The battle for the South Pole

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The Battle for the South Pole is a 1976 song by the band Stern-Combo Meißen . It is about the race of researchers Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott to the South Pole . Kurt Demmler wrote the text, all band members are listed as composers. The piece can be assigned to art rock .

history

In 1976, a radio production of the song with producer Walter Cikan was made. It was recorded by Martin Schreier (drums), Bernd Fiedler (electric bass), Norbert Jäger (percussion), Thomas Kurzhals (keyboard), Reinhard Fißler (vocals) and Lothar Kramer (keyboard). The battle for the South Pole achieved first places in rating programs and 15th place in the GDR annual hit parade in 1976 and marked the breakthrough for the star combo Meißen. However, the production was not released on record. In 1977 the title appeared in an on 20./21. May 1977 version recorded live in Nünchritz on the debut album Stern-Combo Meißen. Kramer, who had been drafted for military service, was absent from the concert in Nünchritz . Peter Werneburg played for him.

The song appeared on numerous compilations after the fall of the Wall .

description

The radio version of the song lasts 7:00 minutes, the album version around eight and a half minutes. The text deals with Robert Scott's unsuccessful attempt to reach the South Pole first and warns against addiction to fame. The idea for the text came from the band, who had also read Stefan Zweig's eponymous chapter in great moments of mankind with a description of the race. Kurt Demmler, well-known lyricist in the GDR, implemented the idea. The entire band was responsible for the composition. Lothar Kramer wrote the harmonies, Martin Schreier the bass lines, Reinhard Fißler wrote the vocal part and Thomas Kurzhals was responsible for the wind noise that can be heard at the beginning of the song. To the sound of a noise generator , Norbert Jäger shook an aluminum sheet to which a small microphone was attached. Its recording was directed through a phaser .

The piece is inspired by Motown music and the music of Emerson, Lake & Palmer . The principle of Motown music with a few, recurring elements is used here: with a bass figure that also appears in Papa Was a Rolling Stone from the Temptations , a drum rhythm, the electric guitar with wah-wah effect and a violin-like synthesizer motif.

The piece begins in C minor and has shifts to D flat major . A refrain is missing. At the beginning and at the end, some stanzas are sung that contain the moral of the text.

reception

The LP sold several hundred thousand times.

Outputs (without compilations)

album

  • 1977: Star combo Meißen (Amiga)

literature

  • Jürgen Balitzki: Electra. Lift. Star combo Meißen: Stories from the Saxon threesome. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 978-3-89602-323-0 , pp. 252-258.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Jürgen Balitzki: Electra. Lift. Star combo Meißen: Stories from the Saxon threesome. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 978-3-89602-323-0 , p. 252.
  2. ↑ Jürgen Balitzki: Electra. Lift. Star combo Meißen: Stories from the Saxon threesome. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 978-3-89602-323-0 , p. 262
  3. ↑ a b c Jürgen Balitzki: Electra. Lift. Star combo Meißen: Stories from the Saxon threesome. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 978-3-89602-323-0 , p. 257
  4. ↑ Jürgen Balitzki: Electra. Lift. Star combo Meißen: Stories from the Saxon threesome. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 978-3-89602-323-0 , p. 253
  5. ↑ Interview with Martin Schreier at deutsche-mugge.de , accessed on July 10, 2013