Zappanale

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Adrian Belew and Julie Slick at Zappanale 2006

The Zappanale is an annual multi-day music festival in Bad Doberan . It is dedicated to the music of the composer and musician Frank Zappa . In addition to former Zappa musicians, Zappa cover bands and musicians influenced or impressed by Zappa perform. In recent years, well-known groups have also been hired to give the Zappanale a broader focus. The first Zappanale took place in 1990. In 2003, the magazine Focus awarded the Zappanale 6th place out of 60 events from the fields of music, theater, opera and cinema in the Summer Culture Atlas .

History of the festival

The first Zappanale took place in 1990 in Althof near Bad Doberan in the German Democratic Republic . It was the idea of ​​Peter Görs from Stralsund in a joint initiative of Frank Zappa fans from Bad Doberan, Bischofswerda and Stralsund. The name "zappanale" was an idea of ​​the Bad Doberan Detlef (Sale) Salemon. The fan club took over the name "arf-society" from the fan community in Stralsund, whose activities have been documented in USA publications since 1989 under this same Arf Society . A band played, the catering consisted of beer, soup and bread and the audience consisted of about 50 people. The regional TV broadcaster NDR 2 was present at the second zappanale in Stralsund, where it produced a broadcast report on arf society (to be found on the Muffin Man DVD and on YouTube), which was broadcast promptly at the time. In the years that followed, the number of viewers increased continuously at different locations, and international bands who covered pieces by Zappa were also increasingly signed up.

Wolfhard Kutz, Thomas Dippel, Adrian Belew and Jim Cohen at Zappanale 2006

In order to avoid the financial problems after Zappanale No. 3 and the difficulties with authorities and offices for the permits and the like. a. m. to get out of the way, the idea of ​​founding an association came up. With the help of an open letter that Stralsunders Andre Sudmann and Peter Görs sent to the Zappa fans they knew throughout Germany, in order to inspire and find supporters and members for the establishment of such a Zappa fan club. The increasing difficulties in obtaining permits and sponsors as private individuals were resolved with the official establishment of the Arf Society e. V. as a non-profit association. On March 20, 1993, the founding meeting took place in Bad Doberan. Since (1993) this association organizes the Zappanale (s). Frank Zappa's first musical companions were invited to the fourth Zappanale on September 24 and 25, 1993 in Kühlungsborn: Jimmy Carl Black from Zappa's first volume "The Soul Giants" (1964) and with Bunk Gardner and Don Preston from the later and differently positioned ones " Mothers of Invention " groups; the grandmothers . The official website of the organizer speaks of the first appearance of ex-mothers in the "field of former socialism". 350 visitors came to this festival, which intensified public relations work with poster advertising and a film on NDR 3 . So the festival continued to develop. Bands were invited to the seventh Zappanale that went beyond reenacting Zappa's music and performed their own music inspired by Zappa.

Paul Green and the band of students from his School of Rock at Zappanale 2006

Despite recurring financial problems, the festival organizers managed to get seven bands to play at the 9th Zappanale in 1998. The number of viewers had meanwhile risen to 432. Nevertheless, American musicians from Zappa's bands could no longer be invited for a long time. At the 10th Zappanale, which took place for the first time on the Ostseerennbahn in Bad Doberan, which has since been established as a festival site, a lecture by Zappa expert Jim Cohen was performed in addition to music.

Ike Willis signs autographs at Zappanale 2004

With the 13th Zappanale, Zappanale succeeded in significantly expanding the program and significantly increasing the number of viewers to 1,500 visitors. The inauguration of a memorial to Frank Zappa on Alexandrinenplatz in Bad Doberan was attended by the artist's family and many of Zappa's former teammates. 18 different bands played, including the Mike Keneally band, the grandmothers with Don Preston, Bunk Gardner, Roy Estrada and Jimmy Carl Black , but also musicians such as Napoleon Murphy Brock , Ike Willis , Scott Thunes and Thana Harris performed and gave Guest appearances at various cover bands. In addition, the non-musical part of the Zappanale was further expanded with a play and another lecture. For the 14th Zappanale in 2003, which was musically well-equipped with 16 bands and several ex-Zappa musicians in the 10th year of Zappa's death, other pieces beyond pure concerts were performed, such as Zappa's rock opera Joe's Garage and the Music critic Ben Watson gave a lecture on Hegel at Zappa. As a crowd puller, Nina Hagen , a well-known artist alongside Zappa, was invited for the first time, but she had to cancel at short notice due to illness and was replaced by Phillip Boa & the Voodo Club . In 2005 Kraan performed and 8000 visitors were counted. King Crimson guitarist and ex-Zappa fellow musician Adrian Belew was on stage at the 17th Zappanale 2006 , and Soft Machine Legacy also gave a performance.

The 30th Zappanale took place in 2019. It has remained a small, popular cult festival. In the meantime, many artists have appeared, including Frank Zappa's son Dweezil Zappa , the music professor Fried Dähn and Ali N Askin .

Zappa's widow is suing the Arf Society

Frank Zappa's widow Gail Zappa and the Zappa Family Trust have been suing the Arf Society since April 9, 2008 before the Düsseldorf Regional Court for failure to use the name Zappa, for a ban on recordings of concerts and against the use of the Zappa beard as a festival and Goods logo. In the event of a violation, it should be possible to impose a fine of 250,000 euros. As a justification, she stated through her German lawyers that she was concerned with ensuring the quality of Zappa's musical heritage.

The representatives of the Arf Society asserted the older and protected naming rights for themselves as well as the non-profit status of their association, which did not allow economic interests as the main purpose. Within a few days, an online petition urging Gail Zappa to withdraw her lawsuit was signed by 2,500 people.

On January 21, 2009, the Düsseldorf regional court ruled the Arf Society and dismissed Gail Zappa's action. In addition, the Zappanale will receive the additional title "Zappa Music and more".

On May 31, 2012, the Federal Court of Justice finally dismissed the lawsuit. The court ruled that the Zappa word mark had to be deleted in Germany because Zappa's widow had not used it in Germany for the past five years. In the opinion of the Senate, the publication of music titles under the ZAPPA Records label and the operation of the internet domain zappa.com does not constitute sufficient use of the brand name in accordance with EU law sell his portrait.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Focus , No. 23, June 2, 2003
  2. Zappanale # 01 - August 3, 1990 . zappanale.de; accessed on July 11, 2018.
  3. Zappanale # 04 - September 24, 1993 . zappanale.de; accessed on July 11, 2018.
  4. Ekkehart Eichler: How Zappa came to Bad Doberan . Hamburger Abendblatt , July 20, 2002.
  5. Widow sued German fan club. In: Focus , April 9, 2008
  6. Frank Zappa: Genius widow sued fan club. laut.de , April 10, 2008.
  7. ^ Mathias Bröckers : cannibalizing an idol. In: taz , April 10, 2008.
  8. Zappa widow loses dispute over the “Zappanale” festival In: diepresse.com , April 21, 2009.
  9. ^ BGH judgment: "Zappanale" may keep its name. In: sueddeutsche.de , May 31, 2012; Retrieved June 1, 2012.

Coordinates: 54 ° 7 ′ 22 ″  N , 11 ° 52 ′ 4 ″  E