Dirk Schmalenbach

Dirk Schmalenbach

Dirk Schmalenbach (born September 8, 1950 in Lüdenscheid ) is a German musician and composer and has been active in the evangelical music scene as an arranger , music producer and sound engineer since the 1970s .

Life

Dirk Schmalenbach received his first violin lessons at the age of eight and from 1965 took private lessons in music theory, ear training and the piano. From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s he played in various school orchestras. Together with Michael Goedecke (viola) and Dietmar Spallek (violoncello) he founded a string trio at the end of the sixties, but also played in a rock band called The Starfighters . After graduating from high school in 1969, he studied violin and piano at the Cologne University of Music . He remained loyal to his band. In 1972 the group moved together as a commune in an old farm in Eininghausen and renamed themselves the Taras-Bulba-Clan - after the novel by Nikolai W. Gogol . The first letters TBC were later changed to a different name: Inspired by the Jesus People movement, the band became Truth By Christ .

After tensions within the municipality, mainly due to religious differences, became too great, Dirk Schmalenbach decided to move out together with the more conservative part of the group. Initially distanced from music, they opened a therapy center for drug addicts in the former Christian Hospice Wiedenhof in 1975 as the Free Christian Youth Community in Lüdenscheid . Also here in 1977, after the former band members had mostly reconciled, then Eden was founded. One of the first Christian rock bands on the German Christian music scene. This was followed by collaborations with well-known Christian youth organizations such as Youth with a Mission , established Christian artists such as Siegfried Fietz and three albums of their own. After the Eden Band broke up, Dirk Schmalenbach produced the album Bilder aus Mittelerde with music friends like Johannes Nitsch and Dieter Falk as Yavanna in 1984 , which dealt with the thoughts of the English linguist and writer JRR Tolkien and his book The Silmarillion .

Dirk Schmalenbach has also had his own recording studio in Lüdenscheid since the late 1970s. Numerous recordings were made here and all the greats of the then still young Christian music scene in Germany met. In 1979 , Dirk Schmalenbach produced his first LP for Ruthild Eicker and Cornelia Eicker, Es ist ein gute Weg . In the following years, numerous other artists such as Helmut Jost , Damaris Joy , Dieter Falk , Johannes Nitsch , Klaus Heizmann , Hella Heizmann , Hans-Werner Scharnowski , Manfred Siebald or Lothar Kosse worked with Schmalenbach in the Eden recording studio . However, after the Eden Band broke up and technology progressed, the recording studio became less and less profitable. For this reason Schmalenbach sold it after completion of the work on images of Middle-earth to Youth With a Mission . Now an independent musician, he toured from 1985 to 1987 as keyboard player with Siegfried Fietz to over 200 concerts.

From 1987 to 1991 Schmalenbach worked as a sound engineer in the recording studio of the Wersi company in Halsenbach, among others with Ivan Rebroff , Inge Brück , Franz Lambert , Dieter Falk and the Original Kapelle Egerland .

In 1992 he married his second wife Gertrud Schöbel. A new job began together. Gertrud Schmalenbach , who had previously written texts for musicals by Hella Heizmann and Siegfried Fietz , now introduced her husband to family-oriented music. With their children's choir Eden Kids as well as an age-independent group, also named after Eden , Gertrud and Dirk Schmalenbach presented numerous concepts from musicals to song collections to radio plays . With Eden , the couple also won numerous competitions and became known internationally through performances and productions. The song “For every child” had to be translated into English in 2002 for the International Children's Parliament of the World in Finland . It has served as the organization's anthem ever since.

Successes (selection)

• 1999 Appearance “Always on Sundays” with Max Schautzer - ARD
• 1999 1st place Lindenstrasse song competition - Geißendörfer film production
• 2000 Nominee "A SONG FOR PEACE IN THE WORLD", SMT Production, Rome
• 2002 For Every Child, anthem of the International Children's Parliament of the World, Finland
• 2002 Performance "ZDF Sunday Concert" - ZDF
• 2002 3rd place "International Pop Trophy" - VDM
• 2005 30 years of Europapark Rust - musical design
• 2005 60 years CDU Hessen - musical design
• 2009 Heino live Germany tour "The Heavens Boast" - Arrangements

Discography

The following list provides information about the publication chronology of Dirk Schmalenbach and his affiliated artists. Working as arranger , producer or musician in productions by single artists is not mentioned.

solo

Solo instrumental albums on the violin.

year	title	Artist	Label	Remarks
2001	Fantastic melodies	Dirk Schmalenbach	Gerth media	feat. Eden
2004	Melody magic	Dirk Schmalenbach	Gerth media

Collaborations

year	title	Collaborators	Label
1984	Inner Fire	Dirk Schmalenbach; Siegfried Fietz	abacus

Eden and Yavanna

year	title	Artist	Label
1978	Expectation	Eden	Gerth media
1979	Perelandra	Eden	Gerth media
1980	Homecoming	Eden	Gerth media
1984	Images from Middle-earth	Yavanna	Gerth media

Youth with a Mission

year	title	Artist	Label
????	For who is God ... except the Lord	Youth with a Mission

Eden Kids

year	title	Artist	Label	Remarks
1994	As if the stars were singing	Eden Kids *	Gerth media	* Designation when initially published under: "S & G-Studiokinderchor" under the direction of Bettina Alms
1996	Kindergarten hits for kindergarten kids	Eden Kids	Gerth media
1996	Kids	Eden Kids	Gerth media
1996	The evening wind sings softly	Eden Kids	Gerth media
1998	When the moon is in the sky	Eden Kids	Gerth media
2004	SMS: Super hands-on songs	Eden Kids	Gerth media
2005	Extra strong	Eden Kids	Gerth media
2008	Pacifier alarm	Eden Kids	SCM Hänssler
2008	Polar Bear & Co.	Eden Kids	SCM Hänssler

Eden

year	title	Artist	Label
1999	Peace on Earth	Eden	Gerth media
2000	Into the light	Eden	Gerth media
2000	Autumn tones	Eden	Gerth media
2002	Go out my heart	Eden	Gerth media
2003	Heaven on earth	Eden	Gerth media

Concepts

year	title	Performers	Label	Remarks
1994	Fridolin and the Animal School A musical radio play	Eden Kids	Gerth media	Edwin Donnabauer (music, lyrics and narration ); Bettina von Bracken (music); Roland von Siebenthal (speaker texts); Gertrud Schmalenbach (German lyrics, rap lyrics)
1994	Local appointment musical	Point blank	Gerth media	Dirk Schmalenbach (music); Stefan Weyel (music); Helmut Jost (music); Siegfried Fietz (music); Gertrud Schmalenbach (text)
1997	The Roman musical is astonished	Eden Kids	Gerth media	Dirk Schmalenbach (music); Gertrud Schmalenbach (text)
2001	The Night of Presents Christmas Musical	Eden	Gerth media	Dirk Schmalenbach (music); Gertrud Schmalenbach (text)
2006	Nikolaus, Bishop of Myra Musical for young people	Eden	Gerth media	Dirk Schmalenbach (music); Gertrud Schmalenbach (text)
2007	Jesus and the children radio play musical	Eden	Gerth media	Dirk Schmalenbach (music); Gertrud Schmalenbach (text)

Children's mini musical

year	title	Artist	Label
1998	I am with you	Eden Kids	Gerth media
1999	Jericho	Eden Kids	Gerth media
2001	John the Baptist	Eden	Gerth media
2003	Emmaus	Eden	Gerth media
2004	Bartimaeus	Eden	Gerth media
2006	We celebrate Thanksgiving	Eden	Gerth media

Krabbel Babbel songs

year	title	Artist	Label	Remarks
1994	Zip zap, diaper off	Eden Kids	Gerth Media 939,693
1995	Ding dong	Eden Kids	Gerth Media 939.701
1996	Woof woof	Eden Kids	Gerth Media 939,708	Re-edition 2007 under the title Zip, zap - Windel from 2
1997	Ring, bell, ring	Eden Kids	Gerth Media 939.723	Reprinted in 2009 under the title Tip, tap - It's off to Christmas
1998	Tatu Tata	Eden Kids	Gerth Media 939.729	Supplementary edition 2009 under the title Tip, tap - now it goes from 2
1999	Dideldum	Eden Kids	Gerth Media 939,735
2000	Splish Splash	Eden Kids *	Gerth Media 939.741	Followed up in 2008 under the title Tip, tap - now it's off ; * Designation at initial publication: "Plitsch-Platsch-Chor"
2001	Bim Bam	Eden Kids	Gerth Media 939,750	* Designation when initially published: "Bim-Bam-Chor"

Crawling Babbel Adventure

year	title	episode	Contributors	Label
2002	Good Morning	1	Eden Kids (Babbel Bear Choir); Andreas Auel (Büdel); Judith Auel (Buudi); Mia Schmalenbach (Bibi); Uwe Hammer (Bautz)	Gerth media
2002	That tastes great	2
2002	Above and below	3
2002	Now listen	4th

Compilations

year	title	Artist	Label
2000	The most beautiful kindergarten hits	Eden Kids	Gerth media
2003	Goodnight My sweetheart	Eden Kids	Gerth media
2004	Christmas wonderland	Eden Kids; Eden	Gerth media
2006	To honor the day	Eden Kids; Eden	Gerth media
2007	The best of 10 years	Eden Kids; Eden	Gerth media

Web links

• Works by and about Dirk Schmalenbach in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.fcjg.de/ Free Christian Youth Community Lüdenscheid
2. ↑ http://www.edenstory.de/Die_Story.html