The German protest song from the 1960s through the 1990s and how it carried forth traditions of earlier periods.
The modern German political song is a hybrid of high and low culture. With its roots in the birth of mass culture in the 1920s, it employs communicative strategies of popular song. Yet its tendencies toward philosophical, poetic,and musical sophistication reveal intellectual aspirations. This volume looks at the influence of revolutionary artistic traditions in the lyrics and music of the Liedermacher of east and west Germany: the rediscovery of the revolutionary songs of 1848 by the 1960s West German folk revival, the use of the profane "carnivalesque" street-ballad tradition by Wolf Biermann and the GDR duo Wenzel & Mensching, the influence of 1920s artistic experimentation on Liedermacher such as Konstantin Wecker, and the legacy of Hanns Eisler's revolutionary song theory. The book also provides an insider perspective on the countercultural scenes of the two Germanys, examining the conditions in which political songs were written and performed. In view of the decline of the political song form since the fall of communism, the book ends with a look at German avant-garde techno's attempt to create a music that challenges conventional cultural perceptions and attitudes.
Contributors: David Robb, Eckard Holler, Annette Blühdorn, Peter Thompson
David Robb is Senior Lecturer in German Studies at the Queen's University of Belfast.

Introduction - David G. Robb
The Reception of Vormärz and 1848 Revolutionary Song in West Germany and the GDR - David G. Robb
Mühsam, Brecht, Eisler, and the Twentieth-Century Revolutionary Heritage - David G. Robb
Narrative Role-Play as Communication Strategy in German Protest Song - David G. Robb
The Burg Waldeck Festivals, 1964-1969 - Eckhard Holler
The Folk and Liedermacher Scene in the Federal Republic in the 1970s and 1980s - Eckhard Holler
Konstantin Wecker: Political Songs between Anarchy and Humanity - Annette Bluhdorn
Wolf Biermann: Die Heimat ist weit - Peter Thompson
Political Song in the GDR: The Cat-and-Mouse Game with Censorship and Institutions - David G. Robb
The Demise of Political Song and the New Discourse of Techno in the Berlin Republic - David G. Robb
Works Cited
Index