Radio M Utrecht: Ulrike Nagel on East German music

Listen to the interview on Radio M Utrecht with Ulrike Nagel about the differences between East and West German music. It was broadcast on January 22, 2021, during “De Duitse 30,” a program featuring the best German-language songs.

Summary of this conversation

On the lunch program “Aan Tafel!” on Radio M Utrecht, journalist Ulrike Nagel discusses the differences between music from East and West Germany, drawing on her own experiences and the impact of the GDR dictatorship on artists.

Returning to the Netherlands and Berlin with Children

Ulrike Nagel has returned to the Netherlands after living in Berlin for 8 years. She missed the Netherlands, especially for her children [00:34]. Although Berlin is a fantastic city for outings and biking [01:27], she finds the schools there old-fashioned, authoritarian, and lacking in communication between teachers and parents—something that became especially clear during the COVID-19 pandemic [01:36]. Her youngest child is the only one in her family to have been born in Berlin [01:04].

Music from East and West Germany: Differences and Censorship

• Education and Strict Requirements [02:27]: In East Germany, artists, actors, and singers were often required to pursue a university education, which led to a high level of musical knowledge and classical elements in the songs [03:14]. However, there was no artistic freedom: music had to be approved by committees, and lyrics were censored. If rejected, the music was not broadcast [03:32].
• Hidden Messages [04:05]: Because artists couldn’t say what they wanted, songwriters—just like journalists—learned to weave messages and jokes into their lyrics between the lines.
• Nina Hagen: “Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen” [04:32]: Nina Hagen’s first single, recorded while she was still living in East Germany, seems at first glance to be a cheerful song about a summer vacation. Nagel suggests, however, that the anger in the song—especially for that time in the GDR—can be considered daring [05:19].
• Frank Schöbel: State Figurehead [05:31]: Frank Schöbel was an East German schlager star who was promoted by the state as a counterpart to West German schlager music. He was a paragon of the state, and his songs were often romantic and less profound, such as “Wie ein Stern” [06:51].
• Holger Biege: The Tragedy of an Artist [07:15]: Holger Biege, another East German singer, remained in West Germany after a concert in 1983 but was unable to replicate his success there. The freedom of marketing strategies and the music business replaced the boundaries of the GDR, leading to the tragic story of an artist who was more popular in the GDR than in the Federal Republic [08:17]. His songs, such as “Sag die Zauberwort, ein Dichter,” had a moral undertone, which was typical of GDR literature and children’s books [07:32].
• Karat: “Der blaue Planet” and Hidden Criticism [10:05]: The rock band Karat, one of the best-known bands from the GDR, also created music with hidden criticism. Their song “Der blaue Planet” [10:50] originally contained the lyric “in the game of the demons,” which was censored by the state and changed to “neutrons,” because “demons” could otherwise be interpreted as criticism of the state [11:47]. Karat recorded “Über sieben Brücken musst du gehen” together with Peter Maffay on November 9, 1989, the day the Wall fell [11:01].

Formation and Legacy

Ulrike Nagel believes that the more serious messages in East German books and music shaped her. She envies the “laid-back” attitude of Dutch mothers and notes that her East German upbringing, with its strict rules, has made her more reserved [09:20]. These days, she feels at home in both Germany and the Netherlands [20:49].

Germany Correspondent

Ulrike Nagel