DISSIDENTENGerman Ethno Beat group, justifiably hailed by Rolling Stone as "the Godfathers of World Beat'. Trio of Friedo Josch, (b 21 Jul. '52, Mainz, Germany), wind instruments/ keyboards; Marlon Klein (b 13 Dec. '57, Herford, Germany), drums/ percussion/ keyboards/ vocals; and Uve Müllrich (b 7 Dec. '47, Binz/Rügen, Germany) bass/ guitar/ vocals remain the heart of group, recruiting other musicians to add colour or bring in particular skills.
By '88 Dissidenten (Dissidents in English) had achieved such a reputation that they could draw the likes of Brian Eno, Paul Simon, David Byrne and other Talking Heads to their New Music Seminar show at the New York Palladium, which later appeared in edited form (on account of length) as Live In New York on Exil '91. Dissidenten grew out of the German rock movement of the late '60s/early '70s. German scene took the sensibilities of the West Coast, that is, Californian, rock scene, parleyed them with London psychedelic mimicry, spliced in a taste for technology and produced bands such as Amon Düül, Kraan, Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream.
Dissidenten's forebears were Embryo and for a while they were dubbed Embryo's Dissidenten. In '73 they ran into percussionist Trilok Gurtu (later with John McLaughlin and Oregon) who seeded thoughts of integrating Indian elements in their music. Came across Indian music again through meeting the Karnataka College of Percussion at a Calcutta jazz festival in '79. That year Embryo's Reise (Embryo's Journey) appeared on Schneeball. Recorded in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India during '78'79. As the collectively written sleeve notes recalled, "Aside from our concert dates roughly scheduled in advance, we sought contact with interesting people from native music scenes, and organized concerts ourselves."
Itinerary included New Delhi, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Bombay, Poona, Bangalore, Madras, Goa and Ganges-Shri-Mat. Describing their past selves in the early '90s, Müllrich offered, "We played everywhere in Germany. Embryo was kind of the flagship of hippyism in Germany. You know, get stoned, drop out and all that stuff. Where could we go from there? Any attempt to play outside [Germany] was ridiculous because we didn't want to be a stadium rock act. We found the only possibility of gaining an international audience was by going to other places, not going West but going East." Decided to remain in India. Completed valedictory tour and split from Embryo (which continues through successive incarnations to the present day). Josch and Müllrich returned to India. Müllrich began supplying western-style music to Hindi film music, working closely with Louis Banks who introduced him to Indian film music megastars such as R. D. Burman and Lata Mangeshkar. Remained there almost five years. Began playing in Europe at the beginning of the '80s with the Karnataka College of Percussion. KCP returned to India while the German contingent packed their bags for Tangier where they worked with author and composer Paul Bowles. In '80 the proto-Dissidenten proper took shape, at which stage the group included keyboardist Mike Wehmeyer. Debut Germanistan on Exil '82 teamed core trio Josch, Klein and Müllrich with the KCP, Weymeyer and honorary session Dissidenten. Marlon Klein had previously drummed with Pili Pili (a multinational group featuring the vocalist Angélique Kidjo who later established a major career as a soloist). The lands of the Maghreb would influence Sahara Electrik on Exil '84 (which included the mesmerising 'Fata Morgana', the sort of song one has never not known), the limited-edition anthology Arab Shadows released during the mid '80s to capitalise on their dance floor success and Out Of This World on Sire '89.
This Arabic influence carried over to the Tangier demi-monde of writer/composer/musicologist Paul Bowles; largely archived in aural form, there was a glimpse of the Bowles connection on Out Of This World which published his fable "The Hyena' as part of its artwork. Northern Africa was also made manifest in their Life At The Pyramids on Exil '86, another sumptuous set. India had continued to exert a pull, evidenced by their collaboration with KCP on Germanistan and, most accomplished of all, The Jungle Book on Exil '93. Named after the book by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book seamlessly wove actuality recordings of Indian life (such as the sounds of Bombay street life and a cart driver gently crooning to himself) into an Indian subcontinent tapestry. For it they selected a crack crew of Indian and western guest musicians including the Karnataka College of Percussion. Typifying the way they bridge East and West on Jungle Book and work those disparate influences into a cohesive whole is "A Love Supreme" inspired in part by John Coltrane. It remains one of the most important East-West fusion albums on account of Dissidenten's profound understanding of Indian culture.
Describing their set at the Tanz&FolkFest Rudolstadt in Jul. '96 in a line-up that included Andreas Grimm on keybboards, Noujoum Ouazza on mandocello and vocals and Mannickam Yogeswaran on vocals, Folk Roots wrote, "Nobody who saw them in Rudolstadt could argue their place in the history books and nobody could deny their musical finesse and vision." MixedUp Jungle on Exil '96 reinforced their role on the dance scene; originally titled Jungle Book Part II, it was a series of remixes by Sven Väth, B-Zet and others; what emerged was an aberration of their work catering for the Goa and rave audience and building on the million-selling dancehall success of "Fata Morgana' in South America.
After working as producer on Dr Raghavendra & the Karnataka College of Percussion's Shiva Ganga on Exil '95, Klein also produced Manickam Yogeswaran's Tamil Classics on Exil '97; Yogeswaran, who had worked as featured vocalist with Dissidenten since '94, had also been singing in the Vinayagar temple in Madras since '85 in a South Indian classical context. Yogeswaran also sang lead vocals — in the company of Müllrich's teenage daughter Bajka, Ouazza and Dorian Wright — on Dissidenten's Instinctive Traveler, also '97. For this work they blended North Indian, Tamil, Native American, Arabic and Hawaiian voices, explosions of funk and ululation Ojibwa and Islamic style, and an atmosphere punctuated with sounds to soothe the savage breast.
"The Godfathers of World Beat' were carrying on. Curaçao-born singer Izaline Calister (who had succeeded Kidjo in Pili Pili with whom Klein continued to drum) replaced Bajka Müllrich almost immediately, singing live with them for the summer '97 festival season and thereafter; she features strongly on Live In Europe '98, recorded at different venues including Stuttgart's Jazzopen, Barcelona's Festa De La Diversitat, Amsterdam's World Roots Festival and England's Glastonbury Festival.
Updated version: 21.09.98.Edited by Donald Clarke
