R.I.P Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007), the german composer passed away this december.

Post war Germany has seen a gradual demise of its music scene to a point where few traditional projects are heard anywhere in Europe. It seems that the young musicians are so burdened with guilt by the nationalist movement in the 30’s and
40’s, that no attempts have been made of introducing the grandness and intensity characteristic of Germanic music.


The new big thing in Germany is now Balkan music, with a strong scene emerging in Berlin which has become a hub for artists from all over Eastern Europe. One such artist being DJ Shantel, winner of Radio 3’s Awards for World music, which combines electronic and Gipsy tunes. DJ Shantel observed the success of other Balkan musicians, the Gipsy brass orchestra Fanfare Ciocarlia, which experienced enormous success in the jazz clubs of Berlin a few years before.
Fanfare Ciocarlia is a twelve-piece brass band from Romania with roots in Turkish military bands. The great appeal found in their music is their optimistic approach, fast paced beats and a nonrequired attention span from the listener.


However the biggest success was found by the Ukrainian band Gogol Bordello, a multi-ethnic Gypsy punk band, which has toured Germany for two years in a row and has even made regular appearances on MTV; the well known and respected broadcasting institution.


It appears this is the end for traditional bombastic German music, in a country in which the minds of the young have been systematically neutered in Universities and where a green party has reached Parliament.


The rejection of anything Germanic has become so serious and humourless, that when David Lynch organised an absurd lecture at a Berlin university, where he presented the “Raja of Germany”, a speaker dressed in a toga and wearing something resembling a Burger King crown, the audience took it as genuine. Even more, when the Raja began shouting nationalist slogans in a manner resembling that of Goebbels, everything turned to chaos, when it would be expected that such a display would not be taken as real.

From Stockhausen to Lynch in 400 words, confused? Why would you read the last lines anyway.
Rest in peace Karlheinz Stockhausen; on with the Gipsy music.