Eastern Soul – The depth in kitsch

The life and work of actor Manfred Krug (1937–2016) were a source of light in the GDR, which was badly underserved when it came to pop culture. From the mid-1960s onwards, as a singer, Krug produced countless songs in the form of chansons that exuded cheerfulness, melancholy and lightness. In this sense, he is the genre equivalent of the punk band Schmelzkeim: music that was produced under real socialist conditions and sounded exactly like the stuff from the West, in his case the jazzy pop chanson. And “West” in this case does not mean the Federal Republic, because there was also widespread rot beyond the niches.

Manfred Krug’s singing and the music that caresses him sound as beautiful as the things from Paris: chanson, pop and soul and easy listening, that’s what it was later called, and with lyrics that always go deep and find the kitsch in the depths the depth in kitsch.

Coincidentally, at the same time as Manfred Krug’s diaries, an album with homages to well-known and more remote songs by Krug was released on the small Krokant label. What the artists gathered on “The Beautiful Life of Mr. K.” have in common is that they are all rather semi-present and work on their things in a very independent way. Stefanie Schrank, for example, singer and bassist of the German-speaking indie pop band Locas in Love, released the very good, rather unnoticed album “Unter der Haut an overheated factory” in 2019 and the EP “Schlachtrufe BRD” this year. On the Krug tribute album she plays Krug’s song “Kalt und Weiß” from his 1972 album “A Touch of Spring”.

If you listen to Krug’s original and Schrank’s piece one after the other, it becomes clear how almost all artists approach Krug’s music. Namely in the form of appropriating the piece and transferring it into your own sound cosmos and thus also with an interpretation of Manfred Krug’s actually thin, but nevertheless cheerfully varied voice. A lot changes, but the spirit of the piece remains intact. Krug is dominated by a female choir and excited strings. With Stefanie Schrank the piece becomes a beautifully otherworldly ambient hit.

In general, “The Beautiful Life of Mr. K.” mostly features female artists who have developed their own music, which is still very accessible, but tends to fly under the radar of the inclined masses. For example Resi Reiner, Masha Qrella, Lisa Who, Maike Rosa Vogel and Charlotte Brandi.

Brandi then unerringly chose the piece that fits her own music. “Nobody loves you like I do,” with Krug a snappy duet about jealousy and exclusivity. With Brandi the piece is then slowed down and lowered, she sings a few steps further down than Krug. And the happy chanson suddenly sounds completely unconditional: “All my life/ All my love/ Take it.”

“The Beautiful Life of Mr. K.” is a beautiful autumn record.

V. A.: “The beautiful life of Mr. K.” (Krokant/Indigo)