Intervju - Sonnenkind (Nemačka)

Sonnenkind

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Istražujući muziku došao sam u dodir sa folk projektom Sonnenkind, Rudolfa Sonnenkind-a iz Nemačke. Svojim tekstovima i stalno prisutnom akustičnom gitarom stvara muziku jednog novog doba, što nam je u razgovoru za naš Celtic - Slavic Webzine Serbia, Rudolf sam i potvrdio.

1. Zbog čega naziv Sonnenkind? Kako je nastala ta ideja?

Rudolf: Sonnenkind na engleskom znači "Dete Sunca" - ideja je nastala neposredno pre snimanaja mog prvog albuma. Još uvek sam zadovoljan sa imenom projekta, jer prikazuje različite aspekte. U tom trenutku sam nameravao da izgradim ideološki most između antimperijalističkog mirovnog pokreta i nacionalističke scene, a i mislio sam da većina nacionalnih muzičkih projekata ima dosta borilačkih (martial) imena, i pošto sam ja osoba koja voli suptilan humor, odlučio sam se da uzmem očigledno pozitivan naziv za projekat, koji ima čak i nekih "Hipi" konotacija i ispada iz klišea. Ipak, u isto vreme naziv je povezan sa solarnim mitom, tradicionalnim i aristokratskim idejama... tako da savršeno odgovara nameri.

2. Tvoj muzički pravac definišeš kao nemački folk. Šta je uticalo na to da stvaraš takvu muziku?

 Rudolf: Rekao bih da gotovo svi narodi imaju zdravu tradiciju folk muzike, koja dolazi direktno iz duše naroda. Ti si mi poslao autentičnu folk muziku iz Srbije, zar ne? Ali Nemačka je okupirana 1945. godine. Dok su u Ruskom sektoru naše narodne tradicje prihvaćene, u Zapadnom sektoru sve je urađeno da se nemački narod otuđi od svojih korena u skaldu sa Frankfurt-School programom prevaspitavanja (zli šef i ideolog te frojdovsko-marksističke škole, Theodor Adorno, direktno je govorio protiv tradicije zajedničkog pevanja nemačkih pesama, kao nešto što je uzrok autoritarnog društva itd. ) i folk muzika je polako dobila lošu reputaciju kao nešto zaostalo i van vremena, dok se pojavio komercijalni pseudo folk muzički pravac izmišljen na televiziji za praktičnost starih lica. Sa druge strane, dovoljno je smešno, da većina pevača koji zaslužuju ime pravih folk muzičara, poput Reinhard Mey i Hannes Wader, dolaze iz političke levice i uprkos tome donose neku autentični muziku, verovatno nisu osećali ili imali inspiraciju da pevaju o tuzi za svojim narodom, o sramoti okupacije i drugim stvarima. Dakle, u osnovi govoreći imali smo čudnu situaciju i jaz između ukusa i stvaranja TV - folklornih i intelektualnog levičarskog protesta pevača... Ali između, gde bi prava muzika procvetala, bila je velika praznina. Kada je bivši sovjetski sektor Nemačke dodat okupiranoj teritoriji od strane SAD-a antitradicionalna politika sa Zapada je intenzivirana. Nemačka je puna fantastičnih folk pesama svih boja, ali deca u školi radije slušaju Gospel ,Pop ili Jidiš folk, nego naše prijatne melodije. Sredinom devedesetih  pojavio se iz nacionalnog pokreta pevač Frank Rennicke, koji je veoma inspirisan od strane levičarskog protesta pevača preuzeo još jedan ideološki put i za narod i domovinu. Imao je nekoliko sledbenika, a bio je i velika inspiracija za mene u početku, ali poslednjih goduna, shvatio sam više šta folk muzika treba da znači, i u suštini po mom mišljenju, ti nacionalistički pevači pate od sličnih slabosti kao i levičari , koji propagiraju ideologiju preko muzike, nego samu ideju postojanja folk muzike. Ali moj narod, kao i svaki drugi, ima pravo na muziku, koja je ukorenjena u sopstvenoj tradiciji bez plastičnih otpadaka ili samo da služi kao sredstvo za političku ideologiju. Pa sam rekako sebi: "Ja želim da stvaram folk muziku u smislu kao što je svaki drugi narodi imaju. Središte će biti  naša tradicija, ali će biti živa i otvorena za mnogo uticaja. Tekstovi će obuhvatati široki spektar tema kao što je folk muzika oduvek i radila. Tako, biće i politička u nekim delovima, kao gorka optužba protiv režima i generacije našeg društva, ali će takođe uključivati pesme o prijateljstvu, ljubavi, religiji, prirodi... Drugi aspekt koji je došao do mene je taj, dok ja ima puno slušaoca širom sveta i ja slušam mnogo međunarodne folk i etno muzike. i mislim tu je irska muzika kao The Dubliners, bretonska muzika kao Tri - Yann, mađarska kao Sebestyén Márta, srpska kao Etno Grupa Trag, arapska kao Fairouz, vijetnamska kao Huong Mo, mongolska kao Altan - Urag, Tuva folk Yat-Kha... i Nemačka? Pogledajte samo te TV emisije... ja želim da dam najbolje što mogu, da odgovor bude manje sramotan. "


3. Prvi album "Völkerfrühling" objavljen je 2005. godine. Ove godine objavio si drugi album "Eulenspiegels Wiederkehr". Zbog čega je usledila tolika pauza između dva albuma? Kako si ti zadovoljan najnovijim albumom?

Rudolf: Devet godina je zaista duga pauza izmedju izdanja... iz više razloga. Prvo, prodaja je bila daleko od zadovoljavajućeg, pa sam uzeo sve kopije prvog albuma i nisam bio zainteresovan da započinjem drugi. Niska prodaja imala je nekoliko razloga. Jedan je očigledno da sam sedeo između dve stolice. Za državu i anti-nemačke levičare, moj album je samo neka "neonacistička muzika" , iako ja imam pesme o ljubavi prema domovini, protiv okupacije i masovne migracije. Sa druge strane mnogo više prostodušni nacionalisti, sigurno nisu mogli da razumeju tekst o prijateljstvu sa Rusijom i svetskoj anti-imperijalističkoj solidarnosti. Možda sam u stvari, tada, i bio malo ispred svog vremena. Čini mi se da sada, sve više i više ljudi shvata moje namere. Takođe, nisam imao (i da, nisu želeli da daju) mnogo koncerata, koji su obično dobar način da se prodaju muzička izdanja. Gde sam svirao? Za neofolk scenu moja muzika je suviše politička (iako se čini da su se stvari promenile), samoorganizovani koncerti nisu bili laki zbog pronalaženja lokacije, posete političke policije ili mogućnosti napada Antife. Dakle, javan nastup jednostavno nije bio moguć.
Lično, ja nisam imao ideju kako da finansiram drugi album, ali tokom godina je napisano dosta materijala, i prijatelj, koji je imao dobro plaćen posao, smatrao je da je moj materijal toliko dobar i predložio mi je da finansira moj novi album. Nakon pronalaženja odogvarajućeg studija, što nije bilo lako, mogao sam da počnem sa snimanjem 2012-e godine. Album "Eulenspiegles Wiederkehr" prvobitno je zamišljen kao dvostruki album sa oko tridesetak pesama, ali usled vremena koje smo u studiju potrošili na snimanje za gitare, jedino smo uspeli sedamnaest pesama da snimimo... malo je razočaravajuće za mene, jer neke pesme koje su imale lično značenje za mene su izostavljene, ali na kraju sam sasvim zadovoljan kako smo sve uradili. Producent je uradio dobar posao, s obzirom na činjenicu da ponekada stvarno nisam bio laka osoba za saradnju. Ali dobio sam puno vremena da u studiju realizujem moje ideje i sve moje želje oko aranžmana. Do samog izdavanja albuma, bilo je daljih problema, morao sam dugo da čekam izradu cover-a i booklet-a, pa mi je na kraju u tome pomogao moj prijatelj iz Waffenruhe, ali dobro, sada je album izašao i reakcije su veoma pozitivne.

 

4. Interesantno je da tekstove pišeš na nemačkom jeziku. Do sada si objavio samo jednu pesmu na engleskom. Možemo li u budućnosti očekivati i tvoj album na engleskom jeziku?

Rudolf: Folk muzika treba obično da se izvodi na maternjem jeziku, pretpostavljam. To je najbolji način da se izrazi to osećanje. Engleska pesma je u moj život ušla slučajno, ruska pevačica Anastasia Ve imala je napisan tekst i zamolila me da napravim pesmu od toga, što sam i uradio. Pretpostavljam da će oficijelni Sonnenkind albumi biti pevani na nemačkom, ali nekada iz zadovoljstva izvodim pesme na drugim jezicima. Sada imam obrade čileanskog pevača Alejandro Rex na španskom, vijetnamsku pesmu Cam Ly-a, kao i neke irske pesme (doduše pevaju na engleskom) u mom repertoaru.

Planiram, možda da radim neke poluoficijalne albume po niskim cenama, koje će sadržati demo stvari, pesme na drugim jezicima, obrade, saradnja sa drugim umetnicima... hajde da vidimo.

5. Sonnenkind Evroazijske Asocijacije Umetnika (EAA). U Srbiji mali broj ljudi upoznat je sa pojmom EAA, s toga možeš li nam nešto više reći o samoj EAA?

Rudolf: kao što sam odogovrio na pitanje za Open Revolt (intervju će uskoro biti dostupan na internetu), ja ću samo da objasnim neke osnovne stvari. EAA je osnovana početkom 2013-e godine od strane Sol Mutti-a, italijanskog industrial umetnika i njegovog projekta TSIDMZ i mene. Sada smo tu nas dvojica, a u međuvremenu pridružio na se i srpski književnik Boris Nad. ideja je da se ujedine muzičari, književnici, slikari, izdavači i drugi koji žele jak savez Evroazijske kontinentalne moći u centru i saradnju sa saveznicima širom sveta, koji dugo čekaju kraj globalne hegemonije SAD i cionista i početak multipolarnog sveta koji omogućava kulturama da slede svoje puteve bez bombardovanja od strane imperijalističkih agresora ili da bude ekonoski usisavana od strane finansijskih gangstera.

Blisko smo povezani sa Evroazijanskim Pokretom Aleksandra Dugina i pokreta New Resistance (Novi Otpor), koji predvodi James Porrazzo.

Pod tom idejom ujedinili smo muzičke projekte kao: Barbarossa Umtrunk, The Wyrm, Suveräna, Svart1, Sinweldi, Katabazija, Mizar, Porta Vittoria, FF.AA, Nevod, Werdvenus, Puanteur de Charnier, La Derniere Attaque i angažovane pojedince kao: Manuel Ochsenreiter, Alexandr Dugin, Boris Nad, Claudio Mutti, Keika Okamoto, Irene Caesar, James Porrazzo,  David Beetschen.

6. Šta za tebe muzika koju praviš predstavlja?

Rudolf: Dok odgovaram  na tvoje pitanje slušam Šopena, Betovena i konačno Čerubinijev "Rekvijem"... muzika je moja velika ljubav. Otkrio sam Hard rock i Metal kada sam imao jedanaest godina (1991.), a postao sam i veliki kolekcionar u toj oblasti. Sa godinama otkrivao sam više i više različite i zanimljive muzike. Slušam više žanrova kao Neofolk, Black and Death Metal, Classical, Industrial, Psychedelic, Folk and Ethno, Trance. Svoje prve pesme počeo sam da pišem sa 13 ili 14 godina. Moj prvi Black metal bend imao sam krajem 1995-e, prve ozbiljne folk pesme nastale su 1996/97. godine. od tada imao sam dosta projekata u nekoliko različitih žanrova. Slušam i izvodim muziku, a to je zaista važno za mene, posebno moje folk stvari (pesme) pomažu mi da izrazim svoja osećanja i razmišljanja. i to utiče na (i uticalo je) na moj privatni život puno, to je sigurno.

7. Može li muzika biti oružje za borbu protiv bezdušnog modernog sveta?

  

Rudolf: Apsolutno.To je jedna od mojih osnovnih zamisli. Savremeni svet je ružan i bezdušan. U svom ludilu preti da uništi sve što stoji iznad njega, a to je previše. Sve što ima dubinu, značenje, ponos, čast, dušu je korenita suprotstavljenost protiv modernosti, a modernost može jedino da ispolji svoju zavist i mržnju u destruktivnom besu protiv sveobuhvatne istinske kulture. U lepoti je otpor! 

8. Kakvi su planovi za budućnost?

Rudolf: trenutno planiram da realizujem EAA kompilaciju. Takođe radim i na nekoliko zajedničkih projekata. Jedan je zajednički doprinos pravcu  Synthie Pop / Dark Wave sa mojim prijateljem Mariom iz projekta Suveräna. treba se svideti slušaocima Depeche Mode, Wolfsheim, Joy Division. Želeo bih da snimim svoj treći album početkom sledće godine. Imam dosta interesantnog materijala, ali to u velikoj meri zavisi od prodaje najnovijeg albuma koji je izašao ove godine.

Koncert u Srbiji bi bio fantastičan. Otvoren sam za ozbiljne ponude!

9. I za kraj šta bi poručio čitaocima u Srbija?

Rudolf: Veoma sam srećan što je moja muzika naišla na dosta interesovanja među slušaocima u Srbiji. To je posebno važno, jer istorija između Nemačke i Srbije nijeuvek bila mirna, a znam da su ožiljci i loše uspomene još uvek prisutne sa obe strane. Moje mišljenje je uvek, da svaka nacija ima svoje pravo na mišljenje o istoriji. Ali to nas nikada neće sprečiti da vidimo ono što je danas i da gledamo u budućnost. U ovom trenutku Srbija je pod pretnjom imperijalizma SAD-a, a Nemačka je de facto kolonija. Čini mi se da je vaš narod u velikoj meri svestan toga, a i moj narod se polako budi protiv ogromne medijske i političke kampanje dok je mnogo razumevanja za rusku poziciju, pa čak se i javljaju proruska osećanja među ljudima. 

Takođe, ne postoji razlog zašto ne bi bilo zajedničkog poštovanja i podrške između Srba i sve jačeg nemačkog pokreta protiv imperijalizma SAD-a, izuzev za moćni interes spolja koja ne želi miroljubive odnose između naroda u Evropi. 

Hvala puno na podršci... I molim te, širi moje misli o muzici i o EAA.

Veliko HVALA tebi Predraže i Celtic - Slavic Webzine Serbia!

                               

Exploring music came into contact with folk project Sonnenkind, Rudolf Sonnenkind from Germany. Their texts and the ever present acoustic guitar makes music of a new era, as we said in an interview for our Celtic - Slavic Webzine Serbia, Rudolf was confirmed.

      

1. Why the name Sonnenkind? When and how came that idea?

Rudolf: Sonnenkind in English means „Sun Child“ - the idea came shortly before recording my first album. I am still satisfied with the project's name, as it displays different aspects. Back then I intended to build an ideological bridge between the anti-imperialist peace movement and the nationalist scene, and I thought most of the nationalist music project had quite martial names, and as I am a person which likes subtle humour, I decided to take an obviously positive name for that project, which has some „Hippie“ connotation and falls out of the cliché. Still, at the same time, it is linked to the solar myth, to traditionalist and aristocratic ideas... so it perfectly fits the intention.

2. You define your music as German folk. What is the impact of that?

Rudolf: I would say that almost all nations have a healthy tradition of Folk music, coming directly from the soul of the people. You sent me some of such authentic Folk music from Serbia, right? But Germany was occupied in 1945. While in the Russian sector, our folk traditions were accepted, in the West sector everything was done to alienate the German people from its own roots, in line with Frankfurt-school-infected reeducation program (the hateful chief ideologist of that freudo-marxist Frankfurt school, Theodor Adorno, f.e. directly spoke against the tradition of Germans singing songs together as something causing an authoritarian society etc.) and folk music was slowly given a bad name as something backwarded and out of time, whilst some artificial and commercial pseudo-folk music style was invented on TV for the convenience of old people. Funny enough, most singers who would rather deserve the name of real folk singers, like Reinhard Mey or Hannes Wader, came from the political left and despite bringing some authentic music, they probably did not feel very inspired to sing about the sorrow of their own people, of the shame of occupation etc. So, basically spoken, we had the strange situation of a gap between tasteless TV-folklore and intellectual leftist protest singers... but in between, where real folk music should have blossomed, was a great emptiness. When the former Soviet sector of Germany was added to the US-occupied territory, the situation from the West spread and the anti-traditional policy intensified. Germany has fantastic folk songs of all colours, but children at school are rather taught Gospel- or Pop songs or Yiddish folk than our own amiable melodies. In about 1990, from the nationalist movement appeared the singer Frank Rennicke, who, highly inspired by the leftist protest singers, took another ideological way and sang for nation and fatherland. He had several followers and was also a big inspiration for me at the beginning, but in the last years I made up my mind more about what folk music should really be about, and basically, in my opinion, these nationalist singers suffer from a similiar weakness as the leftists, serving rather an ideological agenda with some music than an idea of being folk artists. But my people, as all others, has a right for music rooted in its own tradition, without being just plastic crap or just serving as a tool for political ideology. And so I said to myself: I want to do folk music, in the sense every other people has it. Based in our own musical tradition, but vivid and open to lots of influences. The lyrics shall deal with a broad spectre of topics, as folk music always did. So it will be political in parts, as a bitter accusation against the occupation regime and the degeneration of our society, but it will also include songs about friendship, love, religion, nature...

Another aspect that came to me is, while I have many listeners around the world and myself listen to a lot of international folk and ethno music, I think: there is Irish music like The Dubliners. Breton music like Tri-Yann. Hungarian music Sebestyén Márta, Serbian music like Etno Grupa Trag, Arab music like Fairouz, Vietnamese music like Huong Mo, Mongolian music like Altan-Urag, even Tuva folk getts attention with acts like Yat-Kha... and Germany? Look at these TV shows... I want to do the best I can to make the answer less shameful.

3. First album „Völkerfrühling“ was published in 2005. This year you released a new album named „Eulenspiegels Wiederkehr“. Why the big pause ensued between the two albums? How are you satisfied with the latest album?

Rudolf: Nine years are indeed a long pause between the releases... this had several reasons. First, the sales of the first album were far from satisfying, so, when I still held all the copies from the first album, I had no interest in beginning a second one. The low sales had several reasons. One was surely that I was obviously sitting between the chairs. For the state and anti-German leftists, my album was just some neo-nazi music, as I have lyrics about love for the homeland, against occupation and mass immigration. On the other hand many more simple-minded nationalists surely could not understand lyrics about friendship with Russia and world wide anti-imperialist solidarity. Maybe in that matter I was a little ahead of time back then. It seems, that now more and more people understand my intention. Also I did not give (and did not want to give) many concerts, which are usually a good way to sell records. Where should I have played? For the Neofolk scene my music was far too political (though this seems to have changed recently), with the nationalist scene, even if I have lots of friends there, I could not identify enough to officially play at their meetings and, generally speaking, self-organized concerts were not easy due to problems finding a location, visits of the political police or the possibility of antifa attacks in case it should become known to these guys. So public announcement was just impossible.

Personally I would have had no idea how to finance a second album, but over the years a lot of material was written, and a friend, who had some well-paid job found the material so convincing that he proposed to finance me the production of a new album. After finding a suitable studio, which also was not too easy, I could begin with the recording in 2012. The album „Eulenspiegels Wiederkehr“ was originally intended to be a double album with about 30 songs, but due to reasons of studio time planned for the guitars, we only managed to record 17 of these... a little pity for me, as some of the songs that had more personal meaning to me, were left out – but then I am quite satisfied what we made out of it, and the producer did a really great job, also considering the fact that sometimes I surely was not the easiest person to work with. But he gave me a lot of time to fulfill all my wishes concerning arrangements and the partially weird ideas that suddenly came to my mind while in the studio. Until the release there were further problems, I had to wait a long time for the coverpainting and the graphician who first wanted to help with the booklet proved unreliable, so I had to search another (luckily my friend from Waffenruhe helped out and did a good job) but well... now the album is out and the reactions have been quite positive.

4. It is interesting to write texts in German. So far you've released only one song in English. Can we expect an English album in the future?

Rudolf: Folk music should usually be sung in the native language, I guess. It is the best way to express ones feelings. The English song came into life by accident, as Russian singer Anastasia Ve had the lyrics written and asked me to make a song out of it, which I did. I guess official Sonnenkind albums will always be sung in German, though rather for my own delight I sometimes play songs in other languages, I now have a cover from Chilean singer Alejandro Rex in Spanish and a Vietnamese song from Cam Ly as well as some Irish songs (sung in English) in my program – I have the idea of maybe doing some half-official-low price CDr containing demo stuff, songs in other languages, covers, singular cooperations with other artists... let's see.

5. Sonnenkind is member of Eurasian Artists Association. In Serbia, a small number of people are introduced with the concept of EAA, can you tell us more about the EAA?

Rudolf: As I just answered a comparable question in detail for Open Revolt (the interview should also be available in the web soon), I will just explain some basic lines. The EAA was founded in early 2013 by Sol Mutti of Italian Industrial act TSIDMZ and me and is now led by us two and Serbian poet Boris Nad. The idea is to unite musicians, poets, painters, publishers etc., who wish a strong alliance of Eurasian continental powers in the center and a cooperation with allies around the world who long for an end of the global hegemony of  the US and Zionists and the beginning of a multi-polar world, which allows cultures to follow their own ways without being bombed to stone age by imperialist aggressors or economically sucked out by financial gangsters.

We are closely linked to the Eurasian Movement of Alexandr Dugin and the New Resistance group led by James Porrazzo without being subordinated to either.

Under that idea we could unite musical projects like Barbarossa Umtrunk, The Wyrm, Suveräna, Svart1, Sinweldi, Katabazija, Mizar, Porta Vittoria, FF.AA, Nevod, Werdvenus, Puanteur de Charnier, La Derniere Attaque and engaged individuals like Manuel Ochsenreiter, Alexandr Dugin, Boris Nad, Claudio Mutti, Keika Okamoto, Irene Caesar, James Porrazzo, David Beetschen etc.

6. What is music for you ? In which way does music define you?

Rudolf: While answering your questions I listen to Chopin and Beethoven and finally Cherubini's „Requiem“... music was my great love since I discovered Hardrock and Metal when I was 11 (in 1991), and I became a big record collector in that field, but with the years discovering more and more different and interesting types of music, listening now to many styles like Neofolk, Black&Death Metal, Classical, Industrial, Psychedelic, Folk and Ethno Music, Trance. Also I began writing own songs when I was 13 or 14. I had my first own Black Metal band in late 1995, my first serious folk songs were created 1996/97. Since then I had lots of projects in several genres. I listen and play music, and indeed it is really important for me, especially my folk stuff helps me to express my thoughts and feelings. And it affects (and is affected by) my personal life a lot, that's for sure.

7. Can folk music be a weapon against the soulless modern world?

Rudolf: Absolutely. That is one of my basic thoughts. The modern world is an ugly and soulless molech, in its insanity longing to destroy everything that stands above it, which is a lot. Everything that has depth, meaning, dignity, honour, soul is a fundamental accusation against modernity, and modernity can only express its envy and hate in destructive rage against all true culture. Beauty is resistance!

8. What are your plans for the future? A concert in Serbia?

Rudolf: At the moment I'm looking forward to the planned release of the EAA compilation. Also I work on several cooperation projects, one is a joint venture in the Synthie Pop / Dark Wave style with my friend Mario from Suveräna and should appeal to listeners of Depeche Mode, Wolfsheim, Joy Division and similiar artists. I would like to record my 3rd album early next year; I have enough interesting material, but this depends largely on the sales of the recent one.

A concert in Serbia would be fantastic, I'm open to serious proposals!

9. And in the end what will you tell readers in Serbia?

Rudolf: I am very happy that my music found a lot of interest among Serbian listeners. That's especially great as the history between Germany and Serbia was not always peaceful and I know there still are scars and bad memories on both sides. My opinion is always, that every nation has a right to have its own view on history. But this shall never prevent us from seeing what is today and looking into the future. In the moment, Serbia is under threat of US-imperialism, and Germany is a defacto colony. It seems to me your people is largely aware of that, and my people is slowly waking up facing a giant campaign of politics and media against Russia, while there is a lot of understanding for the Russian position and even pro-Russian sentiment among the people. There is also no reason why there should be no mutual respect and support between Serbs and a rising German movement against the US occupation, except for the interest of a power from outside which doesn't want peaceful relations between nations in Europe. Thanks a lot for your support... and please spread the word about my music and about the Eurasian Artists Association.

A big „Hvala“ to you, Predrag and the Celtic-Slavic Webzine Serbia!