
Featured Artists
Antje Henkel: clarinet, sax, flute
Carsten Wegener: contrabass, harmonica
Christopher Blenkinsop: ukulele, bouzouki, guitar
Daniel Friedrichs: violin, mandolin
Dirk Trageser: tympani, guitar
Elmar Gutmann: trumpet, bugle
Henry Notroff: clarinet
Kerstin Kaernbach, Rike Lau: strings
Kiki Sauer, Kruisko: accordions
Lüül: banjo, guitar
Uwe Langer: trombone, euphonium, trumpet, tuba
For the past 12 years, Berlin’s very own “special orchestra” 17 Hippies has been playing a whirling, crashing, diving, bobbing, weaving mixture of music
from around the world. Imagine a mix of Eastern melodies, Balkan rhythms,
French chanson, Anglo songwriting, and Cajun tunes, all perfectly blended
together to create a unique pop style.
Starting in Spring 1995 as a trio playing mainly instrumental music, the band
mutated into an ensemble now numbering 13 musicians that displays a vast
range of musical creativity, ranging from their French radio hit “Marlène”
to the soundtrack for Andreas Dresen’s award-winning film Halbe Treppe
(Silver Bear, Berlin Film Festival).
With their new CD Heimlich, 17 Hippies have set a milestone. On this
intoxicating album, most of the tunes are vocal—sung in German, French,
and English. From a wild dance inspired by a Romanian melody to a Zydecogoes-
Bollywood tune, 17 Hippies have created another masterpiece.
“17 Hippies is a prolific outfit … their polyglot style has evolved to take
in dozens of genres, and here they’ve chosen to mix an Eastern European
odd-metered rhythm, played on bass and accordion, with a plaintive, gentle
reading of the ‘Apache’ melody on the clarinet. It’s very simple, and effectively
makes an old classic new again.” — Pitchfork
“17 Hippies sounds like someone used a warped blender to mix an
accordion, ukulele, banjo, saw, clarinet, violin, trumpet, trombone, flute, a Jew’s
harp, an Indian tampura, an Irish bouzouki, an assortment of other string and
wind instruments, a Zydeco band, Luminescent Orchestrii, and a circus
sideshow from somewhere in Eastern Europe. In other words, their sound is
quite bizarre and absolutely fantastic.” — Murúch
“17 Hippies are one of the most exiting bands that exist in Germany today.
And if you miss them, it’s your own fault.” — Rolling Stone [Germany]
“17 Hippies are ridiculously underrated. They should be in the front rank of
European world music artists.” — Charlie Gillet, BBC London
“The musical idioms are … disparate, yet the mix is never incoherent. 17
Hippies have learned how to fuse sundry musics into one.” — Washington Post
“The renegade sound of 17 Hippies—captured on the new disc Heimlich is an engaging blend of pop sounds and traditional eastern European folk
melodies.” — Chicago Sun-Times
Track Listing
Schattenmann
Son mystère
Wann war das?
Deine Tränen
Teschko
Tick Tack
The Moving Song
Apache
Heimlich
Just Like You
Madame
Rustermul
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