Draga Balena
Draga Balena (born September 12, 1947 in Vienna ; bourgeois Draga Hoffmann-Balenović , also Draga Baleno or Sonja Goldberg ) is an Austrian composer, singer and lyricist.
Life
Draga Balena was born into a family of artists, her parents are both dancers. Following the numerous commitments of her parents, she already traveled to Europe and North Africa as a child, with alternating school visits. The parents noticed her musical talent early on and, after settling down in Wiesbaden, they emphatically promote the musical education of their daughter. At the age of 13 she began private singing and piano studies, ranging from classical to jazz. This is followed by five years of training in harmony and composition with the composer Hans Kracke (lecturer at the Dr Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt / Main).
In the early 1960s, the mother and Draga and the older daughter Frigga formed a vocal ensemble in the style of the Andrews Sisters : Draga & The Chrisberts . The father acts as a manager. During one of the performances, the trumpeter Roy Etzel became aware of the formation and made initial contact with the successful producer Heinz Gietz . Three single records are made, initially as a group, then with Draga as the solo artist. Her first own compositions also fall into this phase. Her early and well-founded training quickly paves Draga Balena's way into the media. The broadcast editors in particular appreciate their versatility and are constantly involved in the numerous public events that were produced at that time, as well as in radio studio productions. There was collaboration with many well-known orchestral conductors from the 1960s / 70s, primarily with Kurt Edelhagen , Rolf-Hans Müller , Paul Kuhn and Erwin Lehn . In the then SDR entertainment director Wolfram Röhrig , Draga Balena found a sponsor who enabled her to spread her music and who supported her in developing her own style. In the summer of 1969 she hired Belgian television to participate in a live show called "Eté 69". The big band from Francis Bay will frame their singing and piano performance in the seaside resort casino in Knokke .
A change of producer and label at the beginning of the 1970s also resulted in a name change. Several singles and a first album are released under the pseudonym Sonja Goldberg . The title “There are no more cornflowers” took first place over several weeks in the “German Schlagerlotto” broadcast by Hessischer Rundfunk. From 1973 Draga Balena traveled as Sonja Goldberg in German-speaking countries with her own solo program “One Voice ~ a Piano”, in which she attracted attention with her literary setting of Rainer Maria Rilke's “Autumn Day”. She guest with it u. a. in the "Berliner Theater an der Lietzenburger" with the "Wühlmäusen". In the same year she took part in the chanson festival “Golden Orpheus” in Bulgaria and a year later at the Austrian hit festival “Musica '74”, where she came 4th.
After a brief interlude as one half of the female pop duo Chinchilla in the late 1970s, Draga Balena began to increasingly make her talent available as an accompanying voice for prominent colleagues in the early 1980s. The opportunity to do this is offered by the background singing group Made In Berlin, founded by Willy Hoffmann . The group is quickly drawn in by well-known stars for record productions, tours and shows. The voices of the choir members are u. a. Mentioned by name on albums by Udo Jürgens, Roland Kaiser and Harald Juhnke. In 1987 they accompanied the RIAS dance orchestra under the direction of Horst Jankowski to a concert by Caterina Valente and Eugen Cicero that took place in the legendary “Hollywood Bowl” in Los Angeles. In 1988 the CD “Café d'amour” is released, an ambitious project in which the formation strikes a musical arc from the classic pop revergreens of the 1930s to current compositions. The following years stand for Draga Balena's participation in numerous animation dubbing works, such as B. “Dumbo”, “Arielle”, “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King”.
In the mid-1990s, Draga Balena began to think more and more about her singing solo ambitions and her compositional skills. Since then, albums have been released at irregular intervals on which she presents herself almost exclusively with her own songs and lyrics. Musically she moves within the most diverse styles. The album “Lyraton”, released in 2010, contains twelve poems by famous masters of the classical and romantic periods. It was released as a piano album (Zweiklang-Verlag) and as a sung CD.
Draga Balena was married to the composer and arranger Willy Hoffmann, who died in June 2016, since December 1983.
Discography (selection)
Singles
- Don't look for me where the sun shines / Baby bye-oh, Draga Baleno (1965), Columbia C 23 166
- You have to experience love first / I don't need a house, I don't need any money, Sonja Goldberg, Aronda si-as 5,047
- Your love dries my tears / I have your word, Sonja Goldberg, Aronda si-as 5,053
- There are no more cornflowers / A house for both of us, Sonja Goldberg (1974), Aronda si-as 5,056
- I don't mind / Casimir's wire piano , Sonja Goldberg, Aronda si-as 5,061
- Among the temples by the sea / Mañana, amigo mañana, Sonja Goldberg, Aronda si-as 5,063
Vinyl album
- Sonja Goldberg (1974), Aronda RL 2207
CD
- Café d'amour, Made In Berlin (1988), Monopol 572,350 93 CH
- Come sit down with me, Draga Balena (1997), Monopoly 809.37193
- Nur You, Draga Balena (2002), Pumpkin Pie Records
- Do It Yourself Woman, Draga Balena (2009), Pumpkin Pie Records
- Lyraton, poems of classical and romantic music set to music (2010), Draga Balena, Pumpkin Pie Records
Radio productions (selection)
- 1974 So tired with happiness (as Sonja Goldberg, duet with Paul Kuhn)
- 1982 I'm Old Fashioned from the film You Were Never Lovelier / You were never more enchanting (as Draga Balena, duet with Georges Pilloud = Rec Demont)
Frequent collaborations
- BR Munich (Orchestra Frank Pleyer )
- HR Frankfurt (Orchestra Heinz Schönberger )
- NDR Hamburg (Harbor Concert Orchestra Hans Freese)
- RB Bremen (Orchestra Cornelius op den Zieken & Erich Stasik)
- RIAS Berlin (Orchestra Helmuth Brandenburg )
- SDR Stuttgart (Erwin Lehn & his Südfunk-Tanzorchester)
- SFB Berlin (Paul Kuhn Orchestra)
Sheet music albums
- Weiperfeldener Lieder (1999), self-publication
- 3 Jazz Themes (2000), Zweiklang-Verlag ZV 0.077
- Viennese sketches (2004), Zweiklang-Verlag ZV 0.105
- Lyraton (2006), Zweiklang-Verlag ZV 0.112
- Festival songs, throughout the year (2007), Zweiklang-Verlag ZV 0.145
- Spanish Impressions (2007), Zweiklang-Verlag ZV 0.088
- Romantic Songs Vol. 1 (2009), self-publication
- Romantic Songs Vol. 2 (2009), self-publication
- Songs of Nature (2014), Zweiklang-Verlag ZV 0.241
- Piano pour l'après-midi (2017), Zweiklang-Verlag ZV 0.252
literature
- Schlager in Germany, edited by Siegmund Helms. Published by Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden (1972)
- Ricarda Huch bibliography by Michael Meyer. Edition Praesens, Vienna (2005), page 408
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zweiklang-Verlag: biographical information on Balena, Draga
- ^ "Künstler-Express", music information from "Gruner & Jahr", special edition "Sonja Goldberg" from June 1974
- ↑ a b "Rex Records" information for press, radio & television; Special edition "Sonja Goldberg" from June 1973, Paradeisstr. 51, Weilheim
- ^ "Schlager in Deutschland", published by Siegmund Helms, publisher: Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden (1972)
- ↑ "HörZu", issue No. 35/1975, program page from September 3, 1975
- ^ "Linzer Rundschau", issue No. 8/1974; Article: "Show window: Sonja Goldberg"
- ^ "Der Tagesspiegel" (Feuilleton), edition of August 28, 1973: "Songwriters from Vienna"
- ↑ Accompanying & program booklet for "RIAS-Parade '88"
Web links
- Works by and about Draga Balena in the catalog of the German National Library
- Draga Balena's website
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Balena, Draga |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hoffmann-Balenović, Draga; Baleno, Draga; Goldberg, Sonja |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian composer, singer and lyricist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 12, 1947 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna |