Mikis Theodorakis - The Ballad Of Mauthausen & Six Songs - 1974

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"A good friend of mine, the poet Iacovos Kambanellis, was a prisoner in Mauthausen during World War II. At the beginning of the sixties, he wrote his memories of this time under the title of "Mauthausen". In 1965, he also wrote four poems on the subject and gave me the opportunity to set them to music. I did this with much pleasure, firstly because I liked the poetry of the texts, and secondly because I was myself locked up during the Nazi occupation in Italian and German prisons, but mainly because this composition gives us the chance to remind the younger generation of history, that history must never be forgotten.

First and foremost, of course, the Mauthausen Cantata is addressed to all those who suffered under Fascism and fought against it. We must keep the Nazi crimes continually in our minds, because that is the only guarantee and the only way to assure that they are not repeated. And we can see every day that the ghost of Fascist is far from being laid. It seldom shows its real face, but Fascist cultures and mentalities exist all over the world. For us, who had to live through this time of horror, the most important task is to protect our children against this peril."
- Mikis Theodorakis

The four Mauthausen songs have a common thread: they express in powerful music and lyrics the terror, the agony and torture of the concentration camp and its effects on the minds and bodies of the inmates. Best-known of the 4 songs is “Asma Asmaton” expressing the anguish of a Jewish prisoner on learning that the women he loves has just been sent to the gas chamber. Maria Faranouri delivers a remarkable performance as in the fourth song ”Otan teliosi O Polemos” ( "When the War Ends") which portrays the life-in-death fantasy of a Jewish internee who dreams of the end of the war, or of life in almost surrealist images.

The six songs that make up the rest of the album, four ballads and two lively, up tempo ones, all demonstrate Farandouris’ distinctive dramatic style, which adds an essentially Greek touch of pathos and nostalgia even in the lively gaiety of the two faster songs.

01-Asma Asmaton - Song Of Songs
02-O Andonis - Anthony
03-O Drapetis - The Hostage
04-Otan Teliosi O Polemos - When The War Ends
05-Kourastika Na Se Krato - I'm Tired Of Holding Your Hand
06-O Iskios Epese Varis - Deep Shadows
07-Pira Tous Drmous Tou Ouranou - I Took To The Streets Of Heaven
08-Stou Kosmou Tin Aniforia - The Uphill Road
09-To Ekremes - The Pendulum
10-To Oniro kapnos - The Dream Went Up In Smoke

Mikis Theodorakis - The Ballad Of Mauthausen & Six Songs (1974)

Ruth Brown - Black Is Brown And Brown Is Beautiful (1969)

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They called Atlantic Records "the house that Ruth built" during the 1950s, and they weren't referring to the Sultan of Swat. Ruth Brown's regal hitmaking reign from 1949 to the close of the '50s helped tremendously to establish the New York label's predominance in the R&B field. Later, the business all but forgot her — she was forced to toil as domestic help for a time — but she returned to the top, her status as a postwar R&B pioneer (and tireless advocate for the rights and royalties of her peers) recognized worldwide.

Young Ruth Weston was inspired initially by jazz chanteuses Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, and Dinah Washington. She ran away from her Portsmouth home in 1945 to hit the road with trumpeter Jimmy Brown, whom she soon married. A month with bandleader Lucky Millinder's orchestra in 1947 ended abruptly in Washington, D.C., when she was canned for delivering a round of drinks to members of the band. Cab Calloway's sister Blanche gave Ruth a gig at her Crystal Caverns nightclub and assumed a managerial role in the young singer's life. DJ Willis Conover dug Brown's act and recommended her to Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson, bosses of a fledgling imprint named Atlantic. Unfortunately, Brown's debut session for the firm was delayed by a nine-month hospital stay caused by a serious auto accident en route to New York that badly injured her leg. When she finally made it to her first date in May 1949, she made up for lost time by waxing the torch ballad "So Long" (backed by guitarist Eddie Condon's band), which proved to be her first hit.

Brown's seductive vocal delivery shone incandescently on her Atlantic smashes "Teardrops in My Eyes" (an R&B chart-topper for 11 weeks in 1950), "I'll Wait for You" and "I Know" in 1951, 1952's "5-10-15 Hours" (another number one rocker), the seminal "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" in 1953, and a tender Chuck Willis-penned "Oh What a Dream," and the timely "Mambo Baby" the next year. Along the way, Frankie Laine tagged her "Miss Rhythm" during an engagement in Philly. Brown belted a series of her hits on the groundbreaking TV program Showtime at the Apollo in 1955, exhibiting delicious comic timing while trading sly one-liners with MC Willie Bryant (ironically, ex-husband Jimmy Brown was a member of the show's house band).

After an even two-dozen R&B chart appearances for Atlantic that ended in 1960 with "Don't Deceive Me" (many of them featuring hell-raising tenor sax solos by Willis "Gator" Jackson, who many mistakenly believed to be Brown's husband), Brown faded from view. After raising her two sons and working a nine-to-five job, Brown began to rebuild her musical career in the mid-'70s. Her comedic sense served her well during a TV sitcom stint co-starring with MacLean Stevenson in Hello, Larry, in a meaty role in director John Waters' 1985 sock-hop satire film Hairspray, and her 1989 Broadway starring turn in Black and Blue (which won her a Tony Award).

There were more records for Fantasy in the '80s and '90s (notably 1991's jumping Fine and Mellow), and a lengthy tenure as host of National Public Radio's Harlem Hit Parade and BluesStage. Brown's nine-year ordeal to recoup her share of royalties from all those Atlantic platters led to the formation of the nonprofit Rhythm & Blues Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping others in the same frustrating situation. In 1993 Brown was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and 1995 saw the release of her autobiography, Miss Rhythm. Brown suffered a heart attack and stroke following surgery in October 2006 and never fully recovered, passing on November 17, 2006.

Here´s her 1969 album "Black Is Brown And Brown Is Beautiful".

Ruth Brown - Black Is Brown And Brown Is Beautiful (1969)
(192 kbps)

Pannach & Kunert - Fluche, Seele, fluche (1981)

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Christian "Kuno" Kunert was part of the East German rock legend "Klaus Renft Combo" (or just "RENFT"), the songwriter and rock lyricist Gerulf Pannach was a companion of the band. Their rebellious attitude and "decadent" lifestyle was another thorn in the side of the East German officials. "Renft" was banned from stage for lifetime and declared "non-existent" in September 1975.

As Klaus Jentzsch, founder of the "Klaus Renft Combo", has left the GDR to West-Berlin with his Greek wife in 1976, Christian Kunert and Gerulf Pannach started a folk-duo called "Pannach & Kunert". After a few illegal peformances they were arrested and imprisoned together with writer Jürgen Fuchs for nine months until they were ransomed by the West German Government. They were forced to leave the GDR against their will. "Pannach & Kunert" enjoyed some moderate success in West Berlin.

"Fluche, Seele, fluche" is a wonderful album and a fine example for those critical german artists getting caught between the fronts of the cold war and suffering under their German-German exile:

„Ob im Osten oder Westen
wo man ist, ist´s nie am besten
suche, Seele suche
fluche, Seele, fluche.“

(Gerulf Pannach, inspired by "Weiter immer weiter", written by Erich Mühsam)

Pannach & Kunert - Fluche Seele Fluche (1981)

(192 kbps, front cover included)

Geliebt - Verjagt - Ermordet - Jüdische Künstler und ihre hIts der 20er & 30er Jahre

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Today we remember the anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany and Austria on 9 to 10 November 1938, also known as "Novemberpogrome",
"Reichskristallnacht", "Reichspogromnacht" or "Pogromnacht" in German.

In the 1920s, most German Jews were fully integrated into German society as German citizens. They served in the German army and navy and contributed to every field of German science, business and culture. Conditions began to change after the election of the Nazi party on January 30, 1933 and the assumption of power by Adolf Hitler after the Reichstag fire. From its inception, Hitler's regime moved quickly to introduce anti-Jewish policies. The 500,000 Jews in Germany, who accounted for only 0.76% of the overall population, were singled out by the Nazi propaganda machine as an enemy within who were responsible for Germany's defeat in the First World War, and for her subsequent economic difficulties, such as the 1920s hyperinflation and Great Depression. Beginning in 1933, the German government enacted a series of anti-Jewish laws restricting the rights of German Jews to earn a living, to enjoy full citizenship and to educate themselves, including the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, which forbade Jews from working in the civil service. The subsequent 1935 Nuremberg Laws stripped German Jews of their citizenship and forbade Jews from marrying non-Jewish Germans.

The result of these laws was the exclusion of Jews from German social and political life. Many sought asylum abroad; thousands did manage to leave, but as Chaim Weizmann wrote in 1936, "The world seemed to be divided into two parts — those places where the Jews could not live and those where they could not enter." In an attempt to provide help an international conference was held on July 6, 1938 to address the issue of Jewish and Gypsy immigration to other countries. By the time the conference was held, more than 250,000 Jews had fled Germany and Austria, which had been annexed by Germany in March 1938. However, more than 300,000 German and Austrian Jews were still seeking shelter from oppression. As the number of Jews and Gypsies wanting to leave grew, the restrictions against them also grew with many countries tightening their rules for admission.

By 1938, Germany had entered a new radical phase in anti-Semitic activity. Some historians believe that the Nazi government had been contemplating a planned outbreak of violence against the Jews and were waiting for an appropriate provocation; there is evidence of this planning dating to 1937. The Zionist leadership in Palestine wrote in February 1938 that according to "a very reliable private source – one which can be traced back to the highest echelons of the SS leadership" there was "an intention to carry out a genuine and dramatic pogrom in Germany on a large scale in the near future."

During the "Progromnacht" on 9 to 10 November 1938, in a coordinated attack on Jewish people and their property, 99 Jews were murdered and 25,000 to 30,000 were arrested and placed in concentration camps. 267 synagogues were destroyed and thousands of homes and businesses were ransacked. This was done by the Hitler Youth, Gestapo, SS and SA.

At the time of Hitler's rise to power in 1933, Jewish musicians were perhaps Germany's and Austria's most important living cultural assets. There was hardly a note of popular music that did not rely on Jewish artists for either the tunes or the words, and often both. Jewish musicians were equally active in the established and avant garde music scenes.

»Loved, chased away and murdered« is a CD with popular hits by Jewish artists that was brought out by the "Foundation Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe" (www.stiftung-denkmal.de). It features well-known german interpreters from the 1920s and 30s, including the Comedian Harmonists with their rendition of "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt" and Richard Tauber singing "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz". It recalls the memory of 20 Jewish artists murdered or forced to emigrate after the National Socialist takeover of power.

Geliebt - Verjagt - Ermordet
(192 kbps, front cover included)

DDR Subculture, Vol. 4 - V.A. - Die DT 64-Story Vol. 7 Pa-rock-tikum

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"Da stand auf einem Transparent `Wir sind das Volk´, und daneben hat
einer geschrieben `Ich bin Volker´. Den Mann, der das geschrieben hat,
den brauchen wir in der nächsten Zeit. Es geht um die Stärkung dieser
Kräfte." - Heiner Müller

Tracklist:
01. Hard Pop: Katjuscha
02. Feeling B: Artig
03. Die Skeptiker: Dada In Berlin
04. Die Anderen: Gelbe Worte
05. Die Art: Sie Sagte
06. AG Geige: Maximale Gier
07. Der Expander Des Fortschritts: Der Fremde Freund
08. Hard Pop: Schlaflied
09. Mixed Pickles: Lied An Eine Ergraute Lehrerin
10. Rosengarten: Bessere Zeiten
11. Zorn: Touristen
12. WK 13: Sonntag
13. DEKA Dance: It's Time Goes By
14. Die Körper Der Einfalt: Sauba
15. Sandow: Born In The G.D.R.
16. Naiv: Sag Mir Wo Du Stehst

Die DT 64-Story, Vol. 7 - Pa-rock-tikum

(192 kbps, cover art included)

DDR Subculture, Vol. 3: V.A. Auferstanden aus Ruinen - Der Soundtrack zur Wiedervereinigung

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"Ich habe sehr gut verstanden, (...) warum der Brecht immer darauf
bestand, "Bevölkerung" zu sagen statt "Volk". Natürlich ist so eine
Losung "Wir sind eine Bevölkerung" unbrauchbar, die zündet überhaupt
nicht." - Heiner Müller

Günter Schabowski, the Party Secretary for Propaganda, had the task of announcing this; however he had been on vacation prior to this decision and had not been fully updated. Shortly before a press conference on November 9, he was handed a note that said that East Berliners would be allowed to cross the border with proper permission but given no further instructions on how to handle the information. These regulations had only been completed a few hours earlier and were to take effect the following day, so as to allow time to inform the border guards—however, nobody had informed Schabowski. He read the note out loud at the end of the conference and when asked when the regulations would come into effect, he assumed it would be the same day based on the wording of the note and replied "As far as I know effective immediately, without delay". After further questions from journalists he confirmed that the regulations included the border crossings towards West Berlin, which he had not mentioned until then.[60]

Tens of thousands of East Berliners heard Schabowski's statement live on East German television and flooded the checkpoints in the Wall demanding entry into West Berlin. The surprised and overwhelmed border guards made many hectic telephone calls to their superiors, but it became clear that there was no one among the East German authorities who would dare to take personal responsibility for issuing orders to use lethal force, so there was no way for the vastly outnumbered soldiers to hold back the huge crowd of East German citizens. In face of the growing crowd, the guards finally yielded, opening the checkpoints and allowing people through with little or no identity checking. Ecstatic East Berliners were soon greeted by West Berliners on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. November 9 is thus considered the date the Wall fell. In the days and weeks that followed, people came to the wall with sledgehammers to chip off souvenirs, demolishing lengthy parts of it in the process. These people were nicknamed "Mauerspechte" (wall woodpeckers).

Tracks:
01 Dritte Wahl - NVA
02 Sandow - Schweigen und Parolen
03 Die Skeptiker - JaJaJa
04 Ichfunktion - Faschist
05 Feeling B - Ich such die DDR
06 Schleim-Keim - Ata,Fit,Spee
07 No Exit - Pionier sein fetzt ein
08 Die Art - Sie sagte
09 Fucking Faces - Versteinerte Gesichter
10 Herbst in Peking - Bakschischrepublik
11 Iron Henning - Der kleine Trompeter
12 Müllstation - Alte Schweine-Neue Welt
13 Die Art - I love You (Marian)
14 Sandow - Born in GDR
15 Die Skeptiker - DaDa in Berlin
16 Fluchtweg - Rotarmistenlied
17 L'Attentat - Ohne Sinn
18 Ichfunktion - Europa

Auferstanden aus Ruinen - Der Soundtrack zur Wiedervereinigung

(192 kbps, cover art included)

DDR Subculture, Vol. 2: V.A. System-Ausfall (DT64 1990)

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"Für die Machtclique um Krenz war die Maueröffnung kein Akt der Befreiung der Bevölkerung, sondern ein Akt der Gegenrevolution, der ihre Macht durch Dampfablassen aus dem revolutionären Druckkessel verlängern sollte. (...) So wurde die Maueröffnung nicht der krönende Akt einer revolutionären Demokratie, sondern der Reaktion, der die stalinistischen Herrscher im Osten vor der Volkswut rettete und den Konservativen im Westen die Mittel in die Hand gab, die Wiedervereinigung zu ihren Bedingungen zu diktieren und die Ausbreitung der Demokratiebewegung in den Westen zu verhindern." - Bernd Gehrke

During a revolutionary wave sweeping across the Eastern Bloc, the East German government announced on November 9, 1989, after several weeks of civil unrest, that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans climbed onto and crossed the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, parts of the wall were chipped away by a euphoric public and by souvenir hunters; industrial equipment was later used to remove almost all of the rest. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990.

On August 23, 1989, Hungary removed its physical border defences with Austria, and in September more than 13,000 East German tourists in Hungary escaped to Austria.[58] This set up a chain of events. The Hungarians prevented many more East Germans from crossing the border and returned them to Budapest. These East Germans flooded the West German embassy and refused to return to East Germany. The East German government responded by disallowing any further travel to Hungary, but allowed those already there to return. This triggered a similar incident in neighboring Czechoslovakia. On this occasion, the East German authorities allowed them to leave, providing that they used a train which transited East Germany on the way. This was followed by mass demonstrations within East Germany itself. (See Monday demonstrations in East Germany.) The longtime leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker, resigned on October 18, 1989, and was replaced by Egon Krenz a few days later. Honecker had predicted in January of that year that the wall would stand for a "hundred more years" if the conditions which had caused its construction did not change.

Protest demonstrations broke out all over East Germany in September 1989. Initially, they were of people wanting to leave to the West, chanting "Wir wollen raus!" ("We want out!"). Then protestors began to chant "Wir bleiben hier", ("We're staying here!"). This was the start of what East Germans generally call the "Peaceful Revolution" of late 1989.[59] By November 4, the protests had swelled significantly, with a million people gathered that day in Alexanderplatz in East Berlin.

Meanwhile the wave of refugees leaving East Germany for the West had increased and had found its way through Czechoslovakia, tolerated by the new Krenz government and in agreement with the communist Czechoslovak government. To ease the complications, the politburo led by Krenz decided on November 9, to allow refugees to exit directly through crossing points between East Germany and West Germany, including West Berlin. On the same day, the ministerial administration modified the proposal to include private travel. The new regulations were to take effect on November 17, 1989.

Tracks:
01. O-Ton Radio DT 64
02. HERBST IN PEKING: Bakschischrepublik
03. ICHFUNKTION: Hobin Rood
04. KEIMZEIT: Irrenhaus
05. TOM TERROR UND DAS BEIL: Kopfstand
06. HERBST IN FLAKE: Bakschisch For Burundi
07. FEELING B Lied: Von Der Unruhevollen Jugend
08. RENFT: Nach Der Schlacht
09. ENGERLING: Es Kommen Andere Zeiten
10. DIE SKEPTIKER: Strahlende Zukunft
11. DER EXPANDER DES FORTSCHRITTS: Fremdgeh'n Durchs Land
12. DIE FIRMA: Alte Helden
13. HERR BLUM: Money
14. HERBST IN FLAKE: Bakschisch For Burundi (Dance Mix)
15. SANDOW: Born In The GDR
16. O-Ton Radio DT 64

V.A. - System-Ausfall (DT64, 1990)
(192 kbps, cover art included)

DDR Subculture, Vol.1: Kleeblatt No. 23 - Die anderen Bands (Amiga, 1988)

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"Es ist unsinnig, von einem Scheitern des Sozialismus zu reden, denn den Sozialismus hat es bisher nur in den Köpfen von Intellektuellen gegeben. Und vielleicht als Traum von ein paar Millionen Leuten. Aber die Realität des Sozialismus war der Stalinismus, und das heißt: die Kolonisierung der eigenen Bevölkerung" - Heiner Müller

On November 9, 2009, Germany will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a lot of events. The opening of the wall not only leads to the end of the narrow minded pseudo-communist dictatorship, but was at the same time the beginning of the end of the lion´s share of the east german subculture and mainstream music scene.

So we will take this anniversary as a chance to bring back some very interesting music to our mind and ears. We will start today with some compilations featuring music that was part of the musical subculture in the last years of the DDR an during the time of change. And we will post in the next few weeks some representatives of the very interesting DDR music scene in the 70s and 80s of the last century.

The "Kleeblatt" compilations were an Amiga forum for young, unknown bands. Volume 23 features some bands from the punk and indie rock scene.

Tracklist:

Side1:
Feeling B - Artig
Feeling B - Alles ist dufte
Feeling B - Geh zurück in dein Buch
Hard Pop - Grau
Hard Pop - Tote Ballerina
Hard Pop - Angst vom Mund

Side 2:
Sandow - Wir
Sandow - Fliegen
Sandow - Anders
WK13 - P2
WK13 - Asphalt
WK13 - Sonntag

Kleeblatt No. 23 - Die anderen Bands
(192 kbps, cover art included)

Gil Scott-Heron - Small Talk At The 125th And Lenox

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One of the most important progenitors of rap music, Gil Scott-Heron's aggressive, no-nonsense street poetry inspired a legion of intelligent rappers while his engaging songwriting skills placed him square in the R&B charts later in his career, backed by increasingly contemporary production courtesy of Malcolm Cecil and Nile Rodgers (of Chic).

Disregard the understated title, "Small Talk at 125th and Lenox" was a volcanic upheaval of intellectualism and social critique, recorded live in a New York nightclub with only bongos and conga to back the street poet. Here Scott-Heron introduced some of his most biting material, including the landmark "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" as well as his single most polemical moment: the angry race warning "Enough". Still, he balances the tone and mood well, ranging from direct broadsides to clever satire. He introduces "Whitey on the Moon" with a bemused air ("wanting to give credit where credit is due"), then launches into a diatribe concerning living conditions for the neglected on earth while those racing to the moon receive millions of taxpayer dollars. On "Evolution (And Flashback)", Scott-Heron laments the setbacks of the civil rights movement and provides a capsule history of his race, ending sharply with these words: "In 1960, I was a negro, and then Malcolm came along/Yes, but some nigger shot Malcolm down, though the bitter truth lives on/Well, now I am a black man, and though I still go second class/Whereas once I wanted the white man's love, now he can kiss my ass." The only sour note comes on a brush with homophobia, "The Subject Was Faggots."

Gil Scott-Heron - Small Talk At The 125th And Lenox

(192 kbps, front cover inlcuded)

Mercedes Sosa - Canciones Con Fundamento (1965)

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The driving force behind the nueva canción movement, singer Mercedes Sosa was born and raised in Tucumán, Argentina, beginning her performing career at age 15 after taking top honors in a radio station amateur competition.

A rich, expressive vocalist and a gifted interpreter, Sosa was dubbed "the voice of the silent majority" for her choice of overtly political material, and alongside artists including Violeta Parra and Atahualpa Yupanqui, she spearheaded the rise of the so-called "nueva canción" movement, which heralded the emergence of protest music across Argentina and Chile during the '60s. The movement was crippled in 1973 by the CIA-sponsored coup which ousted democratically elected Chilean President Salvador Allende; with her repertoire of songs championing human rights and democracy, Sosa was viewed as a serious threat by the military regime which assumed power, and in 1975 she was arrested during a live performance which also resulted in the incarceration of many audience members.

Death threats forced her to leave Argentina in 1979, and she remained in exile for three years, finally returning with a triumphant comeback performance in February 1982. Sosa recorded prolifically in the years to follow. In fall 2000, Sosa won a Grammy for "Best Folk Album" for "Misa Criolla" at the first annual Latin Grammy Awards, and again in 2003 and 2006 for "Acústico" and "Corazón Libre", respectively.

On October 4, 2009, after receiving multiple Grammy nominations for the album, "Cantora", Mercedes Sosa passed away after a long battle with kidney disease. President Kilcher ordered three days of national mourning in her beloved Buenos Aires, culminating in a public funeral procession from the National Congress building to La Chacarita cemetery.

Here´s some Mercedes Sosa´s first album, "Canciones Con Fundamento", originally released in 1965 on the independent label of her husband Manuel Oscar Matus.

Mercedes Sosa - Canciones Con Fundamento (1965)

(192 kbps, cover art included)