Dissidenten are a German rock band known for their collaborations with Middle Eastern, African and Indian musicians. In a 1988 article for The New York Times, music critic Stephen Holden acknowledged the band as being among the leaders of what he termed "the 'world beat' movement ... in which ethnic styles are contemporized with electronic dance rhythms"-
1981/83: Around 1981, "Embryo's Dissidenten" were founded in India by Friedemann "Friedo" Josch (b 21 July 1952, Mainz, wind instruments, keyboards) and former Embryo band members Uwe "Uve" Müllrich (b 7 December 1947, Rügen, bass, oud, guitar, vocals) and Michael Wehmeyer (keyboards,piano). Still in 1981, Marlon Klein (b 13 December 1957, Herford, drums, perc, keyboards, vocals) replaced Wehmeyer, and the band renamed themselves to Dissidenten.
1982/83: they founded their own record label Exil in Berlin.
Following a one-year tour of Asia, the group decided to stay in India to produce their first album Germanistan, with the help of the Karnataka College of Percussion, female singer R.A. Ramamani and percussionist Ramesh Shotham. The live line-up was joined by Indian pianist Louis Banks and American saxophonist Charlie Mariano. Concerts in Calcutta, Madrid, Casablanca and Stockholm are documented on the live album Germanistan Tour 83.
1984/85: Concerts worldwide. Having toured North Africa, Dissidenten set up camp in Tangier, Morocco. Composer and author Paul Bowles and Tangier’s musical godfather Abdesalam Akaaboune introduce the group to Moroccan musicians Jil Jilala, Nas El Ghiwane, Lem Chaheb and the like. Dissidenten’s third album SAHARA ELEKTRIK is recorded in Tangier with Lem Chaheb and their outstanding leader Cherif Lamrani. FATA MORGANA – the album’s hit song becomes famous not only in North Africa but as a top dance floor success in Europe and South America. 250,000 people see and hear Dissidenten live during a three-week tour of Spain. British DJ, John Peel, features the group in his legendary BBC program. ‘Dissimania’ -initially started out in the Mediterranean basin and spreads via England to Canada and the US. Dissidenten make it to the top of independent charts worldwide. Concert for German TV-WDR at the famous Rock Palast is televised live all over Europe.
1986/88: Concerts worldwide. Dissidenten move to Spain. The album LIFE AT THE PYRAMIDS is recorded in Madrid, Tunis and Tangier and includes Dissidenten’s hit song and video clip TELEPHONE ARAB. With a cover version of Telephone Arab, Egyptian superstar Mohammed Mounir makes it number one all over the Arab world. Dissidenten tour major places in Europe and North America as well as North Africa and Asia. One of these legendary concerts at New York’s packed Palladium is recorded for the album DISSIDENTEN LIVE IN NEW YORK. The song Fata Morgana from the 1984 album Sahara Elektrik becomes a major hit in Brazil and South America. 10 years later it will have sold more than 1.5 million copies in Brazil alone. Dissidenten play the title song for the famous tele novela Sassa Ricando. Today Dissidenten still enjoys a strong following in Brazil.
1989/91: Morocco: Recordings with the Royal Orchestra of Rabat for the album OUT OF THIS WORLD, featuring singer Mahmoud Saadi of Morocco’s legendary Nas el Ghiwane and the incredible talents of Cherif Lamrani on mandolin cello. 1989 OUT OF THIS WORLD is released worldwide. The video for the album’s title song was filmed and produced by Dissidenten in East Berlin – just before and during the time the Berlin Wall came down. Concerts in North America follow and Dissidenten start recording for the yet unpublished album REAL AMERICAN MUSIC in the Five Nations Indian Reserve near Toronto. The album includes Native American Indian musicians with whom the band became friends and worked with while touring Canada.
1992/95: Concerts worldwide. Recordings in Mumbay Bangalore for the album THE JUNGLE BOOK – an artistic reunion with many musicians and friends from the group’s past years working and touring all over India. Most of them have become internationally acclaimed by now. Ramesh Shotham, R.A. Ramamani, Karnataka College of Percussion, Louis Banks and Trilok Gurtu to name a few. European radio DJs vote Dissidenten second place amongst 800 albums in their annual European World Music Charts. DJ Sven Väth remixes the single-release JUNGLE BOOK PART II from the THE JUNGLE BOOK and thus introduces the “Love- and Trance-Generation” to Dissidenten.
1996/99: INSTINCTIVE TRAVELER recorded in Hawaii, India, Canada, Morocco, Spain and Germany featuring the charismatic voice of Bajka and Germany’s Manfred Schoof on trumpet. This highly esteemed album incorprates Dissidenten’s decades of experiences in almost every corner of the sounding globe. Instinctive Traveler is a time-travel between the various planets of Dissidenten’s unique musical universe. Hawaiian singers meet Basque accordionists, Native American vocals, Arabic court musicians and Celtic drone as well as South Indian chanting and European Zeitgeist. Dissidenten live – featuring Izaline Calister, Noujoum Ouazza, Manickam Yogeswaran, Charlie Mariano and Manu Gallo of Zap Mama- play Europe’s biggest festivals including two times at Glastonbury, Montreux Jazz Festival and Denmark’s Roskylde. Highlights from each of these shows are released on the album LIVE IN EUROPE.
2000: Dissidenten are exploring yet another musical world. Teaming up with composer, Gordon Sherwood, and video artist, Stefanie Seidl, they create the “Documentary Opera” THE MEMORY OF THE WATERS, first performed at “Internationales Donau Festival Ulm” for German National Radio SWR by the Bratislava Sinfonic Orchestra & Choir: Director, Peter Feranec, and featuring Charlie Mariano, Noujoum Ouazza, Manickam Yogeswaran, Barbara Buchholz and Tomás San Miguel – more than 100 musicians on stage. Between 2000 and 2005 THE MEMORY OF THE WATERS is performed by various orchestras all over Europe. LA MEMORIA DE LAS AGUAS, the Spanish version, is performed with conductor Tomás Garrido and the Orchestra & Choir Pamplona for the Festivales de Navarra – broadcast by Spanish National Radio live nationwide. World Exhibition Expo 2000 Hannover: In collaboration with German sculptor Albert Hien, Dissidenten compose and perform a piece for 96 Bavarian brass bands and a sound installation incorporating the sound of bells from 96 different Bavarian cathedrals and churches.
2001/05: 20 years around the world: Dissidenten once again call upon friends and collaborators to celebrate the anniversary. The album 2001: A WORLD BEAT ODYSSEY, gathers some of Europe’s most famed DJs: Badmarsh, Tricatel, Ravi Bal, Shantel, Deep-Dive-Corp, Lelonek, Kulisch & Vana and Slop Shop to remix nine tracks from almost all musical phases of Dissidenten. In 2003 the remix collection is completed with the album DISSIDENTEN REMIX.ED 2.O: A NEW WORLD ODYSSEY. At Womex 2001 in Rotterdam Dissidenten present their project IN 80 NIGHTS AROUND THE WORLD – including various DJs, VJ Annahd and Andreas Leifeld, which later is performed live all over Europe.
2006/07: Dissidenten are touring North Africa with Moroccan heroes Jil Jilala. Between concerts they work together in Tangier and Casablanca to complete the new DISSIDENTEN//JIL JILALA album »TANGER SESSIONS«. 2007: The band composes and arranges the musical program at the final party of Germany’s spectacular CREOLE-Award for World Music. French/German TV ARTE and German TV WDR broadcast a lengthy feature about Dissidenten’s Moroccan experiences
2008: The album »TANGER SESSIONS« is released. Concerts in Europe and North Africa from April onward. The debut concert in Germany is broadcast live and online by German National Radio SWR in April 2008
2009: Dissidenten tour Europe from Finland to Spain with »TANGER SESSIONS«. The line up includes guitar heroes Roman Bunka of Embryo / Mohamed Mounir and Henning Rümenap from the Guano Apes.
2010: Sees Dissidenten performing at the two biggest African festivals L’BOULEVARD in Casablanca (featuring CREATEUROPE fashion design award winner Amine Bendriouich, and Morocco’s DJ MOOD plus MCs Flip & Flo) and the MAWAZINE FESTIVAL in Rabat, (feat. JIL JILALA). Later in the year, concerts in Russia, North America and Europe are scheduled.
2011: The band is on the road in Europe and Morocco. In Casablanca, Fes and Rabat they reunite with Morocco’s cult band Lem Chaheb, with whom in the 80s they shared the worldwide success of the ground breaking album SAHARA ELEKTRIK. In July Dissidenten are headlining Portugal’s prestigious Sines Festival, in August they play in England at Peter Gabriel’s legendary Womad Festival. The concert is broadcast live by BBC. In fall the band returns to Morocco for more concerts.
2012: Dissidenten receive Germany’s prestigious ‘International Praetorius Music Peace Award’. They were asked to put together a live acoustic set for the occasion, taking a retrospective look back over the band’s unique history. This gave them the idea of doing a tour featuring unplugged versions of their greatest hits. One concert was recorded and broadcast by the German National Radio. The rest of the year they appeared at various Festivals in Europe.
2013: On the final date of the tour which mainly included Portugal, Morocco, Austria, and Germany, the trio record a spontaneous concert for friends on the banks of Berlin’s River Spree, along with musical guests who have been part of the long Dissidenten story. This led to the production of the album HOW LONG IS NOW? – Dissidenten Unplugged Live in Berlin, which presents another unexplored perspective of the group. Since they have been a Berlin band from the beginning, this album is also an homage to their home town.
2014: Except for occasional festival appearances (i.e. Bundeskunsthalle Bonn Festival) Dissidenten spends the year mainly working on the album THE MEMORY OF THE WATERS – Dissidenten by Gordon Sherwood recorded live at the Bruckner Festival Linz/Austria. Back in summer 1997 Dissidenten met the American composer and world traveller Gordon Sherwood in Tanger/Morocco brought together via their mutual friend writer/composer Paul Bowles. A new and inspired friendship began. The Memory Of The Waters bears witness to the years Dissidenten and Sherwood spent travelling and working together.
2015: Sees Dissidenten on tour – together with their long time friend Mohamed Mounir- at various Festivals in Europe (Afrika Festival Würzburg, Vienna and Munich as well as the Nuremberg Bardentreffen with more than 240,000 spectators). For many years Dissidenten and Mounir have been close friends. He has played and recorded a variety of their songs and Dissidenten’s guitarist Roman Bunka has been a member of Mounir’s band since the 80s. In 2015 they are joining together live on stage. Mounir is an iconic Egyptian singer and film star. From Alexandria to Aswan, the voice of Mohamed Mounir is as familiar to Egyptians as that of a brother or father or closest of friends. His warm, sweet contralto is an integral part of Egypt’s soundscape, blasting day and night from countless CD-selling kiosks, sidewalk cafés and automobiles
In November 2015 Dissidenten headline at the German “CREOLE“ meeting in Karlsruhe, shortly after they performed a sold out concert in their old adopted hometown Tangier and at “Visa For Music“ in Rabat, Morocco where they were granted the “VISA FOR MUSIC-AWARD“ as an hommage to their inspired collaborations with Moroccan musicians. As the Jury states: “Modern Music in Morocco began over thirty years ago with Dissidenten“.
N.B.
The realization of this post has been possible thanks to the great job of Reda Boudemala which has recovered all the albums of the group .
I Dissidenten sono una rock band tedesca molto nota in virtù di un esperienza pluridecennale di collaborazioni avute con musicisti medio orientali, africani e indiani. In un articolo apparso nel 1998 sul New York Times, il critico musicale Stephen Holden riconosce alla band il titolo di leader di quello che ha definito "world beat movement ", genere musicale nel quali vari stili etnici vengono inglobati a ritmi dance ed elettronici.
Il gruppo nasce nel 1981 in India e vanta tra i suoi componenti membri dissidenti, da qui il nome, del gruppo tedesco Embryo. Tra i partecipanti al primo nucleo del progetto vi sono : Friedemann "Friedo" Josch (strumenti a fiato, tastiere) , Uwe "Uve" Müllrich ( contrabbasso, oud, chitarra, voce) e Michael Wehmeyer (tastiere, pianoforte) , sostituito quasi subito da Marlon Klein ( tamburi, perc, tastiere, voce). Con questa formazione il gruppo da vita a Berlino la propria casa discografica chiamata Exil .
Nel corso di un tour in Nord Africa, grazie al contributo dello scrittore Paul Bowles, il gruppo entra in contatto con i gruppi marocchini Jil Jilala, Nass El Ghiwane e Lemchaheb. Proprio con questi ultimi viene registarto a Tangeri il secondo lavoro della band intitolato “Sahara Elektrik” contenente il brano Fata Morgana che diventerà un successo in tutta l’area del Maghreb, in Europa e Sud America. La fama del gruppo inizia a diffondersi e 250.000 persone ascolteranno la musica della band tedesca nel corso di un tour di tre settimane in Spagna.
L’ambientazione nord africana fornirà l’ispirazione anche per i tre album successivi . “Life at the Pyramids”,uscito nel 1985, verrà registrato tra Madrid, Tunisi e Tangeri e conterrà il brano “Telephone Arab” , cover della canzone del famoso cantante egiziano Mohammed Mounir . A questo seguiranno gli album “ Arab Shadows” , pubblicato nel 1986 , e “Out of this world” , pubblicato nel 1989, per il quale la band si avvarrà del sostegno della Royal Orchestra di Rabat, del cantante Mahmoud Saadi appartenente alla leggendaria band marocchina Nas el Ghiwane e delle incredibili doti di Cherif Lamrani membro del gruppo Lemchaheb.
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| Life at the Pyramids line up |
Nel corso del tour Nord americano si stabiliranno accordi per la realizzazione di un album contenente musica registrata nella riserva indiana delle cinque nazioni situata nei pressi di Toronto, in Canada. Il lavoro, registrato con il contributo di musicisti nativi americani , purtroppo non vedrà la luce ( almeno sino ad ora).
Sarà invece dato alle stampe nel 1991 l’album intitolato “ Live in New York” che documenta una parte del lungo tour americano .
Gli anni ‘90 rappresentano per la band tedesca un ritorno al passato che porterà alla riunione con amici lontani. Registrato a Mumbai, l’album “ The jungle Book”, uscito nel 1993, segna il ritorno alle sonorità indiane . Per la realizzazione di questo lavoro il gruppo si avvarrà nuovamente della collaborazione del Karnataka College of Percussion, di R.A. Ramamani oltre che di Ramesh Shotham, Louis Banks e Trilok Gurtu .
Decenni di esperienza saranno messi a frutto con il lavoro rilasciato nel 1997 intitolato “Istinctive traveler”. Registrato tra Hawaii, India, Canada, Marocco, Spagna e Germania con il contributo vocale della cantante indiana Bajka e dell’arte del trombettista tedesco Manfred Schoof ,“Istinctive Traveler” rappresenta la summa di tutto il lavoro realizzato nel corso degli anni da questo strano combo. Un viaggio nello spazio e nel tempo nel quale convivono cantanti hawaiane, fisarmonicisti baschi, voci dei nativi americani, musicisti di corte arabi, armonie celtiche e suoni dell’India sud.
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| R.A. Ramamani |
Agli inizi del 2000 la band si dedicherà alla realizzazione della musica per un opera documentario intitolata “ The memory of the waters” in collaborazione con il compositore Gordon Sherwood e la video artista Stefanie Seidl. L’opera sara presentata in occasione dell '“Internationales Donau Festival Ulm” eseguita dall’ Orchestra Sinfonica di Bratislava e verrà eseguita ,tra il 2000 ed il 2005, da varie orchestre in tutta Europa.
Per commemorare un ventennio di carriera il gruppo inviterà nel 2001 amici e collaboratori a celebrare l’evento con l’album “A world beat odissey” contenente remix di vecchi brani trattati da alcuni dei DJ più conosciuti del mondo. L’esperienza sarà ripresa nel 2003 con l’album “ A new world odissey”.
Nel 2006 il gruppo torna a collaborare stabilmente con gli artisti marocchini. Questa volta il sodalizio viene stretto con il gruppo Jill Jilala. Con loro la band intraprende un tour in Nord Africa e registra , tra tangeri e Casablanca “ le musiche che andranno a formare l’album uscito nel 2008 con il titolo “Tanger Session” accreditato ad entrambi i gruppi.
Il disco sarà portato in tour in tutto il mondo ed otterrà vari riconiscimenti contribuendo alla riscoperta della bellissima musica della band marocchina.
I Dissidenten proseguiranno la loro opera con concerti ai quattro angoli del globo partecipando a vari festival dell’area del Maghreb. Nel 2013 realizzeranno un album intitolato “How Long Is Now?” registrato unplugged a Berlino che li vede alle prese con il loro patrimonio musicale proposto in chiave acustica.
N.B
La realizzazione di questo post è stata possibile grazie al grande lavoro di Reda Boudemala che si è fatto carico del lavoro di recupero degli album del gruppo.
Dissidenten & Karnataka College Of Percussion – Germanistan – I Wish I Could Stay Far Away
01 Normade Har
02 Memories Of Chilli
03 Germanistan
04 Konnakhol
05 Veena Vadini
06 Turn On The Light
07 Tala Tarangini
08 Mani
09 India Morsing
10 Nalina Kanti
11 Morning Dance
HERE
Dissidenten & Lemchaheb – Sahara Electric
01 Inshalla
02 Fata Morgana
03 El Mounadi (The Desert Life)
04 Sahara Electric
05 Casablanca (Wacha Wacha)
HERE
or
HERE
Dissidenten – Casablanca
01 Casablanca
02 Allal
03 Trust Allah - but watch your camel
HERE
Dissidenten – Life At The Pyramids
01 Sultan Swing
02 Mata Hari
03 Telephone Arab
04 Blue Nile
05 At the Pyramids
07 Roots of Tanger
08 Do the Pharaoo
09 Song for Winnie Mandela
HERE
Dissidenten – Arab Shadows
01 Bajka's gnaoui
02 The good old days of tomorrow are now
03 Inshallah
04 Allal
05 Zain
06 Sahara elektrik
07 Shadows go arab
08 Cherif
HERE
Dissidenten – Out Of This World
01 Three Fish In the Desert
02 Cairo By Night
03 Walking The Camel
04 Shake the Sheikh
05 The Dreams And The Loaf Of Bread
06 Grand Babylon Hotel
07 Out Of This World
08 Radio Arabia
09 Urban Dervish (Featuring – Paul Bowles)
10 This Is Not America
HERE
Dissidenten – The Jungle Book
01 Bombay Street-Sound
02 Love Supreme
03 Maharajas' Ox-Cart
04 Lost Hindu-Tapes
05 Jungle-Book Part I
06 Jungle-Book Part II (Trance Version)
07 Sound Of Wate
08 Monsoon
09 All India Radio10 - Gondagaon
11 Path Of Rhythm
12 Puja-Celebration
13 Light Of Love
HERE
Dissidenten Feat. Bajka – Instinctive Traveler
01 Taste Of Melon
02 Instinctive Traveler
03 Broken Moon
04 Dreamcatcher
05 Blue World
06 Seek To Sigh
07 Lobster Song
08 Shine On Me
09 Live And Experience
10 Never Say No
11 The World Is Like A Mirror
HERE
DISSIDENTEN & Jil Jilala جيل جلالة - Tanger Sessions
01 Akaaboune's homage
02 Morock'n roll
03 Gun factory
04 Fata Morgana (Tangier Version)
05 Song 4 a rainbow
06 Truth is the only religion
07 The world is a mirror
08 Morock'n Roll II (Kasbah Version)
HERE
HERE Tangeri Session Remixed
Dissidenten – How Long Is Now? - Unplugged Live In Berlin
01 At The Pyramids
02 Song 4 A Rainbow
03 Morock'n Roll
04 Sultan Swing
05 Telephone Arab
06 All India Radio
07 Akaaboune's Homage
08 Fata Morgana
09 Mani
10 Lost Hindu Tapes
11 Jungle Book
12 Gun Factory
13 Light Of Love
HERE
