Rainbow (ribbon)

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Pharaoh
General information
Genre (s) Rock , hard rock , heavy metal
founding 1977 as a rainbow,
1986 as a pharaoh , 2006
resolution 1991
Website www.pharao-rockband.de
Founding members
Lutz Brauer
Detlef Brauer
singing
 Ralf Bursy
Keyboard , vocals
 Christian way
Bass , vocals
 Wolfgang Hoffmann
Current occupation
singing
 Jacky Lee Man (Reinhard Lehmann)
guitar
 TR Yorg
bass
 Steven Floyd
Drums
 Lars Thomas

Rainbow was a rock band from East Berlin that was founded in May 1977. After several changes in line-up, she called herself Pharao in 1986 and developed into an important heavy metal band in the German Democratic Republic .

history

The band was founded in May 1977 as an amateur band and emerged from a school band that mainly played songs by Uriah Heep and Deep Purple .

Just a few weeks after it was founded, it was awarded the "special level" rating. Appearances at the Berlin-Knüller event in the Palace of the Republic and other major events made rainbow known. At the beginning of 1978 the band's first own titles ( imagined , dreams , mirror image , the old man ) were produced on the radio .

In 1979, Rainbow achieved the first hit with the title You make me in love . In the same year Ralf "Bummi" Bursy left the band, who had shaped the style significantly. From then on, Bursy played with Keks and from 1982 with Prinzip . A short time later he brought rainbow guitarist Detlef Brauer to Keks. When the bassist also left and went to Berluc , there was a short musical break. In the same year, band leader Lutz Brauer reformed the band and from then on they played with the following line-up: Lutz Brauer (drums), Ralf Imme (vocals), Jörg Powileit (guitar), Andreas Andy Schwendemann (guitar) and Robert Hanke (bass). In 1984 the band hit the charts with their title Eiskalt and immediately reached number 2 on the Beatkiste of Voice of the GDR .

In the same year, Regenbogen merged with the band Countdown, founded by Reinhard Lehmann, Michael Jurischk and Franky Miller. At the end of 1985 Schwendemann left the band and switched to Mephisto . The change in musical style caused the members to change their name in 1986. Under the name Pharao, the band developed into one of the most popular heavy metal bands in the GDR. At the beginning of 1987 only the Countdown founders remained in the band. Detlef Dutziak (bass) and Michael Sündermann (guitar) from Formula I were newcomers . The GDR youth broadcaster DT64 recorded the first live concert of the new band in full, which was a novelty in the rock history of the GDR. The high point in the band's history was a joint concert in February 1988 with Uriah Heep in East Berlin's Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle . When the band had increasing difficulties with the GDR cultural officials because of their German-language lyrics, it was decided to only sing in English. This in turn meant that it was avoided by the GDR media . But because of the frequent live performances and a tour through Eastern Europe , the band remained a crowd favorite with hard rock fans.

Finally, Reinhard Lehmann left the GDR in 1989 and went to Stuttgart . After the fall of the Berlin Wall , the other band members followed him and the band was finally able to release their first album in 1990. Due to legal difficulties with the record company and the resulting financial problems, Pharao was dissolved in 1991. The band returned in 2006 at the Wacken Open Air (WOA). In 2007 the band played again on the WOA and released the best-of double CD Anthology 2006–1986 and went on tour with the British band Saxon . In 2010 the album Road to Nowhere was released by SAOL, with guests such as Biff Byford, Paul Quinn (Saxon) and Tom Angelripper ( Sodom ).

Characteristic

Rainbow initially addressed a predominantly young audience with her song-like, melodic rock and a specially rehearsed stage show. After the band was reshuffled in 1979, the sound became increasingly harder and, alongside Formula I and Biest , Regenbogen made a name for itself as an important hard rock band in the GDR.

Discography (as Pharaoh )

  • 1990: Bad Boys from East (album)
  • 2001: Virus X (EP)
  • 2007: Anthology (double CD)
  • 2010: Road to Nowhere (album)

literature

  • Götz Hintze: Rock Lexicon of the GDR . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-89602-303-9 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Interview with "Bummi" Bursy ( Memento from April 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Friedrich: Regenbogen In: Melodie und Rhythmus , Berlin (East), Issue 9/1978
  3. ↑ ostbeat. de ( Memento from May 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ ostbeat. de ( Memento from January 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive )