Various AMIGA Liedermacher (5-CD Box)

CD1 - Barbara Thalheim: Lebenslauf
CD2 - Gerhard Schöne: Spar deinen Wein nicht auf für morgen
CD3 - Hans-Eckardt Wenzel: Stirb mit mir ein Stück
CD4 - Pension Volkmann: Die Gefühle
CD 5- Gerhard Gundermann: Männer, Frauen, Maschinen

Songwriter is a genre that generally ekes out a niche existence, but gains importance under certain social conditions. This was also the case in the GDR. It was a "guardian state" (Henrich), promoted art, controlled it and sometimes also banned it. The Stasi bosses got "blunt teeth" at the very word songwriter. Through a subsidized cultural infrastructure, songwriters were able to make a living from their art. They performed in youth clubs, churches, cultural centers and theaters to packed halls and had a substitute function for the non-functioning social public. Being "banned" was good advertising. Opinions differed about how far one could go.

In the 80s, the scope in event life increased. On television it was very small, on Amiga it was rather larger. The songwriters exploited these differences, made tactics and compromises. In 1989 they had a boom, then came bad times. Today, songwriters from East and West alike complain that their music is not played in the media.

This box set offers an excellent overview of the stylistic range and the most successful songwriters of the 1970s and 1980s in the GDR.