Mumien

Description

The group was founded on January 20, 1966 by students from Cologne, initially as a political cabaret. The group emerged from the APO [Extra-Parliamentary Opposition in Germany (Ausserparlamentarische Opposition APO)] of Cologne around the SDS [German Socialist Student Union], and its political orientation evolved over the years toward a clearly dialectical and Marxist position. Independently of each other, the group's members joined the DKP [German Communist Party] between 1970 and 1973. On September 6, 1970, the group performed at the Fehmarn festival following Jimi Hendrix; this was its last performance. In 1973, Floh de Cologne performed as the musical part of a West German delegation at the 10th World Festival of Youth in East Berlin. From 1980, part of the group (Vridolin Enxing as president) was active in Rock gegen Rechts [Rock against the Far Right]; the same year, the group received the Deutscher Kleinkunstpreis with Gerhard Polt. After more than 3000 concerts in Germany and Europe, Floh de Cologne disbanded in May 1983 after a farewell tour. The farewell concert in the Cologne sports hall attracted 6000 spectators and lasted 14 hours with the participation of many musicians such as Hannes Wader, Dieter Süverkrüp, Franz-Josef Degenhardt, Hanns-Dieter Hüsch, Die 3 Tornados, BAP and Ina Deter. In 2023, the group received the Holger Czukay Honorary Award from the city of Cologne for its entire artistic activities. With the cantata for rock group "Mumien", the group reacted in 1974 to the 1973 coup in Chile, notably by setting to music the last speech of the fallen president Salvador Allende. The same year, the group worked with Hans Werner Henze on alternative musical settings of the Chilelied ("Dieser chilenische Sommer war süss" / This Chilean summer was sweet; 1974), lyrics: Rudi Bergmann (* 1950), the first performance took place on May 31, 1974 in Essen (Grugahalle: memorial concert for Victor Jara, at the same time a solidarity demonstration for the resistance in Chile). "Mumien" has not yet been reissued on vinyl and the only CD version (with the album "Vietnam") dates from 1995.