Burkhardt Seiler
Burkhardt Seiler (also known under the name "Zensor") (born September 19, 1953 in Berlin ) is a record label operator , concert promoter and publisher. Together with the journalist Hans Keller, he created the term “ Neue Deutsche Welle ”.
The beginnings of the "censor"
In 1967 Burkhardt Seiler became the youngest member of the SDS to date . During this time he was also one of the founding members of the "Red Guard Berlin". In addition to his revolutionary activities, he was also commercially active - in the sense of ideological dissemination - and among other things sold publications for the bookstore "Karin Röhrbein", Kommune 1 and linkeck . As a flying dealer, he went to the grocer's markets in the early 1970s and sometimes also offered costume jewelry.
1978 marked a decisive turning point in this market driver existence. At that time - in the spring of 1978 - he traveled to London with around 600 DM and came back with a cardboard box of the latest singles . On this trip he met the owner of the record store " Rough Trade ", Geoff Travis , and became one of his first export customers. Soon the records they brought with them no longer came from England, but also from the USA. Seiler sold the imported sound carriers at concerts, at flea markets or in private circles.
If a requested record was not available in his individual offer, he justified this with fun by saying that it was censored . That is why he was nicknamed "censor".
The censor shop
The record store on Belziger Strasse ( Berlin-Schöneberg ), which the then 25-year-old opened with Tina Fiedler in the spring of 1979, was also called “Zensor” . The offer included punk , new wave , reggae , free jazz and even some classical music . For records that could not be classified in any of the previously usual categories, Burkhardt Seiler, together with the renowned sounds journalist Hans Keller, created the name " Neue Deutsche Welle ". This term was first used in an advertisement for the Berlin record company "Zensor" in the August 1979 issue of Sounds. Seiler and his shop were also significantly involved in the publication of the "T4" fanzine .
Right from the start, the store was linked to both shipping and sales. This created close contacts with Alfred Hilsberg ( ZickZack Records ), Hollow Skai ( No Fun label ) and, last but not least, with Michael Voigt and his wife Elisabeth Recker from the Berlin label Monogam . Legendary concerts or sessions were also held in the basement of the “Zensor” shop on many weekends, including with Mania D (later malaria! ), DIN A test picture , lunch break and German-American friendship .
After the shop was closed in 1983, Seiler devoted himself to his own label productions and the further distribution of independent labels in the "Zensor Musikproduktion GmbH" founded in 1984.
Censor label
In addition to the “censor shop”, the Marat label named after Jean-Paul Marat was founded in 1979 . The first production is the “Waschsalon Single” by Frieder Butzmann & Sanja (1980 / Marat Records T33). A year later (1980) the censor label was created. Along with Ata Tak in Düsseldorf , No Fun in Hanover and ZickZack in Hamburg, Zensor was one of the first German independent labels . The first record was the LP "Funeral In Berlin" by the English group Throbbing Gristle (1981 / Zensor 01).
The “Zensor music productions” encompass a wide range, from deep black rhythm & soul , to country rock , to consistent avant-garde and African music . The censor labels have been known to date including by artists and bands such as Solomon Burke , Sonic Youth (censor published the first three albums of the band in Europe), Jonathan Richman , the Neville Brothers or by the part to censor-UK produced Beat Rodeo and the two .
The plates are sold through Indigo .
Burkhardt Seiler as a concert organizer
Burkhardt Seiler's work as a concert organizer, which was already evident in the sessions in the basement of his "Zensor-Laden", was also in close contact between the record store and the Zensor labels. At the beginning of the 1980s, concerts in the SO36 by z. B. Throbbing Gristle or the Dead Kennedys , which he organized together with Michael Voigt. At the time of the Berlin Wall, West Berliners did not shy away from the eastern part of the city. Together with Fritz Rau , he took over the organization of the “New Orleans Soul Festival” in 1987 during the 750th anniversary celebrations in East Berlin . The "Censor" artists Solomon Burke , Irma Thomas , Johnny Adams and the Neville Brothers could be heard . A year later, Jonathan Richman gave a concert in the Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle .
Illustrated book
The wild upheaval phase of the late 1970s and early 1980s was finally documented 20 years later in the 1998 book "The Album Cover Art Of Punk" by Burkhardt Seiler and Friends (Olms) on the basis of record covers . Former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren wrote the foreword to this illustrated book .
Web links
- Website of the censor label
- "Doer? Power? Dough? From gray city walls (part 3) " (Sounds 12/79)
- "Underground and Entrepreneurs Part 2" (Sounds 10/80)
- Censor portrait and selection discography at Discogs
- Article from the parapluie "New German Wave and New German Wave of Memory"
- "Neue Deutsche Welle" and the advertisement of the censor shop
Individual evidence
- ↑ Leaflets of the Red Guard Berlin
- ↑ Robert Halbach (ed.): Linkeck. First anti-authoritarian newspaper. I welcome any judgment of scientific criticism. Karin Kramer Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-87956-194-X .
- ^ Marat Records
- ↑ Discography of Sonic Youth
- ↑ Article about the volume "Die Zwei" in the Internet encyclopedia sub-bavaria
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Seiler, Burkhardt |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Independendt label owner and publisher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 19, 1953 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |