Reinhold Hoenle, Autor bei ADAM

Adam 1. December 2023

“I have some issues with authority”

Actor Jürgen Vogel on his roles as police commissioner and family man as well as his experiences in Berlin across the Spree river.

What appeals to you about the police commissioner character you play in the TV series «Jenseits der Spree» (Across the Spree River)?
The basic idea was to do a Friday night crime thriller that holds a slightly different narrative. Robert Heffler is a single father who tries to be a good policeman. He does, however, not always succeed in doing so due to getting distracted by the conflicts he has at home with his three daughters.

Your four own and two adopted children are between 4 and 35 years old. I guess that challenges you both as a father and grandfather?
When we go to the playground together, some funny moments do actually happen when my daughter asks me «Daddy, can you help me swing?» and the grandson asks: «Grandpa, please come to the slide!»

Heffler has a secret lover, his boss. Have you experienced love in the workplace yourself?
I’ve certainly had crushes in the last forty years, but I’ve never been with an actress for a long time. Until I met my current fiancée, I couldn’t have imagined it because you travel so much in this profession that a couple hardly sees each other when they are both successful.

How did Natalia Belitski and you meet?
In 2016, I portrayed a chef in the two-part film «Familie!» (Family!) who is married and has a small child, and Natalia played my assistant. But they did not only work together, they also had an affair.

Will you and your fiancée soon be seen together in front of the camera again?
I would very, very much like to produce a film with her. Possibly I might direct it. I am now 55 years old and would like to get involved in this way in the near future. I founded a production company for independent films with Matthias Glasner back in 1996.

You also act in commercials. The 2006 Sparkasse commercial looked like you wanted to try out how it feels to play James Bond…
(Laughs) I simply enjoy conveying advertising messages in an original way in interesting, funny films. Money, however, is not the decisive factor. I have to be able to support what I do and what kind of company it is.

You love leaving your comfort zone behind as an actor. Where do you do that in real life?
As a father, or in the martial arts I do, where you are nothing but who you are fundamentally and have to overcome your weaker self every time. So I don’t really make myself comfortable in my private life either, and that applies just as well to the work I do. Aybi Era, who plays Mavi, with whom Robert forms a team, and I often write text messages to each other in the evenings after shooting with suggestions regarding changes and ideas for dialogue.

In 1986 you moved to Berlin because people were not drafted into the German armed forces there. What put you off most about it?
I had just found my feet in acting and was afraid that I would be forgotten if I had to serve a year and a half in the armed forces. I also have some issues with authority. If I had been ordered to do something there that I couldn’t understand, I might have been sent to a prison.

How did it come about that you lived in Berlin for two years in a shared flat with the current «Tatort» police commissioner Richy Müller?
I met him at a shoot shortly before. Although he is 13 years older, we hit it off right away. He was also a great role model. Social dramas like “Die grosse Flatter”, where he played the lead role, had made a big impression on me.

Robert De Niro in «Taxi Driver» is also said to have been a major inspiration. You didn’t share a flat with him, did you?
No, unfortunately I did not! (Laughs) But I was able to shake his hand briefly when he presented me with the acting award for «Der freie Wille» (The Free Will) at his Tribeca Film Festival in New York in 2006.

Köpenick is far away from the chic and cosmopolitan parts of Berlin. What makes this neighbourhood exciting for «Jenseits der Spree»?
It’s a kind of neighbourhood that Berlin consists of as well, with a good mix of normal working class people and young creatives who appreciate the quality of life and the more affordable rent. And the neighbourhood has corners that have not been seen so often yet.

Köpenick has also become better known recently through the successes of FC Union. Are you a «Unioner»?
Let’s put it this way: I think the club is really great, really likeable! Our director, who is a fan, also once took us to one of the club evenings where we had a chat with the Unioners about their football and our series.

Urs Fischer, who was voted coach of the year, is from Zurich. Do you have a connection to Switzerland?
I have already shot several films in Switzerland, «Wachtmeister Zumbühl» (Constable Zumbühl) with Urs Odermatt and «Zornige Küsse» (Angry Kisses) with Judith Kennel. Rudolf Santschi is an excellent producer. But all that was a long time ago. So it would be about time for something to crop up again. Maybe I can influence it, if I work as a director.

Jürgen Vogel, an actor, was born in Hamburg on 29 April 1968. He made his breakthrough with Sönke Wortmann’s comedy film «Kleine Haie» (Little Sharks, 1992). Other milestones include «Das Leben ist eine Baustelle» (Life Is All You Get, German Film Award 1997), «Der freie Wille» (The Free Will, Silver Bear awarded at Berlinale 2006), «Die Welle» (The Wave, 2008) and the thriller series «Blochin» (2015). Vogel lives with his fiancée Natalia Belitski and their daughter in Berlin-Charlottenburg. He is currently to be seen on SRF 1 on Tuesdays at 8.05 pm and on ZDF on Fridays at 8.15 pm in the 3rd season of the crime series «Jenseits der Spree» (Across the Spree River).

Photos Copyrights: Stefan Klüter, ZDF/Oliver Feist

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Call Me Adam 26. June 2023

I sing like I kiss

Herbert Grönemeyer (66) holds the world up to a mirror in his new album “Das ist los” and tries to spread optimism despite all the calamities.

What reaction do you think is indicated?
I believe that time is running out and a lot of people need to wake up. We have languished very well in our comfort for a long time, but now the situation is so alarming that we have to realise that in many ways we can no longer continue in this way. So it is only legitimate to make demands and want changes.

What gives you reason to be optimistic?
If there is something positive to be taken from all the crises in recent years, it is that they have increased our awareness and made us so sensitive that certain things touch us more than before. It’s no longer so easy for us to quickly push things to the back of our mind

What are you thinking about?
The situation in Iran, which is actually far away and yet very present. Now that we have the images from the Ukraine conflict in front of our eyes every day, we can also imagine much more vividly how cruel the civil war in Syria was.

Hasn’t the climate crisis been somewhat forgotten due to the Ukraine war and the shortage of raw materials?
No, oddly enough it hasn’t, although there is a reflex that you can’t deal with everything all the time. It’s true that you need a break from time to time. However, the pandemic and inflation have made some things more visible, such as the fact that 13 million people in Germany are affected by poverty, i.e. one in six. For this reason, I founded a group with some friends with the intention of dealing with this topic.

How did the title song «Das ist los» come about?
My Welsh producer Alex Silva still speaks German relatively poorly, despite the fact that he has lived in Berlin for twenty years. That’s because he’s very charming and that’s why most people talk to him in English. When I call him and ask what’s going on with him, he always says, «Das ist, was ist los.» A translation of the phrase «That’s what’s happening.» He recorded
it himself, sings along too and contributed this guitar sound. From this we recorded this song in a studio in Sweden, in which we rattled off names and keywords at a rapid pace.

Do you want to add some lightness to the album with this number reminiscent of «Da Da Da»?
That’s right, the song is reminiscent of Trio and is musically a mixture of New German Wave and rock ‘n’ roll as well as a pastiche of the whole information frenzy. Like «Männer», where I am still seriously asked whether this song was about male psychology, «Das ist los» is above all a fun thing.

What does the dancing that appears in several songs mean to you?
For me it’s a way to forget. If you dance for an hour or two – or longer if you’re up to it – you have the chance to clear your head even at times like these. And since, as everyone knows, I’m also a great dancer on stage, I like to sing about it. Sometimes the word sneaks into the lyrics almost unnoticed, as in «Baby, you wanna dance» in «Herzhaft». I’ve already sung the line in the English version of «Bananen-Texte» and couldn’t find a suitable translation. It always sounded square.

Have you ever had any inhibitions when dancing?
No, never! When I was a teenager I often went to France and also played in bars there. Then the French taught me their rock ‘n’ roll, which they danced two-handedly and with incredible twists, spins and throws. When I demonstrated it at parties in Germany, I impressed people enormously. At the beginning of the 1970s, people not only went to a party every Saturday, but also stopped by at least two or three parties. Later – much to the chagrin of my bodyguards – for a while I went to techno parties after the concerts and danced to lower my adrenaline level.

Your dance moves on stage sometimes attract smiles …
Satirists Wiglaf Droste and Bela B. from Die Ärzte even made fun of me in a song: «Grönemeyer kann nicht tanzen». They had been at a concert in the 1980s, wondered who this guy was who danced so strangely and thought I was going to be really upset about the song, but I thought it was funny. People from the Ruhr area know no shame in this regard, since we are not considered to be very German in general and especially because of our funny language!

You never had a theme with your singing style, did you?
No, I’m completely uninhibited in this respect too, because it’s my personal expression. It always got on my nerves when producers wanted to tinker with my way of singing, even though I told them my role model was Bob Dylan, they didn’t understand a word of it. I said to myself: I sing like I sing and I kiss like I kiss. There are no judges either.

«Genie» is an invitation to dream big. Have you always done this or only due to a certain experience?
I felt early on that you have to be part of the action. I got recognition, for example, when I sang a song at my mother’s coffee morning and played my ukulele.

You sing about women not only as lovers, but also as heroines and rescuers. Are they the greatest hope left to mankind?

Their courage and energy are much needed at the moment, because the fight for equality and equal rights is far from over. With their female intelligence and way of thinking, but also their radicalism and militancy, which you can see in Iran right now, where the women are making an impression with their incredible courage and bravery despite death threats, they could succeed in getting the crises of this world under control.

How did the rather unusual love songs on this record come about?
The line «Manchmal left der Tau sich auf mich» in «Tau» describes the melancholy when you feel uneasy about being so happy because this feeling is almost too beautiful to last. «Tonne Blei» is about a selfish and obsessive relationship. «Urverlust» puts into words the pain you feel when, looking back, you realise that you made mistakes in the past that caused your life to take the wrong direction.

At 66, do you often take time out between record productions and tours, for example to holiday at your apartment in Celerina?
No, I could think about taking things a little easier, but I’m very restless and always creating new tasks for myself because otherwise I’m afraid I’ll stand still. In addition to theatre and music, I used to do sports. I still enjoy that, but then I had such a cough in Celerina that I just couldn’t make a sound.

Before a tour, you probably shouldn’t have been allowed to ski anyway for insurance reasons …
Exactly, because of this and because it is good fitness training, I actually wanted to do cross-country skiing. However, because of the cold I had I could only go for walks and enjoy the fresh air.

Fotocredits: Victor Pattyn

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Passion 16. November 2022

Mario Botta

The enthusiastic man of action

The top ticino architect, Mario Botta (79), on his new construction of the oldest thermal spa in Switzerland, the Fortyseven in Baden, and the frequent controversies about his architectural style.

When you turned 75, you said you would leave the large party until your 100th birthday. But then you celebrated the completion of Fortyseven?
Mario Botta: Yes, because I consider it to be an important project – a project of maturity, not of age! (Laughs) It is important because it is not just any building, but the seam that connects the historical city and the needs of today’s society on one side and the geographical city with the thermal springs, the river and the hill of Ennetbaden on the other side. That is the accomplishment. Not the handwriting or the language of the building.

Did you book a hotel room for a few days in the spa quarter before planning the project, to get a feel for the situation?
Of course, but the concept of the new thermal baths did not emerge from one day to the next, it was a gradual process. It came from far away and took a long time. Somehow I am also happy that the project dragged on for such a long time. Because I had the chance to learn so much, it developed into a present to the city. Which is fitting, as the river, the countryside and the 47 degree water are also a present from the earth.

How did the project change during the 13 years?
It was never a self-contained cube, but always a hand reaching into the Limmat and serving the city. The thermal baths should not take centre stage. Only the materials and colours, which refer back to the warm, steaming water and the environment, have changed and enriched the concept. It is extremely satisfying for me, as the architect, when an idea, a utopia, becomes reality in this way.

The shell construction gave rise to fears that the thermal baths could appear too bulky for this location, but the final design widely dispelled those fears.
The architect did not think it up! (Laughs) We told ourselves we would create something that picks up the colour of the hill, the vines, the trees and the water.

Which criteria do the materials have to fulfil?
We not only tested how resistant they are when the guests visit the thermal baths, but also relating to the erosion and corrosion from the mineral-rich thermal water. That proved complex. The stone was sourced from near Verona, the maple wood from Europe.

A musician once told me, after he had just delivered a new album to the record company, that the previous night had been the most difficult time for him because he was constantly thinking about how he could no longer do anything to improve his work. Do you understand this sentiment?
Definitely, that’s why we continued to change something right through to the last minute! (Laughs) I asked my colleague to remove several pieces of furniture indoors so the area would appear more spacious.

Are you someone who takes a bath or goes to the sauna?
Normally I don’t but I do think it is great when others can enjoy it. I get short of breath when I’m up to my ankles in water! (Laughs) But it is not really a prerequisite. I have also designed banks although I am not a banker, and churches although I am not a priest … The architect has to understand and correctly interpret those availing of the building.

What is in your opinion the greatest challenge of modern architecture?
The question is: What do people need and what damages them? What contribution can architecture make in our culture to provide a zest for life? In particular in these times of the corona virus, in which we also have to recognize the drastic consequences arising from climatic changes and that nature will not fix these unless we finally take action.

How ambitious are you to create buildings that endure for centuries?
For me it comes down to fulfilling the needs of the people and the location. It is neither my intention to warm up what other architects have done in the past nor to anticipate the future.

Has one of your buildings ever been demolished?
No, they are not old enough yet, although the rectory in my home village of Genestrerio, near Mendrisio, which I designed when I was 18, is already over 50 years old. But it has thick walls and is also in other respects very solidly built. It will certainly outlive me!

Your buildings often trigger controversial discussions. Is it your intention to provoke?
No, I never intend to provoke – I simply follow my intuition. Initially there were discussions about the Fortyseven but in the meantime I think I can claim that 90 percent of people are happy with it. At any rate I get a number of letters saying «Thank you for what you have created » or «The river finally belongs to the city ».

Where do the differences of opinion that your designs seem to trigger originate?
Architecture is difficult to sell to the public. It is not the same as a completed picture which you can judge. When it is built, it wants to be lived, day and night and every season. But it is true that a number of my buildings, in particular churches, have provoked strong reactions, but they are now on placards and attract tourists! It is a paradox: What was once damned is now revered.

But if a project is not discussed it is also uninteresting, isn’t that right?
Sure, no one would have talked about a normal building. But these thermal baths are not a banal construction. They come from far away and have their own story. Unfortunately politicians often lack the courage to give due consideration to heritage and culture. They avoid the risk. They accept that the cities are becoming increasingly more similar and uglier.

More and more high-rise buildings are being built because building land is scarce and expensive. Do you consider that a good idea?
No, compact building may be necessary, but I think that extreme vertical buildings inflict a force upon people. Why should I work in an office on the 200th floor, if I could also sit in the garden with my Notebook?

Then the home office is the solution for space problems?
Living should be linked to relaxation. When I am tired I want to go home because it is a place of love, family, community and the meeting of young and old – and not work. The pandemic was a temporary phenomenon that forced us to severely restrict personal contacts. The technical, virtual connection was supposed to be just a tool and not the goal.

Your three grown-up children all work in your architecture office. Why are you no longer sure that it was a good thing that they also studied architecture?
It is great for me, but for my daughter and both my sons? They certainly have the passion; however you need potential investors to realize major projects.

Did any ideas from your children flow into Fortyseven?
Not directly, we do discuss things together but decisions on which changes and corrections to make to my original plans are primarily made in conjunction with the project management during implementation. Architecture is always a collaboration.

The Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio, which you initiated and influenced, had its 25th birthday last year. Are other values taught there than at the ETH or EPFL
Yes, I believe that we have a different approach. A prospective architect today requires more education in the social sciences than in technology. The university has to deliver ideas and promote critical awareness. In this way they also employ professors who are not architects: philosophers, economists, historians and neurologists. In the other universities the technological approach is dominant, which is, of course, also important.

How do you find the name «Fortyseven» for thermal baths in German-speaking Switzerland, in which the ancient Romans bathed?
I find it beautiful. Sure, it is in English but the number is magic, as it does not designate the baths but the temperature of the water that comes from the earth.

Mario Botta was born on 1st April 1943 in Mendrisio. Following his apprenticeship as a structural draughtsman, he studied architecture in Venice and worked during his studies on the local new hospital building for Le Corbusier. The Ticino architect became self-employed in 1969 and developed his unique style, a mixture of simple, round and square geometric shapes and solid structures and materials. His most famous works in Switzerland include the churches in Mogno and on Monte Tamaro, the Banca del Gottardo in Lugano and the UBS and Tinguely Museum in Basel or the Centre Dürrenmatt in Neuchâtel. Last year both the spa thermal baths Fortyseven and the ice hockey arena for the HC Ambri-Piotta by Botta were opened.

Photos Copyrights: Enrico Cano, Mario Krupik, Pino Musi, Joel Lassiter

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Call Me Adam 22. July 2022

Ludovico Einaudi

An interview with the Italian composer

The Italian pianist and composer, Ludovico Einaudi (66), is the most streamed classic artist of all time. He fills auditoria and temples of pop with his music, which is partly of a meditative to lounge nature. ADAM THE MAGAZINE talked to him about the origins of his new album «Underwater».

Your music has a healing effect on our pandemic-troubled souls. We should be able to get «Underwater» on prescription …
Yes … (smiles), put it this way: there is an actual connection between this music and the situation we find ourselves in. The first pieces were written two years ago. I had just come back from giving concerts in Australia and Singapore, when the first signs of COVID-19 appeared in China, but no one thought yet that this virus could also come to us. Then it exploded here in northern Italy as well and the lockdown came. I actually only wanted to spend a week in our house in the mountains, but then the week turned into several months.

How did you spend this time?
It was as if all activities in the world had been stopped. I had never experienced this before, nobody had ever experienced it. If we factor out all the suffering, which many people experienced, the sudden tranquility and silence had a positive effect as well. There were almost no airplanes in the sky, air pollution was reduced and the fish returned to the lagoon in Venice. It was as if nature wanted to tell us to take everything a bit easier and not to stress the planet as much.

And did you obey?
During those days on which I had no responsibilities I began to sense the freedom and felt almost like a teenager, living one day at a time and only doing what I loved. I went for walks, then sat down at the piano, composed, recorded pieces … Everything ran smoothly, without pressure, without a defined objective. I actually did not want to make a new album.

But then?
I was doing everything out of pleasure and delight because I had unrestricted time. As no one knew when the pandemic would end I had the feeling of infinity. I began to write down several ideas on paper. I became particularly fond of the pieces because this music came to me without me having to look for it. Then I noticed that I wanted to share it with others.

«Underwater» is your first solo piano album in 20 years…
Yes, however I did not realize that in the beginning, as other albums include individual solo piano pieces. I love returning to this pure form, to the dialogue between pianist and instrument, which is both giving and taking. You influence the piano with your breathing and movement, the piano answers with the sound, which leads again to the pianist’s breathing. It is almost like playing the didgeridoo! (laughs)

What was the inspiration for the album title?
«Underwater» is synonymous with the sound that is not present in our everyday lives, in which the world pulsates and moves, but from a sphere in which everything is more round and muted. Under water you hear your own breathing, your pulse, and you perceive yourself differently.

What does the swan on the cover symbolize?
In ancient Greece it was a symbol for beauty and grace. Apollo, the God of poetry and music, considered the swan to be sacred. The swan also stands for depth and reminds you to follow your instinct – the flow of life.

Is it true that you took the photo yourself?
Yes, since I was 14 years-old photography, in particular with films, has been a great passion of mine. I have a small camera collection and love to take photos when I’m out walking or on tour. My concerts often begin with projections of pictures that I have taken.

How do your compositions develop?
The initial ideas come from improvisations, from an irrational rhapsodic impulse. Then I play the individual parts again and again, revise them, and sometimes write the notes by hand in my exercise books. The repetitive process slowly shapes the form of the pieces, until I am happy with them. After this first phase of stabilization other variations may appear when performing in front of an audience, which change the composition only for the evening or permanently. Interestingly, I never know when recording an album which pieces I will like to play most in the long run and which will be more popular. It varies extremely.

How would you describe your music philosophy?
I like it at concerts, also my own, when there is a certain detachment from the original recordings and an unenforced intensity. As if the music is playing by itself and is being driven by a constant energy. To be able to express all emotions that are important to me, joy, strength, melancholy and sorrow, I have to be able to immerse myself in the music and find inner peace, which I do not always manage.

Your music also inspires because you allow a lot of space for personal thoughts. What effect does it have, when you hear your recordings yourself?
I recognize the strengths and weaknesses immediately and think about whether I was able to express what I wanted.
I identify with the sound and sense whether this sound is speaking and conveying its full potential to the public. Of course, everyone is free to hear what they want to hear, but it is important to me that it is coherent.

What does it mean to you to be the most streamed, classical musician of all time?
I do not think about figures too much. However, the fact that an increasing number of people are listening to my music is an additional motivation to consistently improve my work and only to do it with complete conviction. The success does not change any part of my passion, objectives that I follow or the evaluation of my work. I am extremely critical of my own work and do not settle for anything but the best.

Ludovico Einaudi was born on 23 November, 1955 in Turin into an influential family. One grandfather was the Italian President, the other a composer and conductor, his father a publisher. Ludovico learned to play the piano at an early age, went to the conservatory and then began to write stage and film soundtracks and to present minimalistic solo piano programs, inspired by Philip Glass and Erik Satie. His most famous sound track is the music of the blockbuster «Intouchables». His current album «Underwater» (Universal Music) contains twelve meditative piano instrumental pieces.

Photos Copyrights: Ray Tarantino / Universal Music

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Call Me Adam 24. December 2021

Clueso

“It is extremely cool here.” Clueso checking in at “Hotel California”

Pop Star Clueso (41), who became famous to the broader public through his collaboratin with Udo Lindenberg and Die Fantastischen Vier, on his James Bond “Album”, formatting his hard disk, his view of Zurich and his affinity for chilling in the bath.

You refer to «Album» as the result of your ambition to create your own James Bond. Which actor was your favourite, before you arrived?
(Laughs) What I meant with that statement was that I wanted to make a musical Blockbuster, which – like a Bond film – provided something for every taste. I still think Sean Connery is the coolest of all Bonds. Roger Moore was also cool, but he always had a touch of the granddad «fondling» the girls. In the old Bond films there were also other things that would be seen as no-gos today.
«Flugmodus» and «37 Grad im Paradies», the first songs on the album, elevate the listener. «Hotel California», like the Eagles title of the same name, deals more with the dark side of the American dream.

Which are the action scenes and which the love scenes on «Album»?
I have to think about that one … «Leider Berlin» and «Flugmodus» provide the action. We just finished playing the largest live concert in Germany, 7000 people were there. Without masks. The 2G rule or the 3G rule? I never know which one is which. (Laughs) In any case I noticed there that the public go crazy for the songs. The love scenes begin with «Sehnsucht …». I think it is beautiful story when we can generate a feeling chatting on a App, although all senses are removed. But that’s how we fall in love in 2021. The most intense moment is «Alles zu seiner Zeit». I wrote the song myself but cannot say when it happened or how. I only needed twenty minutes to write the lyrics.

A lot of hits are written quickly …
That’s a fable but it is true! Afterwards I looked at the wall and thought: «Cool that I was there!» (Grins) Now when I sing that song, the public are all ears. I love that. It is the only elegiac ballad on the album. I think about the question «What would be if …», because in my profession I get to meet so many people. Any one of them could become my friend or girlfriend.

«Flugmodus» and «37 Grad im Paradies», the first songs on the album, elevate the listener. «Hotel California», like the Eagles title of the same name, deals more with the dark side of the American dream.
It corresponds to what I have experienced in the music business since I was 19 and got a record deal. I have been offered everything that exists in the line of narcotics and stimulants, also from people who probably thought:«Now I’m going to get Clüsen wasted!» (Laughs) Fortunately as a child I found tablets and ate them. Afterwards I felt so awful that I stayed away from everything, except for smoking pot and drinking alcohol. Now and then I have even planned to reformat the hard drive. But otherwise I have always kept myself in check.

Anything else could cost you your career, or more.
In principle, however, I find both fascinating: When someone burns out like Jim Morrison and when someone is in complete harmony with himself like Sting. In Los Angeles I came into the studio where twenty rappers were hanging out in the vocal booths and forty cough mixture bottles were on the table. The guys were barely able to respond. The song is mainly about the fact that, if you are hurting, for example at the end of a relationship, you need a little distraction. Then you check in at «Hotel California».

In «Punkt und Komma» you realise from a distance that your love story at home has reached the final chapter. In «Alles zu seiner Zeit» you sing that you have never written a love story that ends well». How do you deal with that?
I am on the road a lot and my first love is music. That is difficult for a start. But I understand that people are incredibly interested in what is happening in my private life. However, I try to protect it. I do not talk a lot about it, I prefer to process it in my songs. The best are mostly autobiographical, because personal narratives touch you the deepest. I also find relationships that do not work more interesting. When I’m making music I am extremely fond of melancholy!

You are giving a concert in the Volkshaus on 31st January 2022. How well do you know Zurich?
A little. I still have to be driven around. I gave my first concerts in Kaufleuten. We were very torn because we were such an alternative clique and had to come to terms with the trendy types from Zurich. Then we were shown the club scene, which surprised us Thuringians a little. That must have been 15 years ago at least. It is extremely cool here and at the end of my promotional tour I have arranged to extend my stay by two or three days so I can go for some walks at the lake. I need that as the past few months have been flat out.

How do you spend your free time otherwise?
When I see a bath in my hotel room, I have to get into it. Even in the morning! Then I switch on the old series such as «Star Trek»; I don’t even have to watch just enjoy the mood, or I play music. I also love to go into the sauna. I even had one built in the studio, because it’s embarrassing when people recognize me and shout «Cello». Or I take my guitar and drone on a bit. For nobody. Music gets lost in noth-
ing. Playing is pure relaxation.

Fotos: Sony Music

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Call Me Adam 28. May 2021

“Yellofier is one of my best friends”

For more or less forty years the meticulous studio perfectionist Boris Blank and the ingenious improvisation bohemian Dieter Meier have been guaranteeing electronic soundscapes with charm and charisma. Both Yello characters spoke with ADAM The Magazine about their first concerts, the collapse of capitalism and their current album “Point”.

You call your current album “Point”(full stop) – and not “Comma”. Are you making a full stop behind Yello’s career after 41 years?
Dieter Meier: No, I see it as The Point of Yello. Like a headlight, focused on Yello.
Boris Blank: Or The Point of no return. We have arrived at a point from which we can no longer return. It always goes forward.

How did you come up with the idea of “Point”?
Blank: We always have dozens of ideas for an album title. The selection is an extremely difficult process. It shouldn’t sound stupid and has to have a certain swing. Dieter called me from Buenos Aires and asked: “Boris, are you busy? I have a title for the album: Point Yello” (clicking his fingers). And I said: “That’s it. That’s the beat.” There are hot spots, middle points and meeting points – and now there is also the Yello point.

Is this unity typical for Yello?
Meier: We discuss a lot, but we are not mavericks, simply eager to find a consensus. In everything! Otherwise we could not have done what we do, for forty years.
Blank: If there is any friction, we use our experience to alleviate the situation early on. Ultimately we always agree on something that is amazing, that we both enjoy. It was like that in the old days, but maybe now we have also mellowed a little with age.

Is the clear division of responsibility in Yello an advantage?
Meier: It is the only way it can work. Boris loves to fiddle about in the studio for years and to work on fifty sound pictures at the same time. I have a lot of other things going on so I don’t have any problem with not hearing from him for maybe three and a half years. (smirks)

Are you not curious?
Meier: Yes, I am, but it is quite dangerous listening to and commenting on a work in progress, as it could make your partner insecure in his creative process in which he is advancing slowly on unknown territory. This is the reason why it’s a magic moment for me when I’m permitted to listen. Something that is also specific to us as a team is that in the past four years I have only spent roughly 6 weeks in the studio and Boris maybe 220 … That’s the small difference.

“Point” is the first album since Yello gave concerts. Did the live experience inspire you?
Blank: Not in any way! As Dieter already said I have dozens of half-finished pieces. They have been waiting for a long time to be animated or resurrected.

But you are supposed to have said that you would have given concerts earlier if you had known how much fun it is?
Blank: We gave the concerts now because we thought that we had to do it as long as we are still young. Yello is a young live band. We still have a lot to do. Maybe even a proper tour, not with small instruments on the stage, but offering an audiovisual 360 degree all-round experience. A lot of people said you don’t need to have that many musicians on the stage. It was enough if you are there. But I didn’t want a fake tour premiere like the Pet Shop Boys offered, with Chris Lowe pretending to play music on his laptop. The people should experience our brass players. I could also imagine other concepts.

That sounds very analytical and controlled. What emotions did you experience?
Blank: It took a very long time until Dieter was able to motivate a hermit like me to come out of his shell and dare to get up on –>
the stage. I feared that we might be pretending to be something we weren’t. At the first concert my knees were still trembling but then I sensed how good Dieter felt on the stage and how the people
liked us. I was extremely impressed by this positive energy.
Meier: When I used to go on the stage with my band Out of Chaos, the name said it all. At that time I had a lot more freedom. I could sing the chorus twice and the musicians reacted accordingly. In the case of Yello it’s all measured down to the tenth of a second. You cannot improvise, nothing is spontaneous. It has a certain allure, but I hope that we can be more spontaneous on the next tour. The Yellofier, the fantastic App that Boris invented which even makes it possible for laypeople to compose fascinating pieces, also inspires us.

How did the happy single “Waba Duba” emerge?
Blank: That was an example of using the Yellofier. It’s one of my best friends. I always have it with me. When I’m out with the dog in the forest I experiment with the vowels and record it straight away. I can use fun random generators. In “Out Of Sight” I recorded my wife, Patrizia, enthusing while cooking in the kitchen: “Che belle, belle, belle!”

Am I right in thinking that in“Waba Duba” there is a quote from “The Race”?
Blank: It’s not the first time I’ve heard that. The baritone saxophone is one of the most significant sounds in Yello’s repertoire. I often use it, because I like it a lot.

“Way Down” sounds unusually relaxed, with swing and funky at the same time …
Blank: Yes, the electro-reggae really has a lot of influences. I’m not sure why. When I sent Dieter the demo version, he thought we would only have to record his vocals as my voice alone is too weak. The texts are completely Dadaistic. What’s that line again? “Bring that beef back home”?
Meier: What are you singing there? “Bring that beat back home!”(they’re having fun)

The shimmering, hypnotic counterpart is “Insane”. A hymn to craziness?
(Both of them say that they don’t know which of the twelve songs I’m referring to)
Blank: Dieter doesn’t know what he is singing either. He has a wonderful way of describing it: “Inspiration comes to me and when the song has been recorded it leaves me again.”

How important are the yearning for true love and hot eroticism as the driving force for your musical works?
Meier: Where do you see eroticism?
In “Hot Pan” …
Blank: Ok.
Meier: Interesting. I never saw it like that
Blank: Do you have a psychiatrist? (they laugh)

The song has a pulsating rhythm and you sing about “hardcore” and “shakin’ my body upside down”. Is my imagination really overexagerrating?
Blank: Not at all. Sometimes the critics write – I don’t know, whether it’s women – what an erotic voice Dieter has. Someone even wrote you could get pregnant listening to his voice.
Meier: Is that true???

Did you never make music to impress a woman?
Meier: No, no, no! That was never our impetus and we also never had groupies

But both of you have longer relationships than the majority of stars in the music business. What is your “secret”?
Meier: Our wives have their own ideas and fulfil them themselves. Independence has to be guaranteed. When my wife and I see each other, we always have lots to talk about. The conversations are very enriching.

Do you want to take more time in the future to do things together with your partners?
Meier: I don’t. I develop things with other people, but I have endless time. Whatever I do, agriculturally or oenologically, is my pleasure. Therefore I don’t experience stress. And my wife has handed over the responsibility for her company enSoie to our three daughters and retreated almost entirely into her private life.

Would you, as a musical visionary, also venture a prognosis, at which “Point” of Corona we currently find ourselves and where the development will lead us?
Meier: I am convinced that the world – when the problem has been solved on a medical level, and that doesn’t seem to be sorcery – will revolve just like before. And that would not necessarily be a good thing. The capitalist madness will continue.
Blank: I hope not!
Meier: Neither do I, but the only purpose of the system is the profitability of assets. The combustion of oils and coals has severe consequences, the contamination of the seas and the reckless handling of animals. Then there are the billions of debt that the states have accumulated. A total collapse is imminent. But the system will only change when we cannot breathe any longer.

Yello was founded in 1979 by the avant-garde linguistic artist Dieter Meier (vocals) and the techno pioneers Boris Blank and Carlos Péron (synthesizer). The single “Bostich” gave the Zurich band a club hit even in New York. They began their most successful period as a duet with the fourth album “Stella” and the releases “Desire” and “Vicious Games”. At the end of the 80s they released their goose bump ballad “The Rhythm Divine” with guest singer, Shirley Bassey, and the iconographic “The Race”. Yello only began to give concerts in 2016 as the sound tinkerer, Blank, doubted for a long time that his music could be reproduced adequately live. The current album “Point” bears the unmistakable signature of both techno legends. The songs are unconventional and the sound is brilliant.

Photos Copyrights: Universal Music

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Adam 13. November 2020

Pasquale Aleardi

Multitalent & Dreamer
Zurich all-rounder performs in clubs and on Broadway

Pasquale Aleardi (48) expresses his passion for acting and music to the fullest. He personifies Kommissar Dupin in the tv series of the same name, tours with the band Die Phonauten through clubs and is one of the main actors in the first Cirque-du-soleil-Musical “Paramour”.

Multitalent Pasquale Aleardi is in his home town of Zurich as he intended to stage two concerts in Switzerland while touring with his band, die Phonauten, diffusing good vibes through funk, soul and pop. As the concerts had to be postponed due to one of his fellow musicians coming down with pneumonia, he, his wife Petra Auer (35) and their sons Leonardo (3) and Armando (1) took the opportunity to visit relatives and friends. The couple first met at their home of choice, Berlin, where she and he had moved to pursue their acting careers.

«At a birthday party I heard a woman speaking with a Grisons accent which immediately grabbed my attention as I have a thing for that accent », he recalls. «Ultimately her appearance and her kind aura bowled me over.» Since they have become parents, Auer has taken a step back from acting, enabling Aleardi to continue to follow his diverse talents successfully and to provide for his family. As his father was born in Italy, his mother in Greece and he works for the most part in Germany, only few of his followers will be aware that this protagonist is actually Swiss.

Aleardi never considered getting into the immigrant family business of trade and production of culinary specialities. «As a boy I was fascinated by the fact that there were people who made themselves small and could slip into the TV», he explains how he began to get enthusiastic about acting. «And later I wanted to be like «Starsky & Hutch» driving around in a police car all day!» He began to play the piano at the age of 11, later he took up school theatre and finally completed his studies at the Academy of Theatre in Zurich.

After earning his spurs in German theatres and playing in cinema and TV productions alongside stars such as Til  Schweiger, Heike Makatsch and Veronica Ferres and being co-pilot in the Swissair drama «Grounding», Aleardi started to get major, leading roles in particular since the series «Schicksalsjahre» (2011, with Maria Furtwängler). The series «Kommissar Dupin» is based on crime thriller bestsellers about the eccentric Inspector Dupin and has already been sold to over 40 countries while boosting tourism figures in Brittany. Aleardi received the Swiss Television Film Award for his role as the leader of the tunnel builders in the co-production «Gotthard». And in the film version of Udo Jürgen’s musical «Ich war noch niemals in New York» he joins a high-ranking cast to play the gay ship’s magician, Costa.

Aleardi made it big as a musical actor as early as 2015, when he was asked to sing in English on Broadway as the lawyer Billy Flynn, following just one season of «Chicago» in Stuttgart. It was clear to him then: simply unbeatable. However, something else was to turn up that would mean even more to him on an emotional level. «The first time I saw a Cirque Du Soleil show live at the beginning of the nineties in Paris, it aroused a crazy dream inside me to take part in it myself one day, although I have absolutely no artistic talent », reveals Aleardi with a grin. And indeed, at the end of 2018 he was asked to play the main role as the director AJ Golden in the first European Cirque Du Soleil musical production «Paramour». «It is so spectacular on a musical, dance and artistic level that I am going to extend my stay in Hamburg by two months in the spring.»

His family, who generally accompany him, will presumably move with him to the next Dupin filming. It is no big deal for them anymore. «We have become highly efficient and only take the essentials with us», emphasises Aleardi proudly. «Three suitcases. It’s liberating!»