Who was/is Klaus der Fiedler & Die Kölner Strassenmusiker ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
Klaus Der Fiedler & Die Kölner Strassenmusiker
"Which other political songwriter can afford the luxury of such exuberant and life-affirming instrumental solos as Klaus the Violinist lays them down? (Max Nyffeler)
Born in 1940, Klaus von Wrochem grew up in the Erzgebirge Mountains and in Berlin during the war and after the war. At first everything looked like a relatively normal bourgeois career. In 1960 he went to Cologne to study at the Musikhochschule. As a substitute violinist in various symphony orchestras and on WDR, von Wrochem made his first steps as a musician. At the same time he tried his hand as a modern composer. In this function he went to the USA. There - in Buffalo, New York and San Diego, California - he experienced Vietnam War and hippie culture up close. After his return in 1970, the confessing communard exchanged the stage for the street and Klaus von Wrochem became Klaus the violinist. He became known nationwide as Asphalt-Paganini, especially since he was to be found in almost every major action of the political left. He loved to perform in Cologne's shopping streets to sing against everything that went against his grain. The musicologist and journalist Max Nyffeler once described the street singer's songs as "anarchic hymns of praise for the utopia of unalienated, rule-free life, [which] unconditionally demand the individual's right to individual development. With caustic mockery and solid formulations, he pulls from leather against bureaucrats, profiteers, bosses, militarists, politicians and all the other 'willies' who, in his eyes, are responsible for the oppression of the individual."
The Herstattblues was recorded for the Trikont-LP 'Straßenmusik' by the Cologne native - at that time still under the name Klaus der Fiedler. The song was written during the biggest bank bankruptcy in post-war German history in June 1974, when the bank of Cologne's social lion Iwan D. Herstatt had run into serious difficulties due to currency speculation. One day before the official bankruptcy of the Herstatt-Bank - which was largely associated with the Gerling group - a listener approached the musician during the break between two sessions on Schildergasse in the heart of Cologne's pedestrian zone: "He told me that he had just collected a whole suitcase of money from the Herstatt-Bank on behalf of a Cologne carnival society! One day later, the 'normal' creditors, including the press, radio and television, stood in front of the bank's main entrance and were told by the bank's managing director that there was nothing left! At night I wrote the 'Herstattblues' and sang it on the street. That was one of my most popular songs back then."
Germany's best known street musician' - the title of his 1996 autobiography - is currently active on the street and in concert halls with several bands and projects. Klaus von Wrochem proves time and again that he is one of the greats of the international violin scene. "When the violinist strokes the violin, Klaus and sound grow together as a body," wrote the 'Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger' at the end of 2006 about a concert in which the musician played excerpts from the violin concerto
A minor by Dmitri Shostakovich.
www.klausdergeiger.de
Extract from
Various - songwriter in Germany
Vol.2, For whom we sing (3-CD)
/various-songwriter-in-Germany-vol.2-for-who-who-we-sing-3-cd.html
Copyright © Bear Family Records®. Copying, also of extracts, or any other form of reproduction, including the adaptation into electronic data bases and copying onto any data mediums, in English or in any other language is permissible only and exclusively with the written consent of Bear Family Records® GmbH.
More information about Klaus der Fiedler & Die Kölner Strassenmusiker on Wikipedia.org