"East German stars come up in the East and go down in the West." That was a catch phrase with quite a bit of truth to it among musicians in the German Democratic Republic.
No matter how popular and acclaimed you were in East, very few of the musicians who fled to the West maintained any kind of star status there.
When the Wall had fallen, top singer Tamara Danz stated that the GDR had no freedom of speech, but in the West, instead, there was the dictatorship of commercialism. There was no room for creating art unless nobody was willing to buy.
Veronika Fischer already knew this. After four top-selling albums to her name, she left for the West in 1981 and tried to maintain the same level of artistry in her new country. It proved to be not too easy.
She had always been a wild child - humourous and whimsical at one moment, deeply sincere the next, then experimental, then jazzy. Far too irregular to be a perfect record label product, in other words.
In 1983, she entered the German selection for Eurovision (to be held on home ground in Munich) with a song rather reminiscent of some of the ballads on her albums back East.
Veronika Fischer - Unendlich weit (Germany 1983 national final)
Slow, demanding and better suited to be an almost six minutes long album track, this song was strongly applauded in the studio but stood no chance in the voting and ended second last.
Veronika Fischer - Unendlich weit (album version)
Oddly enough, when released as a single (in its pre-selection format), its B-side was Veronika's version if "Wir beide gegen den Wind", the song Wenche Myhre performed at the same national final.
Veronika's material turned more schlager and less experimental, and she managed to keep her career alive and is still an active and loved performer today.
I think Veronika is a unique talent and can't help but wonder how different the outcome might have been, had she been able to bring some of her older material to Eurovision instead. Would the West have understood?
Veronika Fischer und Band - He, wir fahr'n mit dem Zug
Veronika Fischer und Band - Hans im Glück
Veronika Fischer und Band - Blues von den letzte Gelegenheit
Showing posts with label east. Show all posts
Showing posts with label east. Show all posts
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Eastern Europe...
With the risk of getting really boring here, let me explain where I stand when it comes to the eternal debate about Eastern Europe and its effects on the Eurovision Song Contest.
First thing first - when the eastern countries first joined in, the song contest was dying. A German tv executive was quoted calling it "a decomposing something in the basement of television" and we will never know how close the cancellation of the whole thing was in the mid-90's.
The countries of the East brought in something the contest had lacked for a few years; enthusiasm, the will to win, the ambition to show yourself in the best possible light. In only a few years, many of the new countries had learned how to play the game properly and started getting very good placings, also sending in more modern-sounding songs with more ambitious stage performances.
What is important to understand is that there is no uniform East with a uniform culture. What we mean by East are the countries formerly included in the socialist sphere of Europe. (And, surprisingly, the countries of Former Yugoslavia, despite this country being present in the ESC since 1961.)
At some point, a large portion of fans, reporters and other people starting seeing "The East" as a threat, as a problem. These new people were, of course, the reason why countries like Belgium and The Netherlands failed to score well. Also - these new countries only voted for each other, and never for The West.
All this exploded in Helsinki after the 2007 semi final, when all ten spots went to Eastern countries (including Turkey) and the press centre went bananas. I have never read so much foolishness in print as after that semi final. "Throw Them Out!" was one headline. Tasteful.
There is always the need of an enemy, it seems. Not many years ago, there was much talk about the "Nordic mafia", and fans were very upset about Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland always voted exclusively for each other. That discussion has almost vanished completely.
As long as a song is good and well performed, I couldn't give a toss whether it comes from the east, the west, the north, the south or from the Moon. I want good songs to do well, regardless where they come from.
Also, reality is more complicated than "east vs west". Finland is east of Slovakia, why is the latter labeled "east"? Are the countries of Former Yugoslavia east or west?
And what about Germany? If the singer is from Dresden, should Germany be considered Eastern Europe?
There is a bitter taste of xenophobia to the whole discussion that I really dislike, and therefore I'd like to see this discussion abolished for all future.
Then you can ask yourself if all countries play by the rulebook or not but that has frankly nothing to do with geography.
First thing first - when the eastern countries first joined in, the song contest was dying. A German tv executive was quoted calling it "a decomposing something in the basement of television" and we will never know how close the cancellation of the whole thing was in the mid-90's.
The countries of the East brought in something the contest had lacked for a few years; enthusiasm, the will to win, the ambition to show yourself in the best possible light. In only a few years, many of the new countries had learned how to play the game properly and started getting very good placings, also sending in more modern-sounding songs with more ambitious stage performances.
What is important to understand is that there is no uniform East with a uniform culture. What we mean by East are the countries formerly included in the socialist sphere of Europe. (And, surprisingly, the countries of Former Yugoslavia, despite this country being present in the ESC since 1961.)
At some point, a large portion of fans, reporters and other people starting seeing "The East" as a threat, as a problem. These new people were, of course, the reason why countries like Belgium and The Netherlands failed to score well. Also - these new countries only voted for each other, and never for The West.
All this exploded in Helsinki after the 2007 semi final, when all ten spots went to Eastern countries (including Turkey) and the press centre went bananas. I have never read so much foolishness in print as after that semi final. "Throw Them Out!" was one headline. Tasteful.
There is always the need of an enemy, it seems. Not many years ago, there was much talk about the "Nordic mafia", and fans were very upset about Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland always voted exclusively for each other. That discussion has almost vanished completely.
As long as a song is good and well performed, I couldn't give a toss whether it comes from the east, the west, the north, the south or from the Moon. I want good songs to do well, regardless where they come from.
Also, reality is more complicated than "east vs west". Finland is east of Slovakia, why is the latter labeled "east"? Are the countries of Former Yugoslavia east or west?
And what about Germany? If the singer is from Dresden, should Germany be considered Eastern Europe?
There is a bitter taste of xenophobia to the whole discussion that I really dislike, and therefore I'd like to see this discussion abolished for all future.
Then you can ask yourself if all countries play by the rulebook or not but that has frankly nothing to do with geography.
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