Whatness 003 Release Info
Marc Ushmi meets Reverend Galloway on Ernst Busch
When socialists get on their soapboxes... as part of their campaign for the
1928 Reichstag elections, the German Social Democratic Party SPD handed out
pieces of soap imprinted with the words "Vote SPD". The accompanying flyer
bore the ditty "Nimm dieses Stückchen Seife, auf daß es Dich erfreu' und
schenke deine Stimme der SPD-Partei." (roughly: Take this piece of soap from
me, enjoy it, and vote for the SPD). Not everyone in the socialist workers'
movement appreciated such offbeat humour. It spawned the "Soap Song" which
audiences never tired of requesting from the singer, actor and later
communist Ernst Busch. It was one of the songs that firmly established
Busch's reputation as the "Tauber of the Barricades" -- alluding to 1920s
operetta star Richard Tauber.
In December 2000 Ekkehard Ehlers and Markus Weisbeck asked Stephen Galloway,
one of the most scintillating figures in the German pop scene, to interpret
the famous workers' revolutionary songs of Ernst Busch on the occasion of an
exhibition curated by Liam Gillick at MAK Vienna. This legendary
champagne-fuelled recording was presented as an installation in Vienna (very
loud, at night).
Some six months later, Marcus Schmickler set about compiling this CD on the
basis of those recordings. "On Ernst Bumsch" opens up a new dimension in
polit-funk with a blend of exhilarating techno and house tracks based on Mr
Galloway's absurd cultural achievement. This CD pays homage to Ernst Busch
and begs the question of how to interpret a text one does not understand.
Contact: ehlers@whatness.de
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