19

COSMIC FLIGHT
ELECTRONIC POP MUSIC The old, yellowing photogra phs all look rem arkab ly s imi lar : the
c en trepiec e is mos tly a line-up of music i an s be hi nd o ne o r two tow-
be fore. It jus t blew m y mind «. Lakom y, bo rn in 1 946, was already
a s uc c e ss fu l m u s ic i an i n the G DR a t th e tim e – a nd in 1 9 81 h e be-

Concer t by Julius Krebs at Alexanderplatz, Berlin.

ers of synths and a crowd pushing up in f ront of them or s que ez ing c am e th e f irs t to relea se an al bu m o f e le ctro nic m u s ic: Das geheime

IN THE GDR
BY F LO R I A N S I E V E R S
Be t wee n 1 9 81 a n d 1 9 89 a s ma l l c i rc l e o f around twenty mu si-
c ia n s pu bl is he d a d oze n ele ctronic p op LPs in the GD R . Su ch
reco rd in gs ens ued fro m a str i ng of chance i ncid ents , the f ts ,
d a r i n g ide as , an d c re at ive mis unde rstand ing s. They amo un t
t o a b ra n c h on the evo lu tio na r y tree o f e lectro nic music t h at
h a s a lm o st b een f orgo tten, a nd yet on which a few ob scure ye t
p retty so und s once b l osso me d .
Reinhard Lakomy in the studio.
into whatever gaps it ca n find. It is almos t always a bi g crowd, b e it
a sweaty horde in some concer t ha ll in d eep es t Saxony, or s pil li ng
ou t from the packed auditorium of Berlin’s Pal ace o f the Rep ubli c;
or perha ps a sea of faces flooding from betwee n the monumental
Stalin-era buildings on Straus berger P latz in th e fo rm er c ap ital of
the GDR. If thes e old photos are telling the tru th then all of thes e
were big events , some of them ver y bi g ind eed. From the ear ly
1 980s onwards, live per formances of elec tronic mus ic were pretty
sure to attra ct mass es of people; masse s who p res umabl y wanted
to drea m and be blown awa y.
The countr y in which thes e masses li ved mus t s ure ly have f el t
rather limited, circums cribed as it was by i mp enetrabl e borders .
How large wide and infinite the cos mos stre tc hing above i t se emed
in comparison! Mus icians and fans theref ore bega n one day to fl ee
this limited countr y for the endless reaches of ou te r s pac e. N ot in
rea lity, of course, for Soviet »E nergia«-b ra nd rockets and »Soyuz«
spacecraf t were hard to come by. Synthe si ze rs, dr um com pu te rs,
and samplers were their means of flight and it was thes e whi ch
gave ris e to the GDR’s whimsical, dreamy, exp ans ive ele ctroni c pop
music , a nd allowed mus ic ia ns and their li s te ne rs to e sc ap e »real -
socialis m« for wildly pulsating fanta sy la nds cape s and the i nfini te
rea lms o f far-flung galaxies – or a t t imes si m pl y t he palp abl e ple as -
ures of a local disco that nonetheless appea red to be on a sp ace
station c irc umnavigating planet ear th o n a g eo - statio nar y c i rc ui t.
The Eas t G erman sc ene that produced s u c h m us ic fro m th e e ar-
ly 1 980s onwards was ver y limited. Yet th e c i rc a twe nty syn thes iz-
er geeks who belonged to it were a ll pro s w ith i mpec cab le musi cal
training: Reinha rd Lakomy, for instance, s adl y dec eas ed in s pri ng
20 13, was renowned a bove a ll for rock album s and rec ordi ngs f or
children. Then there were bands called Pond, Key, Se r v i, or the l ike,
which have mostly since s unk into oblivi on. And even parag on rock
ba nd The Puhdys couldn’ t resis t relea sing an e lec tro p op al bum i n
1 982: Computerkarierre (C ompu t er Ca re er ) , a c ro ssove r of ex-
perimental synth instrumentals and Neue Deu ts che We ll e (aka N ew
German Wave or NDW) . Between 1 981 and the dem is e of the GDR
nine years later, E ast German electro musi ci ans rele ase d around a
dozen albums in tota l, mostly s olo endeavours .
Leben ( Th e Se c ret L i fe) .
Th e West B erl in ele c tro n ic b a nd Tan g e r in e Dre a m ha d a c-
ce pted an inv itation f rom DT64 , Eas t G erm an y’s radio s tatio n »f or
young p eopl e«, to pl ay l ive in E ast Berlin’s Palac e o f the Repu blic
on 31 Januar y 1 980 – the f irs t Wes t G erm an po p ban d ever to do
s o. Many of the ele ctronic mus ic ians w ho later enjoyed s u cc ess in
the G D R were the re th at n igh t, as f as c in a te d as the y were in s pired .
»Tange rine Dream d idn’ t us e l yr ic s ac tu ally, s o th e band initially
s eem ed a poli tica l – I think that’s wh y they were allowed to play in
the Eas t at al l«, m use s Wol fgang »Paule« Fu c hs , wh o was bo rn in
Be rli n- Pre nz l auer Be rg i n 1 94 8, an d b ec am e the m o st c om m e r-
ci all y s ucc ess f ul el ectroni c m usi ci an in the G DR th an ks to his Pon d
proj ec t. »Then I cam e across a ph oto o f K laus Sc hu lze s eated on
the g rou n d, d resse d in a s pac e s u it an d h e lm e t, a nd c om p le tely s ur-
ro un ded by ke ybo ard s. ›Wow !‹ I tho ug h t. ›We ’ll d o tha t too. ‹ «
O n t h e t rip … b ut b e hi n d t he t i m es
W h en Tang eri ne Drea m p layed the Pa lac e of the Re p u blic in 1 98 0
m any E ast Ger man mus ic ians were already vaguely fam iliar w ith
c o s m ic m us i c an d krau tro c k, g en res tha t m us icia ns in We s t G e r m a -
ny ha d been expl ori ng throughou t th e previo us decade. A lth o ugh
of fi ci all y pro hibi ted f rom l is tening to Wes tern Radio mo s t of them
tu ne d in re gul a rl y t o We s t Be r li n s h ows , s uc h as »Stec kd o se « ( su b -
ti tl ed »Co m pu ter M u s ic – M u s ic C om p u te r«), w h ich f ea tu re d in te r-
v iews w ith Tanger ine Drea m or K lau s Sch u lze and pres ented n ew
synthes izers and other novel g adgets . Bo otleg cass ette rec o rdin gs
c irc ulated »underg round«. Then i n 1 986 the yo u th radio s tatio n
DT64 began bro adc as t in g its »E lec tron i cs « p ro g ra m m e a nd org a n-
i z ing li ve mus i c fes tiva ls . Thus E as t G erm an s co u ld at last fo llow th e
s c en e qu ite l ega lly. I t m us t be ad de d , o f co u rs e , th a t w he n Tan g e -
r in e D ream pl ayed i n the G D R and s o ins p ire d E as t G e r m a n m u s i-
c i ans , the ban d’s h eyd ay a nd th at of its m u s ica l g en re we re p ra cti -
c all y over in the We st. E ast G erm an s were beh in d th e tim es w hen
i t c ame to the e lec tronic tri p bec au se th e »real- so cialis t« regim e
s tri ctly control led c ultural productio n an d h ad bran ded elec tron ic
m u s ic »in h um an e«. Bu t s om e tim e in th e e ar ly 1 980 s the powe rs -

B u t th is s mall sc ene had no thin g in c om m o n w ith th e ac a dem ic
elec tronic - elec tro ac ous tic c o ntemporar y m u s ic be in g expl ored at
the time in the s tudios of ra dio s tatio ns an d un ivers itie s thro ug h -
o u t Eas t and Wes t G ermany, nor w ith the exper im e ntal, el ec tron i -
ca-influenced underground sounds prod uced from the mi d-1 980s
onwa rds by »a nderen Ba nds « (dif ferent bands ) s uc h a s AG Gei ge,
Sandow, and Ornament & Verbrechen. E lec tronic pop mus i cians ’
ro le models were n eit her St oc k haus en no r E in st ür zen de Neu bau t-
en bu t rather Vangelis , Jean Michel Jarre, As h Ra Temp el, and
Klaus Schulze, a t times also Genes is, P ink F loyd, E mers on, Lake
and Palmer and, first and foremost, Tanger ine Dre am. »I watched
Wes tern T V in s ecret jus t like any othe r g uy a nd som etim e in the
mid-1 970s I s aw a sh ow th at featu red Tan geri ne Dre am m akin g m u-
s ic in a cas tle in E ngland« Reinhard Lakomy tol d me whe n we m et i n
20 1 0. »Sounds , rhy thms, and sequences suc h as I had neve r heard
th at- be dec reed th at the fu tu re l ay in »K le in co m p u ter« ( m icro co m-
p u te rs ) – and the refo re gave the green ligh t f or th e m u sic th es e
were ab le to g enerate, w hic h at the tim e did indeed s o un d fu turis tic .
However, thi s di dn’ t me an that jus t an y G DR c itizen co u ld n ow
l aun c h a DI Y f reel anc e c areer, reco rd ing , re le as in g , a nd p e r fo r m-
i ng e lec tronic mus i c. A per mi t fro m the s tate was still requ ired.
Juli us K rebs , who was born i n 1 954 an d gave s o lo per f orm anc es
of his proj ect JSE (Julius Krebs – Sin f on isc he E lek tro n ik) in Eas t
G erm any, s ays : »There were two kin ds o f pop m us ic ian in th e G DR
– amateurs and p rofessi onals . Both firs t h ad to dem o ns trate s o m e
talent and were only the n gi ve n a perm it to per f o rm , a perm it th at
al s o s pec ifi ed the hourl y rate they co uld earn . Witho u t a perm it on e
c ould n’ t even grab a gui tar a nd play on th e s treet. Th at was strictly
f or bid den . « A c o m m issi on exam ine d an a r tis t’s m u sic al s kills , ly r-
i cs , app earance , and re per toire. And anyo n e w h o inten ded to earn

a li vi ng a s a p rofess io na l m us ic i an n eed e d a f ur t her sp e c i al l i ce ns e .
» I n t he We st , l ot s of e le c tron ic m usi c ians t i nkere d a bou t i n the i r
ho me stud ios «, sa ys H a ns -H ass o Stam e r, w h o was b orn i n 1 95 0,
s tud ie d com p u t er s cie n c e i n East G er m any, a nd s p e nt hi s s tud e nt
d a ys b uild ing syn t hs a n d p im p in g Wes t ern e q ui p m e nt wi th w hi ch
he t h en pe r f ormed l ive. »I t wa s d i f fe ren t i n t he GD R. A nyo ne who
ha d n’ t of fici ally s tud ied m us i c bu t wante d t o re le as e s om e thi ng on
vi nyl firs t ha d t o p la y f or yea rs so as to p rove hi s or he r s k i ll s and
relia b ili ty. S o t he re wa s no g re at er acc ola de t h an to fi na l l y be a l-
lowed t o re le a se a n LP.«
Only one stat e l a b e l exi st ed i n t he GD R f or L P re l e as es in t he
p opul ar mus ic s e ct or, n a m ely A m i g a, whi c h was op e ra te d by t he
» Pe ople’s Ow n Ent erp ris e« ( VE B) D e u ts ch e Sc ha l l p la tte n Be rl i n.
N o one ot her t h an se le c t ed m u si c i an s was al l owe d to p ubl i s h L Ps ,
a nd t he s e a lwa ys re ta i l e d, m oreover, at t he uni form p ri c e o f 1 6 .1 0
Ost ma rk . Prod uc t ion m ater ia l was i n sh or t su p p ly a nd t hi s l i m i te d
b oth th e fre que nc y a nd nu m b er of rele ase s . »B u t s al e s d id n’t m a tt e r
a da m n i n t he GD R , t o be hone st « , exp l ai ns m u si ci a n Ra ine r Ol e ak ,
who wa s b orn in 1 953 a n d c ol lab orat ed wi t h Re in hard L akom y o n
t he e lec t roni c LP Zeiten (Tim e s ) i n 1 98 5. »A l ot of stuf f d i dn’t s e l l
we ll for the s imp le rea so n th at t oo few c op i es we re avai l a bl e . Bu t i n
a ny ca s e, mos t mu si ci a n s m ad e the i r l i vi ng from l i ve gi g s. «
M a st e rs o f h i d den m e an i ngs
A lt houg h record re le as e s in t he GD R were su bj e c t to c en sorshi p,
t he el ec troni c m us ic di scussed he re was gene ra ll y p urel y i n str u-
me nta l a nd t herefore u np rob l em ati c in t hi s rega rd at l e a st . Ye t m an y
of t h e record s m ay noneth el e ss h ave conveye d hi d d e n m e a ni ng s –
E a st Ge rma n a r t ist s were n ot i nfreq u ent l y m as te rs of thi s a r t. Fo r
exa mp le, i n 1 9 83 Re in hard Lakom y nam ed h i s s ec ond el e c troni c
mus ic LP Der Traum von Asgard ( The D rea m of A s g ard ), w i th l i n-
er not es t ha t ra mb led on ab ou t h ow »O ne use d to s ay A s g a rd , by
whic h one me an t u nlim it ed fre e d om i n s im u l tane ous com for t , m e a nt
love wit hou t ha te , me an t pe rm ane nt ab u nd an ce «. The l y ri cs he n ce
p ossi bl y ref erre d t o t he » Gol den We s t« so long e d for by m a ny ci ti-
zens of t he GD R . Ye t wh oeve r took a cl os e r l ook wa s a b le t o se e
t ha t » the p oint s of t he g ol den spe ars a re bent , the pa ne ll e d fl oo rs
fu ll of s ta ins , a nd t he p re c i ous ge m s no l ong e r i n th ei r s et ti ng s« . The
We st wa s n ot as g old e n as i t was ma d e ou t t o b e , af te r al l . A nd o ne
t ra ck on La kom y’s first a l b um i s e nt it l ed : »E s wächs t d as G ras ni cht
üb e r a lle s« ( S om e t hi ng s one n ever g et s ove r) I s thi s pe rha ps a s ub-
t le p oli tic a l s ta t e me nt? » Nons e ns e! « re pl i e d Lakom y i n a b oom i ng
voic e, as s el f- assured a s ever w he n I as ked h im s hor tl y b e fore hi s
d ea t h. »I t’s s im p ly a n e t e r nal tr u th .« Ye t m ost ot he r m em b ers o f the
electronics sce ne lowe r th ei r voic e s eve n t od ay w he n ta l ki ng ab ou t
b ei ng und er sur veilla n c e by th e East Germ a n s e c ret p ol i ce – the
d rea d ed »S ta s i« – or a b ou t ot he r re p re ss ive m e as ure s take n b a ck
t hen by t he s ta t e su ch as ce ns ors hi p, f or exam p l e , w hi ch m us ic i a ns
t o t hi s da y ca l l » proof re a din g«.
The s e we re ob s tac les fa ced al so by the m us i c al d uo Se r vi , f or
examp le , w hic h h a d firs t s ee n t h e li g ht of d ay in 1 975 as a Chri st i an
rock b a nd a nd eve ntua l ly sw i t ch ed to p er for mi n g m e d i tati ve a m bi-
ent m usic i n c hurc hes. » Ch urc h work was always a m e ans to op pos e
t he r uling re g i me « , sa ys Jan Bi lk, bor n i n 1 95 8 a nd one ha lf o f S er-
vi. »We we re a church b and at t he t im e. We p l aye d eve r y we e ke nd
in va ri ous p a ris he s, g ivi ng c oncer ts of m e ditati ve el e c tro ni c m u-
sic as we ll a s a c co mp a n yi ng chu rc h s e r v ic e s on S und ay m or ni ng s.
We h a d t o p l ay qu ie t l y and w ithou t drum s. We di d n’t want g ran d-
21
m a s, ke e li ng over in t he pews . For th at re as on, bu t als o becaus e
the s ame single note. What does one do then? Wel l, one p lays on
we l a cke d t he energy a t so me po int to engage in endless dis c us-
manually while discreetly rebooting the com pu ter! Tha t f as cinated
A c rass bre a k
s i ons a bo u t o ur lyr ic s, we bega n do in g purely in str umenta l s tuf f in
people actually, becaus e they could see the amount of wor k i t took.
1 982. « Acc ord in g to B ilk , S er vi wa s n ever awa re of being subject Th e »Wen de« (po li ti c al tu rna rou nd ) tha t b e g an in 1 989 re p re s en t-
They too could feel the tension – and they k new the s ounds we re
to re p re ss i on – ever y th in g ra n nor mally. »Yet : Wha t is no rmal?« he ed a c rass break i n the biog raphies o f thes e elec tron ic m us icians
being c rea ted, c alc ulated, at tha t ver y mo m en t. «
a sk s now. »We ha d no thing w ith w hich t o c ompa re ou r ex perience, an d in deed o f al l c itizen s of th e G DR. At tim e s , n o t eve n a g lim-
a nd t he re fo re no idea o f how dif ferent t hings might be elsewhere. me r of p ubli c interes t i n E as tern blo c m us ic pers is ted. »Th e even ts
Wa r y o f t h e p l a y f u l a p pro p r i a t i o n o f s i gn s
A l l we k new wa s tha t t here wa s a wa ll so mewhere, wh ic h pu t a limit of 1 989 and thereaf ter swept away ever y th ing that had ever h ad
an d c o d e s
to wha t we c ould do. For exa mple , we of ten cou ldn’ t get a permit any value in the GDR, a nd eve r y t hin g we h ad ever h eld dear, an d
whe n we wa nt ed to pla y s ome pla ce. We’d sit a roun d in a burea u- o ur bi og raph ies were all pretty m uc h d is m iss e d a s in fe r io r« Re in-
Th e rec ords released under these advers e c o ndi tio ns b etwee n 1 981
c rat ’s o f f ic e , usu ally fo r a n h our or so, an d t hen a n of f icia l would hard L akom y told me, wi th s om e res entm ent. Both prof ess io n ally
and 1 990 do not belong to any canon of el ectroni c mus ic . They
turn u p and h e m a nd haw a bou t s ome problem or ot her… And that an d pr ivately, he an d a ver y few of his co lle a g ue s su r vive d the co l -
are a n almost forgotten branc h o n the evo l u tio na r y tree o f el ec -
wo ul d d a sh a w hole yea r ’s ho pes in on e go. It wa s like ubiquitous lap se of the regi me under whi ch they h ad grow n u p relatively well.
tronic mus ic – and yet a branc h on w hi c h a f ew o bs c ure b u t won-
fog . For s ure, fog won’t kill you, a nd yo u ma y even get a long qu ite Bu t n ot ever yo n e was so l uc k y. »D ur in g th e We n d e eve r y thin g d is -
der ful sounds once blossomed. They amount to a s tri ng of sk ilf ul
we l l i n a fog ; bu t fo g s eriou sly limits yo ur vis ion. « app eared i n a kin d of m a els tro m «, re ca lls Han s - Ha ss o Sta m e r. »E i-
thef ts , darin g ideas , beau tiful c oinc idenc e s, and pre tty m is u nde r-
I n 1 986 S er vi fina lly relea sed its debu t L P Rückkehr aus Ithaka the r o n e c o ul d f in d th e ene rgy to s a y, ›O k, th at’s that: tim e to s tar t
standings. A s election of these releases can be f ound, for exam ple ,
(Re tu rn from Itha ka) . It wa s th e f irst eve r so und c ar rier of fic ia lly on agai n fro m s c ratc h ‹ or one c ouldn’ t. A nd I’ll tell yo u quite frank ly: I
on the c ompilatio n Mandarinenträume – Electronic Escapes from
sa l e i n the G DR yet rec orded no t by the s ta te bu t by a pr iva te pro - c o ul dn’ t. Fo r a w h il e I d id n oth in g b u t w r ite p o e tr y. «
the German Democratic Republic 1 981 –89 , rele as ed i n 2 0 1 0 on
duc er. »Prod uc ed by S ERV I« is clear ly sta ted on t he ba ck o f th e a l- Today, Stam er, K rebs , Fuchs , an d th os e of their c olleagu es w ho
the M unic h label Perma nent Vac atio n. I t f eatu res en dle ss synth e-
bum s l e eve – a nd so it wa s a rea l s ens a tion! The h and of the Church are s til l ali ve , al l li ve i n or near Berlin . To v is it them on e h as to
s izer epics that seem to tell of trips to fa r- flung galaxi es as wel l as
was p rote c ti ve a t lea s t in so me respec ts, f or it no t o nly fa cilitated h ead f o r th e f ar re ac he s of the pu b lic tra n sp o r tatio n n e twor k , trav-
a mbient track s that conjure dreams of nud is t b eache s on the Baltic
suc h n ew d eve lo pments bu t a lso helped S er vi get h old of equip - el to the e nd of the l ines , into the en dless , periph eral, no n- place
Coas t. One also finds disco tracks drenche d i n the hear tbreaki ng
m e nt. Bi l k’s m e mor y o f being han ded a brand new Moo g Prodigy land sc ape s co mpr is ed of m otor way ju nc tion s an d hardware s tores ,
pathos of electric guitar s olos, as well as wei rd and wonder ful f orms
com p a ct sy nthe sizer in Bau tzen in eas tern S a xony is still fresh in
of cos mic disco, des pite the fact that none of the mus i ci ans i nvolved
dereli ct ind ustr ial b uil ding s i n which ever y s in gle w indow h as been
hi s m i nd tod a y. A Jes uit pr iest ha d made a spec ial c ollection in his m etic u lo u sl y s m as he d, an d rows o f allo tm en ts e nc los e d by ne a tly
ha d ever spent time on the shores of Lake Gard a in Italy, where the
pa ri s h in Co l ogn e t hen dis pa tc hed t he equipmen t t o Ser vi. tri mme d hedg es . For s om e of these m us icians o r ex- m u s ic ian s, th e
latter genre origin ated. And the c ompi latio n als o pres en ts a p ro -
Howeve r, ot her E as t Ge rma n elect ro nic mus icia ns had to rec ordi ngs of e lec tronic mus ic from »way bac k w h en « are th e m os t
lific number of psyc hedelic k rau tro c k jam s ess io ns , wh ic h it is di f fi-
sc hem e li ke m a d in order to get h old o f J apa nes e o r Americ a n im p or ta nt th in g they h ave ever ac c o m p lish e d in th eir live s – fo r o th-
cult to believe were created in the absenc e of drug s – al tho ugh al l
top -b ra nd synt hesizers or drum ma c hines and s muggle them into ers , only a s m all , al mos t em bar ra ss in g gaf f e. So m e of th em m ake
par ticipa nts swear by it. »We honestly did n’ t have any drug s at al l«,
the co untr y. N o one wa nted to have t o pla y t he few loc al products good m oney tod ay. O the rs b arely keep their h eads above th e water.
c laims Pau le Fuc h s. »I was par t of that s c en e f or aeo n s yet I c an -
ava i l ab l e : the Ti ra con 6 V from the VE B Au toma tis ier ungsanlagen W hatever the c as e, th eir h is to r y sh o uld n ot g o u nto ld.
not recall a s ingle cas e. Where would anyone have g otte n hol d of
Cottb us (Au t oma tion Wo rks ), fo r exa mple, or t he Ver mona-brand
drugs? All we had was a lc o hol. «
e qu ip m e nt turned ou t by t he VE B Klingenth aler H ar monikawerke. Translated from the German by Jill Denton.
These records also hold an aesthetic s urpr is e i n s tore. Al thoug h
Al l s uch e qui p ment was doomed to bre ak down . Bu t the ( generally
produc ed in a c ou ntr y that hera lded mech ani c al e ng in eers an d c o s-
i ll e g a l ) im p or t of West ern equ ipment c ould s ucc eed only with the
monau ts as heroes, and that wa s filled to the gi ll s wi th an o ptimi sti c
he l p e it he r o f f ellow mus icia ns in po ss ess ion of a travel permit for
faith in tec hno lo gy – or rather in the inter pla y o f perso n al di li genc e ,
pe r f orm a nc e s a bro ad ( so-c alled »t ravel c adres« ), or of bef riended
s cience, and technology a s a means to imp rove pe ople ’s l ives and
ol d ag e p e ns i oners ( bec au se retired E a st G erma ns were allowed
u ltimately esta blish c ommu nism – th e rec o rds c o n tai n n o m us i c that
to trave l a b ro ad) , o r t hrough c onta ct w ith Wes ter n jou rna lists and Jo u rn ali st F l ori a n Si evers w rites abo u t cu ltu ral af fairs , pri-
is emphatica lly reminis cent of machiner y. O f fi ci al LP prod uction in
di p l om a ts. »To get ho ld o f We ster n equipment one firs t ha d to rais e m aril y a rchi te cture a nd mu s ic, f or Spex, G roove, an d oth er
the GDR thus bears no trace of the influenc e o f Kraf twe rk or of the
the d oug h, i .e . to exc ha nge Ostma rk f or hard cu rrency« , te lls Paule m ag az in es . In 20 1 0 he c om p ile d Mandarinenträume – Elec-
indus trial mus ic of the period. The iro ny in he rent to the m and th eir
Fu chs . »Whi ch was illegal, of course. An exc hange rat e of one t o tronic Escapes from the German Democratic Republic 1 981–
play ful a ppropriation of signs a nd codes li kel y mad e p eopl e war y.
si x or seve n wa s norma l, bu t so metimes you’ d get one to t en. And 1 989 fo r t h e Perm an en t Va ca ti o n l ab e l . T he CD fe a tu re s e l e c-
the n yo u s ti l l ha d t o find someone wh o’d bring t he equipment over tron i c m us ic c reated by var iou s a r tis ts in f or m e r E as t G er m a n y.
the b orde r f or you. Ma ny pe ople dem anded pay ment for that s o
a sy nthe si ze r cou ld end up c ost in g a ro und 40 000 Os tmark. To
pu t tha t i n p e rs pec tive, my mother ea rn ed 4 00 Os tma rk a month
ba c k th en. «
Fu chs ’ c ol l e agu e Julius Krebs c an still remember how th e C hi-
ne se wi f e of a membe r of one of his e a rly ba nds he ld a passpor t
Musician license of Julius Krebs.
tha t e na b le d he r to c ro ss the border int o West B erlin ever y day. The
cou pl e thus m a na ged to impor t numero us piec es of equipment and
thi s was how Krebs himself a cquired s ome of his ga dgets . »As far as
I k now I was t he f irst pers on in th e G DR t o ever ow n a Commodore
C64 and to p l a y a Rolan d TB-3 03 live on s tage, « he reca lls. »I used
an ol d S ovi e t T V a s a mo nitor for the C6 4. Bu t th ose c ompu ters
we re t e rri b l e – th ey cra she d co nsta ntly. O ne o f them onc e cras hed
seven ti m es d uring a s ingle co ncer t. Whic h mean s t he monitor s ud-
de n ly di s pl a ye d nothing bu t hiero gly ph s w hile the sy nth s a ll emitted