Popular Music on East German TV: Pop As Propaganda 207

Home , Beat music, Puhdys, Schlager music

Siegener Periodicum zur Internationalen____ Empirischen______Literaturwissenschaft

Herausgegeben von Reinhold Viehoff (Halle/Saale)

Jg. 25 (2006), Heft 2

Peter Lang Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften Siegener Periodicum zur Internationalen Empirischen Literaturwissenschaft

SPIEL 25 (2006), H. 2

Popular Culture and Fiction in four decades of East German Television

hrsg. von / ed. by

Uwe Breitenborn (Berlin) & Sascha Trültzsch (Halle) Die Heftbezeichnung SPIEL 25 (2006), H. 2 ist produktionstechnischen Gründen geschuldet und bezieht sich nicht auf das tatsächliche Erscheinungsjahr dieses Bandes, 2009. Dafür bittet die Redaktion um Verständnis. Das Heft wird zitiert: Uwe Breitenborn & Sascha Trültzsch (Hg.), 2009: Populär Culture and Fiction in four decades of East German Television. Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang. (= special issue SPIEL, 25 (2006), H. 2).

Owing to technical reasons of production, the title SPIEL 25 (2006), H. 2 does not refer to the actual year of publication of this issue. The editorial team asks for the readers’ indulgence. The issue is cited as follows: Uwe Breitenborn & Sascha Trültzsch (Hg.), 2009: Popular Culture and Fiction in four decades of East German Television. Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang. (= special issue SPIEL, 25 (2006), H. 2). Siegener Periodicum zur Internationalen Empirischen Literaturwissenschaft

Contents / Inhalt SPIEL 25 (2006), H. 2

Uwe Breitenborn (Berlin)/Sascha Trültzsch (Halle) Cold War, Cool Screens? Researching Popular Culture in East German television. A Short Introduction and preface 177

Henning Wrage (Berlin) A Hitchhikers Guide to East German Television and to its Fictional Productions 179

Ulrike Schwab (Halle) Fictional History Broadcasts in the GDR Television and their Concept of „Nation“ 191

Uwe Breitenbom (Berlin) Areas of the Past, Present and Future - Urban Landscapes in Non-fictional East German Entertainment Shows 201

Edward Larkey (Baltimore, Maryland) Popular Music on East German TV: Pop as Propaganda 207

Sascha Trültzsch (Halle) Changing Family Values from Strict Socialist to Bourgeois on East German TV 225

Thomas Wilke (Halle) Turntablerockers behind the Wall: The Early Years of Disco in the GDR between 1970 and 1973 235 Lutz Warnicke (Potsdam-Babelsberg) Sports on Television in the GDR in the 1980s. A Movement between the Political-driven Olympic Boycott 1984 and Growing Popularization 249

Markus Schubert & Hans-Jörg Stiehler (Leipzig) Program Structure Analysis of the GDR Television 1956 to 1991 259

RUBRIC

Anne Bartsch (Halle) Kinder, Medien und Familie Zur Sozialisation von Emotionen in der Mediengesellschaft 273 10.3726/80108_207

SPIEL 25 (2006) H. 2, 207-223

Edward Larkey (Baltimore, Maryland)

Popular Music on East German TV: Pop as Propaganda

Populäre Musik aus dem Westen war stets eine große Herausforderung für die DDR-Kulturpolitik, da sie ungewollt und ungebeten über die elektronischen Medien ins Land übertragen wurde und dort entgegen den energischen Abwehrversuchen der SED Fuß fassen konnte. Die herrschenden politischen Kräfte in der DDR versuchten in den DDR-Medien, einerseits durch politische Gänge lung und Bevormundung die hegemoniale Kontrolle über Popmusiknarrative auszuüben, anderer seits sollte die Musik in diskursive Strukturen der Medien eingebunden werden, um die jugendli chen Hörer und Zuschauer von der westlichen Musik wegzuerziehen und eine alternative Musik schmackhaft zu machen. Demgegenüber strebten die Jugendlichen nach Anschluss an eine interna tional agierende Popgemeinschaft, die sich über die Grenzen der DDR hinweg unter der Hegemo nie der multinationalen Medien stand - was ihnen in den Sendungen aus dem Westen angeboten wurde. Die hier behandelten Sendungen des DDR-Fernsehens - Basar, RUND, Bong, Stop!.Rock und K lik - spiegeln die Aushandlung dieser zwei konkurrierenden Tendenzen in der Rezeption und Aneignung von populärer Musik in der DDR wider, ln diesen Sendungen zeigen sich unterschied liche Strategien zur Einbettung der populären Musik - sowohl der aus dem Westen als auch der in der DDR produzierten - in diskursive Strukturen der Medien. In der Darstellungsweise des Publi kums, der Musikgruppen und des von der Kamera eingefangenen Raumes realisieren sich diese Strategien, wobei sowohl das Publikum als auch die Rockbands zunächst sehr zögerlich offen und unbefangen in den Sendungen in Szene gesetzt wurden.______

Beat-Club as Model

I will preface my analysis by describing a clip from the 1965 West German TV show Beat-Club produced by Radio Bremen, as an introduction to the aesthetics of presenting pop music on television in the 1960s, before the advent of MTV and video. While it might be argued that it is unfair to feature a West German TV show when talking about East German TV, the media competition between East and West, as well as the model function of West German TV with regard to East German TV composition merit scrutiny as a foil to discuss the issues involved in framing popular music on television. Also, Fahlenbrach and Viehoff (1999, 260) point out the pioneer role of Beat-Club for developing a specific televisual aesthetics for presenting popular music rooted in the student protest movements of the 1960s. These relied on highly symbolic media stagings of protest activities, which provided aesthetic and cultural innovations as well as modern- izing impulses (cf. Fahlenbrach and Viehoff 1999, 260). Fahlenbrach and Viehoff em- phasize how Beat-Club was the first German pop show conceived as a medium of cultural, emotional and routine self-communication for youths and was a contribution to the formation of an aesthetics of protest against the parental generation, while the media used the youth protests symbolically as a means of self-modernization (cf. loc. cit., 261). 208 Edward Larkey

While Beat-Club started out by just showing the staging of the music, leading to a polari- zation of the generations in the family living room, the introduction, in 1968, of short film reports on aspects of youth culture started to transform youth television aesthetics by emphasizing dynamism and progressiveness: “Dynamic camera shots, choppy editing of the montage, timing, and rhythm of the images, sequence and camera positions. Image sequences are now exclusively con structed according to a visual aesthetic and not according to a narrative logic” (Fah- lenbrach and Viehoff 1999, 268). Beat-Club, which started broadcasting once a month on Saturdays starting on September 25, 1965, not only added film clips to its visual aesthetics, but became further politicized as a mouthpiece for a subcultural youth culture with a significant component of social, political, and cultural criticism later on in 1969 and 1970. This would have presented a direct challenge to GDR cultural politicians concerned with the cross-border television and radio influences among GDR youths, particularly those containing social criticism also directed against that country. The coordination and synchronization of the rhythm of the music with the movement of visual images, the primary innovation to televisual aesthetics on the part of Beat-Club, was meant to symbolize and visualize the social interaction. What first started out as an attempt to present an authentic reproduction of the live concert in the studio, whereby the musicians interact primarily with the studio audience, shifted in the course of the program such that the studio audience became a witness to the interaction of the musicians with the camera and the television audience at home (cf. loc. cit., 269ff.). Fahlenbrach and Viehoff propose that the television screen becomes its own virtual staging space for musical experience with new perceptual conditions such that the music becomes “re- staged” audiovisually in that medium. The conclusion one reaches on the basis of their analysis is that music presentations in television must strive for a balance between the presentation for the audience in the TV studio to convey an atmosphere to the studio audience while at the same time trying to do the same for the home audience. In this TV program dedicated solely to pop music, not only the introduction to the program is presented, but also the three main components involved in its composition: the band, the audience, and the space with the music presented by the camera and its movements. Conspicuous is the live band on stage with its musical instruments, so it is clear that the band was not performing with a playback tape. The band enjoyed making music with live instruments and performing in front of the audience. This helps generate the excitement and entertainment that was transferred from the band to the audience, part of which was filmed while dancing, while more members of the audience were sitting down to watch and enjoy the music. The musicians were standing on a low stage almost at the same height as that of the audience. The large mass of people in the studio participating in the television staging reflected and constructed the concept of fun and popularity inherent in commercial pop music, making for an inviting and attractive activity for the viewer. The camera documented the dancing on the floor by staying at normal eye level and providing the viewer with the feeling of participating in the event, while the camera did not offer its own perspective (cf. loc. cit., 270). Popular Music on East German TV 209

Basar. Subdued Quiet Intimacy

This is in stark contrast to the introduction to the 25-minute long GDR youth program Basar from the same year, with its bare set, subdued atmosphere, and understated moderation by actor Dieter Mann. Instead of an active dance floor with a large number of people, the set was constructed like an intimate club, remininiscent of those used by various artist associations in the GDR, a part of the elite of the country. This contrasted mar- kedly with the more open and inclusive set of Beat-Club. Instead of playing only beat music with a live dancing audience as in Beat-Club, no live audience was evident, with the exception of the few participants in the feature sections of the program, who were obviously handpicked for particular activities revealed later throughout the program. In- stead of playing exclusively beat music, programmers also included Schlager and folklore, as well as feature pieces on a graphic artist and a presentation of new recordings from the Amiga label from a variety of different music genres. Even a short Beatles song was included, with superimposed images of newspaper articles on their international popularity mixed in to connote worldliness, openness for such influences, modernity and urbanity. This portrayal of youth culture and modernity in the program was comple- mented by segments on fashion and even fencing as a sport. In a segment featuring the newest GDR ‘youth music’, which included not only beat, but Schlager, political folklore, and other styles preferred by cultural politicians and Par- ty functionaries instead of live beat bands, the moderator played recorded music from a 45-rpm record player, a modem article of consumption comprising a part of international youth culture. Also the Schlager singer, an 18-year old female apprentice in an auto re- pair facility, did not correspond to the glamorous image of the usual Western pop diva, but looks more like the ‘girl next door’, thus eschewing the standard trappings of the international entertainment industry prevalent in the West, in keeping the notion of GDR popular music culture as an alternative to the capitalist entertainment industry. The construction of a television popular music culture in Basar reflects government cultural policies during a particularly - short - open period in GDR history, which was also just about to close at the end of 1965. After this program was produced, the 11th Ple- nary Session of the SED met later on in the year and severely restricted beat in the media and on the dance floors of GDR clubs and events. The pre-plenary session openness was reflected in the willingness to acknowledge the popularity of The Beatles in the GDR in the show. On the other hand, the composition of the segments reflected an edification policy of ‘educating’ young listeners to accept other forms of music that were not produced by the capitalist entertainment industry, a general strategy of GDR cultural poli- cymakers throughout the history of the GDR1. In addition, this program reflected efforts of GDR cultural authorities to embed and frame popular music within a lifestyle that does not excite, is not hectic and ‘nervous’ like that of the West, something which could, in the eyes of suspicious SED-functionaries, lead susceptible GDR youths to be unwit- ting or even willing executors of imperialist psychological warfare strategies. In spite of its acknowledgement of Western influences, the main thrust of these policies was to steer

I For a more detailed description of these policies please consult my book: Larkey 2007. 210 Edward Larkey youth music and culture of the GDR away from Western pop music towards ‘refined’ ‘cultivated’ and ‘civilized’ forms of bourgeois culture and its legacy. The reluctance to present a live audience in the television program was perhaps due to the distrust generated by a live television presentation of beat music in the GDR series called Amiga-Cocktail in 1965. The annual musical variety show featuring the year’s best productions was discontinued after a debacle during which the audience refused to stop cheering and applauding a rendition of a Beatles tune by the beat band Hemmann- Quintett, even after two or three encores were permitted by the show's host, Heinz Quermann. When the next Schlager singer, Vanna Olivieri, appeared on stage, the audience persisted with its refusal to stop and permit her to sing. Ultimately, she succeeded in quieting the audience by just continuing to sing. However, many in the television audience at home considered the behavior of the studio audience inappropriate and embar- rassing and expressed this in letters to the television network (Der Fernsehzuschauer March 1965, 112)2. It can be assumed that this incident reinforced pre-existing, politically-motivated prejudices against beat music that resulted ultimately in the 11th Plenary session restrictions After the 11th Plenary Session, Basar slightly altered its content to avoid most modem forms of beat music. According to plan documents from 1970 (HA Jugendfemsehen 1970, 40), the main components of the show would consist of four areas: 1) the use of political song groups with specific topic, selected and coordinated with the radio program DT 64, the FDJ newspaper Junge Welt, and the periodical Oktav, a publication of the political song activities promoted by the FDJ; 2) television-related support of the FDJ activities within Basar entailed events ranging from the 20th anniversary of the founding of the GDR (1969) to the 25th anniversary of the FDJ and the Socialist Unity Party in 1971 the presentation of young poets and young poetry, partnering with both professional as well as amateur poets, in addition to editors; 4) inviting a prominent person for a particular topic for current event (Ibid, 40). Other programs also did not deal primarily with youth music as such. The program Mode und Musik {Fashion and Music) with Frank Schobel and Chris Doerk as moderators, for instance, was described in the planning documents as a show that was “designed to provide an orientation in an entertaining fashion for how young people should behave

2 The following letter from the internal television research journal Der Fernsehzuschauer (March 1965, 112) is just one of many complaining about the inability of the host to reign in the row dies in the audience: “Was man da akustisch an Pfeifkonzerten miterleben musste, wirkte sehr befremdend. Wir haben uns nach dieser Sendung gefragt, wer wohl bestimmte, ob eine Ge sangsgruppe immer und immer wieder schreiend sich auf der Bühne produzierte (4Hemann- Quintett’), das Publikum oder der für die Sendung Verantwortliche? Müssen es zur Zeit immer und immer wieder Gitarrengruppen sein, die das Gehör bis zum Überdruss strapazieren?” (“The earful of whistling that we had to experience acoustically was very disturbing. We asked our selves after this program who determined whether a singing group could behave like that on stage screaming again and again (‘Hemann-Quintett’), the audience or those responsible for the show? Does it always have to be the guitar bands that overtax the ears to the breaking point?”) 3 Many of the comments were summarized in Der Fernsehzuschauer in the March ! 965 issue. Popular Music on East German TV 211 according to socialist norms, particularly in personality-related areas” (Ibid, 24)4. Areas of interest included for treatment in the program consisted of “Fashion, Companionship, Leisure, Hosting” (Ibid, 24). The character of the program was supposed to be determined by its position within the area of “entertaining journalism,” the focus on a central topic, which would determine how all other portions of the show (film reviews, interviews, and others) would be drawn on by the two moderators. In spite of the overall unity of the program, the progression of each of the contributions would be interspersed with moderated portions, songs, and dance to make it more interesting (cf. Ibid, 24)5. Another program that was a part of the Youth Division of the State Committee for Television prior to 1973 was the Notenkarussell, which was defined as a ‘musical entertainment show’ which was supposed to contribute (...) to “new, socialist forms of entertainment art appropriate to and expressive of socialist life feeling [,LebensgefiXhl]” (Ibid, 26)6. The program was supposed to be a pathfinder for high-quality leisure activities, and develop aesthetic and topical content to enable the viewer to critically deal with entertainment art and the Schlager. The program aimed to help develop new songs, chansons, and Schlager and “enrich the breadth of socialist entertainment music” (Ibid, 26)7.

4 “Die Sendung soll in unterhaltender Weise Orientierung geben, wie sich jungen Menschen auch in persönlichkeitsnahen Anliegen nach sozialistischen Normen verhalten.” (“The show should provide an orientation in an entertaining fashion on how young people behave in personality- related affairs according to socialist norms of behavior.”) 5 „Im Mittelpunkt dieser Sendung des Bereiches unterhaltsame Publizisitik' steht ein zentrales Thema. Die beiden Hauptinterpreten greifen das Thema auf und leiten alle Beiträge, Filmbe reichte, Interviews u.ä. davon ab. Mit Wort, Gesang und Tanz wird diese Reihenfolge aufgelo ckert und zu einem Ganzen verbunden.” (“In the center of the program from the division of ‘en tertaining reporting’ is a central topic. Both main singers draw on this topic and derive all seg ments, film reports, interviews and the like from that. The segments are interspersed with spo ken texts, song, and dance and bound together to a unified whole.”) 6 “Das Notenkarussell ist eine musikalische Unterhaltungssendung. Es soll mit dazu beitragen, gemäß der Forderung des 9. und 10. Plenums sowie der 13. Staatsratstagung neue, sozialistische Formen der Unterhaltungskunst zu entwickeln, die dem Lebensgefiihl entsprechen und es zum, Ausdruck bringen.” (“Notenkarussell is a musical entertainment program. It is supposed to con tribute to developing new, socialist forms of entertaiment arts - in fulfillment of the decisions of the 9th and 10th Plenary Sessions and the thirteenth meeting of the State Council, commensu rate with the emotional life feelings and give it appropriate expression.”) 7 “Das Notenkarussell soll dem jungen Zuschauer Wegweiser zur niveauvollen Freizeitgestaltung sein. Es soll ästhetische und inhaltliche Kriterien entwickeln, bzw. durchsetzen helfen, die dem Zuschauer befähigen, sich mit der Unterhaltungskunst und dem Schlager auseinanderzusetzen. Das Notenkarussell soll mit der Schaffung neuer Lieder, Chansons und Schlagern dazu beitra gen, die Palette der sozialistischen Unterhaltungsmusik zu bereichern.” (“Notenkarussell should be a signpost for the young viewer towards high quality leisure activities. It should help develop and implement aesthetic and content criteria to enable the viewer to grapple with entertainment arts and the Schlager. Notenkarussell should help create new songs, chansons and Schlager and expand the breadth of socialist entertainment music.’') 212 Edward Larkey

Symbolic Struggles in Popular Music and Television Programming

These programs did not have the intended effect of significantly increasing the promotion of GDR ‘dance music’ in a focused manner for their audiences. A study on the effect of entertainment programs of the East German TV networks from 1969 to 1970 (Abteilung Zuschauerforschung, 1970) determined that while operetta music and “moderate Schlag er and dance music”8 were still the most preferred styles of ‘entertainment music’ among TV viewers in 1970 with 26.5% and 20.6% respectively, these represented a drop in popularity from 29.3% and 26.2% respectively since 1965. (cf. Ibid) In third place in both years was “strongly rhythmic Schlager and dance music” (a euphemistic way of saying beat and rock music), with 16.3% of viewers in 1969, which represented an in- crease of almost three points compared to 1965 (cf. loc. cit., 17). This would indicate that the symbolic struggles of audiences had started to become increasingly polarized between those Schlager aficionados who remained attached to the more traditional forms on the one hand, and newer, younger audiences preferring the new rock-based popular music emanating from the West on the other. A 1973 evaluation of Schlager policies in GDR television from January 1973 concluded that GDR dance music was increasingly able to be a socially active mirror and force in society. It mentioned the different varieties of GDR dance music that had evolved in the preceding years and pointed to not only differentiations among different forms of music, like the Schlager song, the concert Schlager, and the rapidly obsolescing daily Schlager. It also mentioned that the “Beat Schlager” and the “Soul Beat” had ex- perienced rapid expansion as a youth-appropriate form of dance music (HA Jugendfem- sehen 1973, 2)9. Beat music, at the heart of the invective against youth culture at the 11th Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the SED in 1965, was re-evaluated as an expression of the creative forces among the youth with politically engaged topics: “Large sectors of youth prefer beat as a musical form of companionship, as an expression of their own world of feelings and mood in our society” (HA Jugendfemsehen 1973, 2)i0. The position paper underscored how beat had brought forth new authors, how the creative process was dominated by the collective capabilities of each of the band members. It

8 This can be interpreted to mean German Schlager and other traditional forms of German enter tainment music. 9 %4Den Bedürfnissen der Jugend entsprechend findet im Tanzmusikschaffen ein spürbarer Diffe renzierungsprozess statt. Neben dem traditionellen Schlageriied ist der Konzertschlager in gro ßer Besetzung getreten. Neben dem schnelllebigen Alltagsschlager hat sich inzwischen der Beatschlager und der Soulbeat stark entwickelt und als jugendgemäße Form der Tanzmusik ge prägt”. (“Appropriate to the needs of youth, a definite process of differentiation is taking place in the dance music realm. Alongside the traditional Schlager-song, the concert -Schlager has emerged. Along with the short-lived daily Schlager, the Beat-Schlager and Soul-Beat have ex perienced a strong development and has become a prominent youth-appropriate form of dance music.”) 10 “Große Teile der Jugend bevorzugen den Beat als musikalische Form der Geselligkeit, als Aus druck ihrer eignen Gefühls und Stimmungswelt in unserer Gesellschaft.” ('‘Large sectors of youths prefer beat as a musical form of companionship, as an expression of their own feelings and world of emotions in our society.”) Popular Music on East German TV 213

concluded that the success and credibility of “this young music” (Ibid), which, contrary to previous judgements, was destined to develop still further over the years and not dis- appear as was assumed by the older generation. Another positive aspect was seen in the unity of authorship, composition and interpretation by the band members themselves in producing their own music. The paper thought that the television networks had fallen behind the progress of the rock and beat bands in the GDR, and needed to catch up with the more recent developments. They were disadvantaged in part because they did not have their own music production studio (cf. HA Jugendfemsehen 1973, 10)u and depended on the radio station studio or the record company for its music productions. On the other hand, the paper crit- icized the negative competition, the fragmentation, and haphazardness of presenting music in the television networks, instead of a unified approach to developing GDR ‘dance music’ so that they might help stimulate the “youths’ own personality development” commensurate with the GDR ideology and their “world of feelings” (HA Jugendfemse- hen 1973, 6). In spite of that, it became necessary in the early 1970s to respond to youth music and entertainment needs, leading to the creation of the television program rund. At a brainstorming meeting to evaluate some of the suggestions of the viewers’ forums organized by the State Committee for Television in 1970, criticism was leveled at the in- adequacies of the Youth Division of the networks for their overpoliticizing, over-didac- ticized avoidance of the real problems and interests of youth: “On the youth programs, several ‘parents’ spoke during the conversation. A problem they had at home was that there is almost no participation by their own children in the youth television programs. Unanimous opinion: ‘Those are not our problems!’ Why don’t the TV networks genuinely discuss the pros and cons in the daily life of the youth as they try to fulfill the demands of society (school, parents, youth organiza tion)? There are a lot things presented in the way of agitation, didacticism and steril ity, and real differences of opinion are hardly ever evident. With young people, dif ferences of opinion are by nature most drastic. Why aren’t they found also on the TV screen?” (Beratung 1970, 8) In spite of these developments, it was still controversial to present rock music in GDR television programs in the early 1970s. Audience responses to the program Diskotreff from 21 October 1972, just several months before RUND was to be broadcast, were ex- tremely critical of the performance and appearance of the Puhdys and other rock bands. Several teachers complained about the bad example that the band was setting for the

11 “Ein Standpunkt, nachdem das DDR-Femsehen keine eigene Tanzmusik produzieren soll, ist gesellschaftlich nicht vertretbar. Im Gegenteil. Bei dem selbstverständlich auch in Zukunft grö ßeren Anteil am DDR-Schaffen des Rundfunks (jährlich ca. 500 und 600 Titel) und der Schall platte (jährlich ca. 150 bis 200 Titel) ist der Anteil des Fernsehens im Jahr der X. Weltfestspie le auf ca. 100 Titel zu steigern, wobei alle Hauptabteilungen (Musik, Jugend, Unterhaltung vor rangig) beteiligt sein müssen.” (The point of view that GDR-TV should not produce own dance music cannot stand in a societal argumentation. The opposite is the case. With the understood future a growing share on GDR creative productions of broadcast [500 to 600 songs a year] and the record production [150 to 200 songs a year] the share of TV productions also shall be raised to app. 100 songs in the year of the X. World Festival of Youth. All Departments [mainly Mu sic, Youth, Entertainment] must be involved.) 214 Edward Larkey youth of the GDR (cf. HA Zuschauerforschung 1972, 17 and 2 1)12, others compared the band to apes in a tropical forest (Ibid.)13. The new program, rund, enjoyed support by the political and media elite, and counteracted the detractors’ critique by embedding the music within a politically affirmative framework.

rund: First Political Youth Magazine for GDR Television

Early planning documents call this program “a journalistic entertainment show for young people” which was designed to “prepare the youth of the GDR for its role as host of the Tenth World Festival of Youth and Students” and create pre-Festival excitement and atmosphere (HA Jugendfemsehen 1972, 10). RUND was supposed to be a special 90- minute program broadcast once a month at 4 pm on Saturdays. It reflected a more moderate outlook on youth culture and music by accommodating more - and hitherto excluded - Western influences in the interest of gaining loyalty among GDR youth. RUND was first broadcast on January 27, 1973 in preparation for the 10th World Games of Youth and Students hosted by the GDR in East Berlin. While this particular program might have been atypical for that reason, it was one of the longer-running programs on

12 *in der o.a. Sendung jedoch war kein Unterschied zu den im Westen bei der Jugend populären Gruppen zu erkennen. Da hilft auch die von der Sprecherin so nebenbei gemachten Bemerkun gen nicht, dass man ‘auf der Tanzmusik-Werkstattwoche in Frankfurt [Oder] auch darüber dis kutieren wolle’, oder ‘dass ihr Äußeres wohl genau so ihrer persönlichen Note entsprechen würde, wie ihre Musik.’” (Von Egon Barke, Halle) “Die Musik wird akzeptiert. Aber die ‘Mu siker’? werden abgelehnt. Ich bin nicht unmodern. Solche langhaarigen, bärtigen und schlecht angezogenen Darsteller können kein gutes Beispiel und Vorbild für die Masse unserer Jugend lichen sein. Diese Art entspricht nicht unseren sozialistischen] Moralbegriffen. So etwas sollte verboten werden. Ich nehme an, dass da noch viel Geld bezahlt wird. Nur solchen Darbietun gen geben wir unser Geld nicht her. Das ist auch die Meinung unseres Arbeitskollektivs. Ich staune, dass darüber im Fernsehen nicht öffentlich gesprochen wird.” (“In the above-mentioned program, however, there was no recognizable difference to those groups popular in the West. Even the casual remarks of the moderator were disingenuous, that ‘they would be discussed at the Workshop on Dance Music in Frankfurt/Oder”) (Egon Barke, Halle). (“The music is ac ceptable. But the ‘musicians’? are rejected. I am not unmodern. Such long-haired, bearded and badly-dressed performers cannot be good examples and models for the mass of our youths. This type of behavior doesn’t correspond to socialist moral concepts. Something like that should be prohibited. I assum, that they were paid handsomely. We won’t give money to those kinds of performances. That is the opinion of our work collective. I am astonished that no one talks about this publicly at the television station.”) 13 “Zur Zeit läuft gerade die Sendung Diskotreff, und ich muss mich immer vergewissern, ob ich noch in meinem Wohnhzimer sitze oder mich im Urwald befinde. Sendungen aus dem Berliner Tierpark mit kleineren oder größeren Affen, sehe ich mir sehr gern an, was Sie aber zu diesem Diskotreff losgelassen haben, würde wahrschienlich sorgar jeden Menschenaffen entsetzen. Entschuldigen Sie bitte, dass ich so harte Worte finde, aber jetzt ist wenigstens mein Entsetzen aus mir heraus.” (“Currently, the program Diskotreff is running, and I have to remind myself whether I am sitting in my living room or if I am in a tropical jungle. Programs from the Zoo with smaller or larger apes are things I like to see, but what you have unleashed upon us with Diskotreff would probably even horrify any of them. Excuse me for using such drastic terms, but now at least I have vented my horror,”) Popular Music on East German TV 215

GDR television and inaugurated a more open debate about and with popular music from the West, while at least until the early 1980s, still seeking an alternative rock and pop music for domestic audiences. The program was more politically oriented with its features than a usual entertainment magazine, but it also featured some rock and pop music along with Schlager songs. The general goal of RUND was to promote activities in preparation for the Festival among the youth of the GDR, inform “comprehensively and pro- foundly about the lives of youth in the socialist countries as well as their organizations” and provide knowledge about “democratic and communist movements in the young national states and in the imperialist countries” (Ibid, 10). The planning document for the first show reveals that the program title is actually an acronym, which, although it means round when taken together, is comprised of the following words: R for rhythm, U for Untersuchung (Investigation), N is for Notizen (Notes), and D is for Discotheque (Ibid.). The music was supposed to constitute the main portion of the program, and have a direct connection to film segments on the political topics. The investigation portion of the first show was to contain a film segment on the leisure problems of GDR youths and on their efforts for “attaining [political, E.L.] re- sponsibility and high achievement, a film segment on the leisure activities and role models of West German youths, a film segment on the FDJ and the life of youths in the GDR, and a film segment on the activities o f ‘youths against imperialism and war’.” (Ibid., 11). Notizen (Notes) were to contain interesting and current film news, including both large- scale political events like the Festival as well as the “weird curiosity from some strange comer of the earth.” (Ibid.) News from the organizating committee of the Festival as well as information on the latest amount on the Festival’s bank account from donations were to be included as well. The discotheque, which was supposed to be one of the anchors of the program, was to be managed by a different wellknown, well-liked, and prominent disc jockey each month. One of its goals was to provide information on the newest music productions, give advice on how to create a discotheque, which new book should be read, what interesting activities youths could do for little money, and how young married cou- ples could best spend their two thousand Marks of marriage grant money. The paper even mentioned that the topic of partner relations could be a part of the program in a special segment called “under four eyes” (Ibid.). A special animated figure was supposed to be developed as the program logo, modeled along the lines of one connected with the FDJ- organized political song effort culminating in the annual Festival of Political Song. The opening segment of rund features an audience comprised of people from different nationalities and age groups dancing in a studio with 4 different international moderators, two Russian female students (twins!), a male Hungarian, and an East German man. Similar to the Beat-Club audiences, the rund audience is not only dancing, but is also sitting stadium-style around the set. No single camera shot lasted longer than 5 seconds, and the majority of shots range from between two and four seconds while zooming in on different groups of audience members dispersed along the dance floor. These short shots were coordinated with the rhythm of the background music sung by the Gert Michaelis Chorus, several camera sequences were comprised of shots of a mixing desk for electronic instruments usually found in the engineering boots of a studio. This underlined the symbolic power of the television authorities to exercise their control over the technology required for presenting youthful culture in the GDR media and thus enter the “modem” 216 Edward Larkey age of technology in general. Also, many of the camera shots during the show consisted of panorama views of the studio so that the viewer could clearly see not only the performers, but also the technology required to produce the show, including the television cameras, the lighting equipment, and the television monitors set up throughout the set for the audience to see what the various cameras were filming.

Photo 1: To demonstrate worldliness, openness, and diversity promoted by the World Festival o f Youths and Students in July 1973, the audience at the inaugural program of rund included people from a variety of different continents, (source: DRA Babels- berg/screenshot)

Various visual cues indicate the political importance of this show: the logo of the Festival on the walls, the different age groups of the audience, the studio guests comprised of functionaries from the USSR, the GDR media, and even Frank Schobel, the GDR Schlager star who is on the GDR national preparatory committee for the Festival. Polish Schlager singer Halina Frackowiak, the GDR rock band Puhdys, pop singer Reinhard Lakomy, the Schlager singers Monika Hauff and Klaus-Dieter Henkler, the Gerd Micha- elis Chorus (a GDR copy of the West German Les Humphries Singers) and even, ironi- cally, a video segment of the Scottish band Middle of the Road singing two consecutive songs, filmed as if it were in the studio (see photo 1 in this chapter). Finally, East Ger- man political folklore-style song groups of student and youths singing political songs about the Festival and its political goals of unity and solidarity complement the breadth of music styles included in the program such that the rock band Puhdys does not figure prominently among performances. Popular Music on East German TV 217

Photo 2: Although the band was presented to the studio audience on film, the television viewers could see the audience superimposed on the film screen o f their screens creating the appearance that the band was in the studio, (source: DRA Babelsberg/screenshot)

The music portions were interspersed with political feature segments on topics chosen from a frisbee action. All over the GDR at various FDJ events prior to the broadcast, plastic frisbees were distributed so that young people could write questions about world politics and political issues in the GDR on them. They were brought back to the studio and answered on the air. Also, these were to be answered during the Festival and on the air at subsequent shows of the monthly program. Other political segments on the show included a live interview with a worker who was considered a ‘great guy’ {ein dufter Typ\ who actively supported the SED’s political line, was actively involved in carrying out Party economic, social, and political direc- tives, and was well-liked among his co-workers. A portion of the show was devoted to the official Festival song and its composer, the no longer very youthful Paul Dessau (aged 79 in this year), who also composed countless political songs throughout his ca- reer, particularly that of the Thalmann-Batallion during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, so there was a short documentary segment about that as well. There was also an interview with the Chilean folklore group Aparcoa, after they performed a song or two. Finally, the end of the war in Vietnam was the topic in a variety of sections of the show, one dealing with Vietnamese apprentices in the GDR who were injured during the war, an interview with Volker Ott on East German assistance for reconstruction efforts in that the country after the war damage, and a film segment on the reconstruction work itself. Even the GDR TV news department, the Aktuelle Kamera, was used in a segment as pub- licity for the Festival preparations. 218 Edward Larkey

Photo 3: The news department o f the GDR TV network, Aktuelle Kamera also contrib uted to the first presentation of rund by informing about the progress o f activities relat ing to organizing events and donating money for the Festival (source: DRA Babels- b erg/screenshot)

Presenting rock music in GDR television in the early 1970s was a controversial and con- tested undertaking, so it was not surprising that the performance of the Puhdys was framed not only by the broad presentation of other forms of political and Schlager music. It was also contextualized by embedding this within the predominant GDR political dis- course contained in the feature segments, which, by framing the rock music, contributed to politically legitimizing this music for major sectors of the GDR public and ruling elite, who were skeptical about its political and ideological conformity.

bong: Pop/Schlager Film Clips

In 1983, two different pop music programs were inaugurated by GDR television authorities, the 40-minute long bong, and the almost hour-long Stop/Rock, both of these were attempts at chart shows to solicit viewer participation in helping to popularize bands and vocal artists from the GDR as well as those from other socialist countries. Both shows catered to slightly different audiences, bong more directed to Schlager, pop, and New Wave-influenced pop, while StoplRock featured more rock-oriented music. Both, however, featured very mainstream music. While bong was a concert clip show with a live moderator, StoplRock dispensed with live moderation in favor of short cartoon segments Popular Music on East German TV 219 as transitions from one concert clip to the next. In addition, bong featured a live audience with the opportunity for audience interaction, although there was no dancing involved. Any audience in the Stop!Rock clips was kept in the background or not visible at all. This should be seen against the background of the developing videoclip aesthetic in the West- ern music business, with those by Michael Jackson and Peter Gabriel, for instance gar- nering attention for their innovativity. These featured a dramaturgically-rooted mimetic narrative that diverged from a pure concert clip and told stories more or less closely related to the music. bong vocalists and bands performed with a full or half-playback tape in the studio, while the moderator introduced each song separately before it was played. The choice of music reflected the ambiguity of the official Party propaganda outlet in both legitimizing the music as a part of state-sanctioned culture on the one hand, but also discrediting the music among sectors of its potential youthful audience as a part of affirmative culture of the authorities on the other. The moderator, Jürgen Kamey, appealed to viewers to call him up after the show to comment on it. He also explained how the voting procedure worked and what kind of music would be featured in the program in the future. GDR TV authorities were keen on promoting audience participation with the objec- tive of having audiences vote for three favorite song titles. Even one of the vocal artists, Wolfgang Lippert, a popular Schlager singer, interacted directly with the audience, en- listing the audience in his staging of the song Erna kommt. Different members of the audience played along with the props set up for the song scenario on stage. Another way to animate the audience to participate in GDR television culture was to provide prizes for the audience. The bong moderator, for instance, invited the audience to guess what ‘mouse’ means in television jargon, and emphasized that everyone who sent in a postcard would win something. Two of them won a day at the same television studio where the program was taped, to witness the rehearsals and the run-throughs.

Stop!Rock: GDR Television Steps Gingerly into the Video Age

In contrast to bong, Stop!Rock, had no live moderator to lead the audience from one clip to the other. Instead, cartoon segments were employed between each song. These ‘cute- sy’ and infantile animated segments contained references either to past songs, or the im- mediate upcoming ones. In addition, they also provided information about how to vote for each one. There were neither political statements nor any other kinds of informational interjections so that the entire program was devoted to pop music without any overt ideological or political announcements. The program featured a total of ten clips that were interspersed with these short animated segments. After the first five songs, a historical concert clip was shown. This first show featured the song Tritt ein in den Dorn by the pop band Electra, controversial because of its obvious religious references. These songs from the late 1970s were played outside the contest framework, after which the program returned to song numbers six to ten. The music featured in the program extended from blues singer Stefan Diestelmann, a 220 Edward Larkey blues song by Karussell, a ballad by the M. Jones Band, an electronic piece by synthi band Pond, the C/Yy song Unter der Haut, probably one of their least distinguished tunes, one by the band NO 55, one by pop singer Ute Freudenberg and, the more interesting songs in the show, by the band SET called Die Stanze, about working on a hydraulic press in a metal-working factory. This one song was the closest that could be termed socially critical, and yet, it is just one of several pop songs that were featured in the program.

Klik: Modern Youth Television Magazine

The final program under discussion here is the 45-minute magazine show Klik, a moderated program with a very young team of moderators, who led through the live and filmed portions of the show with openness, a refreshing lack of pretension, and fun. Each Klik segment was separated by a jingle and logo with a topic, like ‘hits’, ‘trends’, ‘topics’, ‘music’, ‘people’, like this separating the music introduction of the Lose Skiffle Gemeinschaft Leipzig from the main topic of the magazine, motorcycle safety for youths. Klik displayed little of the political didacticism of the RUND program in the early 1970s. Instead, the didacticism surfaces in the main topic of the program dealing with motorcycle safety among youths. The political feature of the program, involving the con- valescence of wounded Nicaraguan Sandinista fighters in a hospital in the GDR city of Neubrandenburg, didn’t focus on the political goals of official solidarity with the GDR as one might have expected in a GDR magazine show. Instead, the young women moderators interviewed high school students who, as a part of a class project, came together with the Nicaraguans to entertain them and help with their recovery. Much of the feature re- volved around the impressions of the students gained outside of the school project and focused on interpersonal relationships built up between the GDR youths and the Nicara- guans. The segment forming a pivotal function in the program started off with a music video of pop singer Roland Kölm, a worker with the Energiekombinat {power company) who was recruited by Arnold Fritzsch, the owner of a private pop music studio commissioned by the television station to produce music for radio and television. Kölm’s video clip was distinguished from those of bong and Stop!Rock in that it is not a concert clip, but a clip with a separate narrative line not necessarily reflected in the lyrics of the song, entitled Ich bin kein Balletttänzer (I am not a ballet dancer). Following the videoclip, the moderator interviewed Fritzsch, who was also the composer and producer of the Klik jingles. Fritzsch, one of the GDR’s most consistent proponents of a non-political pop music that can be played on the dancefloors of GDR discos, explained his motives as an effort to just produce pop music for young people. After the short interview, a pre-produced film segment was shown after a short par- ody of a television announcer not only announcing the newest Polizeiruf 110 broadcast (a famous crime drama series), but also reminding Fritzsch that he needed to still compose the opening music of Klik. Segments of the film showing Fritzsch in front of his equip-

222 Edward Larkey like Basar and RUND were attempts to discursively control and manage popular music influences from the West by diverting attention from the music, trying to harness its excitement and spectacularity for political propaganda purposes, while foregrounding its political didactic goals. Basar represented an attempt to create a completely divergent cultural and musical alternative to the emerging pre-eminence of the beat music - represented by the duopoly of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones - by tightly restricting the discursive framing of the new cultural phenomena within a sparse studio with few youthful participants and a severely understated emotionality. RUND was the first relatively successful attempt at harnessing the power and drive of popular music culture with the political goals of the SED. While Basar dispensed with the inclusion of an audience alto- gether, RUND drew the audience into the frames for both the music and the political segments of the program, albeit under tightly controlled conditions. However, both prominent - and privileged - GDR artists as well as foreign artists from the East and West were included in the repertoire and staging of what it meant to create a GDR popular music community. The later programs like Bong, Stop!Rock, and Klik, foreground the expertise, knowledge, familiarity, and yes, prestige of pop as an international genre of youthful communication in order to create a national pop community in the GDR managed by the cultural bureaucrats allied with the SED. Bong revealed the same attempt to promote a GDR pop music using the ‘language’ of the international pop music community by creating a chart program based on audience participation in the evaluations. The institutional aesthetics of both Bong as well as Stop!Rock featured very mainstreamed and conformistic bands and vocal acts, while insinuating that youths could attain a voice in what music would be included in the chart positions artificially created by the television producers. Usually, this excluded critical narratives which would have attracted the interest of larger groups of viewers interested in a critique of social reality in the GDR and its cultural expression by more controversial bands from the independent scene who were less conformistic. Bong, Stop!Rock and Klik responded to the challenge from Western media conglomerates who employed video productions on a broad scale to promote their rock music acts. These last three programs can be seen as platforms for developing a GDR visual rock and pop music culture in the context of the competition with the West.

Bibliography

Fahlenbrach, Kathrin/ Reinhold Viehoff, 1999. Der Aufstieg des Beat-Club, sein Nieder- gang — und die Folgen. In: SPIEL Siegener Periodicum zur Internationalen Empi rischen Literaturwissenschaft. Jg. 18 (1999), H.2., 259-278. Larkey, Edward, 2007. Rotes Rockradio. Populäre Musik und die Kommerzialisierung des DDR-Rundfunks. Berlin, Münster.

Documents German Broadcast Archive (DRA Pots dam-Babelsberg): Planangebot der HA Jugendfemsehen fur das Jahr 1970, Berlin, Juli 1969, DRA Babels- berg, Schriftgut FS, Sammlung Glatzer, Vorb. Planmaterialien, KuJ. Popular Music on East German TV 223

Einige Aspekte der Wirkung der Unterhaltungssendungen des Deutschen Fernsehfunks im Zeitraum von März 1969 bis Anfang Mai 1970, Zusammengestellt von Brigitte Tümmler, Deutscher Fernsehfunk, Abteilung Zuschauerforschung. DRA Babels- berg, Schriftgut FS, H 008-02-04/0027. HA Jugendfemsehen, “Zur Schlagerpolitik im Fernsehen der DDR“, DRA Babelsberg, Schriftgut FS, 8. 1. 73. Sammlung Glatzer, Vorb. Planmaterialien. Ideen-Beratung in der Programmdirektion, May 28, 1970, 8, DRA Babelsberg, Schriftgut FS, Forenberichte. Informationen und Berichte über Zuschauermeinungen. H 081 - 03-02/0113. Planentwurf des Jugendfemsehens 1973, 15.9.1972. DRA Babelsberg, Schriftgut FS, Sammlung Glatzer, Vorb. Planmaterialien.

Sendemitschnitte, DRA Babelsberg, Bestand überlieferter Sendungen des DDR- Fernsehens: AMIGA-Cocktail (12) vom 17.11.1964, DFF. Basar vom 23.03.1965, DFF. bong (1) vom 08.02.1983, DDR-Femsehen, 1. Programm. Disko-Treff vom 21.10.1972, DDR-Femsehen, 1. Programm. Mode und Musik vom 26.09.1969, DFF. Notenkarussell vom 10.01.1969, DFF. rund (1) vom 27.01.1973, DDR-Femsehen, 1. Programm. Stop!Rock vom 24.01.1983, DDR-Femsehen, 1. Programm. Klik (1) vom 12.12.1985, DDR-Femsehen, 1. Programm.

DVD: Beat-Club ‘65. 2000, in-akustik GmbH & Co. KG.

Author’s address:

Edward Larkey University of Maryland, Baltimore County Dept, o f Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication 1000 Hilltop Circle Baltimore, Maryland USA 21250 E-mail: [email protected]