As far as we know, it is the only text that the band adapted under the influence of the cultural commission of the GDR.
Son Claudius succeeded singer Herbert Dreilich
The Blue Planet is still on Karat’s setlist, including that adjusted text. For the rest, a lot has changed. In the world and within the band. Singer Herbert Dreilich died in 2004 and was succeeded by his son Claudius. The resemblance is unimaginable: same head, same voice. Guitarist Bernd Römer (71) is the only one of the current band members who played on all Karat albums.
The fact that a visit to this GDR institution is still worthwhile is not only due to the historical context. It is mainly due to the unquestionable quality of classics like Abendstimmung , Schwanenkonig and Albatross . Numbers that virtually no one in the Netherlands knows.
Karat will play in Die Glocke, Bremen on Saturday, November 18. Entrance from 47.85 euros.
Other important GDR bands
The Klaus Renft Combo (later: Renft) was founded in 1958 and grew into one of the best-known bands in the GDR. Because of the critical texts, Renft had to deal with various temporary professional bans. In 1975, GDR authorities ordered the group’s dissolution.
Puhdys was founded in 1969. The band made more than twenty albums and gave a farewell concert in Berlin in early 2016. Several former band members have now passed away.
City made with Am Fenster one of the best-known songs from the GDR. Not a simple pop song, but a mix of psychedelia, folk and rock. And with a length of 6 minutes and 56 seconds.
Silly was the rock band around singer Tamara Danz. Her death in 1996 ended the band’s recording career after 18 years.
Karussell, from Leipzig, still performs in a modified line-up. The ballad If I was strong is considered one of the most popular songs from the GDR era.