Diana Show Quartet

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The Diana Show Quartet was founded in 1963 by Achim Mentzel (melody guitar, vocals) and Dieter Hesse (drums) in East Berlin and belonged to the early beat generation in the German Democratic Republic .

Band history

Jörg Schenkel (rhythm guitar) and Dieter Schwarz (bass guitar, piano, vocals) also played in the original band, which was initially called the Dieter Hesse Quartet . Both were training to become radio and television mechanics and were indispensable for the young band. With a talent for improvisation and manual skills, the equipment usually had to be built by yourself. The GDR technology did not meet the requirements and "Western technology" was traded at unaffordable prices after the construction of the Berlin Wall . After Hesse left the band, Wolfgang Ruhl was on the drums. When the bassist Jörg Speiche Schütze joined the band at the beginning of 1965 , who was arrested a little later during a performance for a planned escape from the GDR , the band was briefly called Diana Show Quintett . In 1964 the guitarist Jörg Schenkel had to join the army. He was replaced by Alfred Ansin.

The Diana Show Quartet belonged to the top bands of the GDR beat scene alongside the Butlers from Leipzig as well as the Sputniks and the Franke Echo Quintet from East Berlin. The appearances of these bands, whose repertoire mainly consisted of re-enacted titles from international stars, caused a cultural revolution in the everyday lives of young people. Over time, the young bands specialized in copying their western idols. The Diana Show Quartet preferred the harder pace of the Rolling Stones . The initially rather staid stage show soon gave way to an explosive show with almost acrobatic interludes. The Diana Show Quartet had a reputation for being the craziest band. The name of the band said it was program. The goddess of the hunt was meant to express audacity and ferocity. The band's domicile was in the youth club “Friendship” in Berlin-Friedrichshain . The hard core of the fan base met regularly at the Berlin-Lichtenberg train station . From there they moved to the club on Fredersdorfer Straße and regularly caused a stir. Quite often there were brawls among the audience, which the band was blamed for and brought them to the displeasure of the GDR authorities.

After the events in Berlin's Waldbühne and on Leipzig's Leuschner-Platz in autumn 1965, the restrictions against the band, which had a particularly negative image in the eyes of party and cultural officials, increased. When in the course of 1966 some of the musicians were deliberately drafted into military service in the NVA , this meant the end of the band. Some band members later successfully continued their career as rock musicians, for example Mentzel with Fritzens Dampferband . Jörg Schenkel founded the Joco Dev Quartet in 1965/66 , expanded to the Joco Dev Sextet in 1967.

Sagittarius migrated to the blues and belonged to Monokel until the 1990s .

See also

literature

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