Werner Sellhorn

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Werner "Josh" Sellhorn (born November 16, 1930 in Hamburg ; † May 17, 2009 in Berlin ) was a German lecturer and musicologist . He got his nickname because of his enthusiasm for the American blues singer Josh White .

Life

In the 1950s Sellhorn was the first GDR citizen to give public lectures on jazz, organize jazz events, co-found jazz clubs and defend jazz as the music of the oppressed class - against the party's official view that this music was American unculture and stand in contrast to socialist entertainment. That earned him a lot of distrust. After studying history and philosophy at the Humboldt University in Berlin , he had to "prove himself in production" in 1958 - a common punitive measure in the GDR - because he was due to a lack of party discipline and his (cultural) political divergent views from the SED had been excluded. During this time he was recruited by the Ministry for State Security (MfS) as a "social informant" (GI) and was primarily supposed to assess stage performances by various artists and jazz concerts, for example in West Berlin , which he also did in writing. Due to its unreliability, especially in political assessments, both sides agreed to break off contact in 1963. A prospective re-entry into the SED never took place. When jazz was allowed to be played on the radio again a few years later, he did not get a job there.

After his probationary period, he worked as a freelance lecturer and later as an editor at Eulenspiegel Verlag . Then he got a job as advertising manager at the Volk und Welt publishing house . In 1963, on behalf of this publisher, he initiated the advertising events for the publishing house Jazz and Lyrik and later Lyrik - Jazz - Prosa , which were performed almost a hundred times in many cities in the GDR in the first year and met with a great response from the public. The musical side was represented by the Berlin amateur band Jazz Optimisten Berlin with Dixielandjazz and the singing of the actor and jazz singer Manfred Krug . Following on from the great enthusiasm of many for poetry at the time, poems - mainly of a cheerful and satirical kind - were selected from the publisher's books, which were also read by Krug. Gradually, more and more prose texts were added. In addition to the regular cast, other soloists performed such as the jazz singer Ruth Hohmann , the actors and actresses Eberhard Esche , Gerry Wolff , Angelica Domröse , Annekathrin Bürger , the cabaret artist Gerd E. Schäfer , the songwriter Wolf Biermann and others.

The participating artists went on strike in 1965 in the congress hall on East Berlin's Alexanderplatz because they did not start the event in order to counteract the recent arrest of Wolf Biermann . In fact, Biermann was released, but Sellhorn, as the person responsible, was dismissed and banned from working in fiction publishers in the GDR until the end. Nevertheless, he worked as a freelance editor, editor and afterword author - for example, the stories by B. Traven (Volk & Welt) and the anthology of humor The animal does not laugh (Eulenspiegel). He also frequently wrote the articles on the backs of the records for the GDR licensed editions of well-known, mostly American jazz performers.

During the last 25 years in the GDR he worked as a manager and announcer of jazz groups and solo artists such as the Klaus Lenz Band, Manfred Krug, Etta Cameron , Modern Soul Band , the group " Uschi Brüning & Co" and the Günther Fischer Quintet. He also traveled through the GDR districts with record lectures on jazz and rock . In 1972 the MfS approached him again and he agreed to discuss cultural-political problems. This time no personal reports should be made. There are two summaries of the conversation that show that Sellhorn tried to protect the artists by describing them as true to the line. Now he was an “ unofficial employee ” (IM) until the end of 1976. Again, the contact was broken off, this time because of Sellhorn's signature under the “Open Letter of Writers and Artists” against Wolf Biermann's expatriation. With the joint program Kurt Tucholsky & Songs von heute , he created an opportunity for Bettina Wegner , whose appearances were permanently banned in the late 1970s, from going on tour. Until the end of the 1980s, he put together literary folk song and songwriting programs in addition to the record lectures and jazz events - for example with Peter Bause , Mike Friedman and his son Karsten Troyke . After the fall of the wall, there was again joint work with artists who had been in the West for a long time: reading and concert evenings with Bettina Wegner, CD compilations for Manfred Krug, a new project with Hermann Anders ( Yiddish Anders with Karsten Troyke) and others . From 1992 to 1994 he was editor-in-chief of the magazine Horch und Guck , which is dedicated to coming to terms with the GDR past, but was dismissed by the then chairman of the citizens' committee at the time , Hans Schwenke . At that time, Schwenke had learned from Wolf Biermann that Sellhorn had been run as an IM “Zirkel”.

Josh Sellhorn continued to publish CDs until his death, editions and other things for Buschfunk , Eulenspiegel and Amiga , wrote reviews and compiled discographies. Under the title Jazz-Lyrik-Prosa , the idea of ​​the 1960s was taken up again in the spring of 1997 and new programs were created, some with earlier participants such as Ruth Hohmann. The term jazz was expanded. Ulrich Gumpert , Günter Sommer or Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky (together with Uschi Brüning) stand for more modern forms, Trio Scho or Pascal von Wroblewsky for fusion . Well-known actors such as Walfriede Schmitt , Günter Junghans and Ursula Karusseit will once again represent the literary side . Satirists like Wiglaf Droste and Ernst Röhl bring (current) politics. Sellhorn put together the programs and moderated the events. He was also writing an autobiography.

The grave, in the stone of which his face is cast, is in the Georgen-Parochial-Friedhof in Greifswalder Strasse , Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg. Among other things, he is the father of Karsten Troyke and the grandfather of Tino Mewes .

Works

Books

  • Jazz - GDR - facts. Performers, discographies, photos, CD . Neunplus 1 Edition Kunst, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-936033-19-6 .
  • Jazz Lyrik Prosa - On the history of three cult series . Neunplus 1 edition self-published, Berlin 2008, photos: Renée Yvel.
  • Jazz Lyrik Prosa - On the history of three cult series . Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86153-581-2 .

Essays

  • Why can't jazz musicians make a living from jazz? In: Ernst Günther, Heinz P. Hofmann, Walter Rösler (eds.): Cassette. An almanac for the stage, podium and ring , No. 2, Henschelverlag Art and Society, Berlin 1978, pp. 97-104.

Sound carrier

  • 1995: CD JAZZ - LYRIK - PROSA , Amiga / Hansa Musik / BMG
  • 1998: CD JAZZ - LYRIK - PROSA II , Buschfunk
  • 1999: CD LACHEN UND LAUSSEN LASSEN - Eulenspiegeleien 1 , Eulenspiegel Verlag
  • 2000: CD with Josh at half past seven , Raumer Records
  • 2004: CD JAZZ - LYRIK - PROSA III , Buschfunk

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See My contacts to the Stasi issue 13 / page 50 and the document section on the GI / IM »Zirkel« issue 13 / page 53 of the magazine Horch und Guck
personal data
SURNAME Sellhorn, Werner
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sellhorn, Josh
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lecturer
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH May 17, 2009
Place of death Berlin