Dagmar Krause
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Dagmar Krause (born 4 June 1950) is a German singer, best known for her work with avant-garde rock groups like Slapp Happy, Henry Cow and Art Bears. She is also noted for her coverage of songs by Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and Hans Eisler. Her unusual singing style makes her voice instantly recognisable and has defined the sound of many of the bands she has worked with.
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Biography
Bands and projects
Dagmar Krause was born in Hamburg, Germany on 4 June 1950. She began her professional career at the age of 14 as a singer in Hamburg clubs on the Reeperbahn. In 1968 she was invited to join The City Preachers, a contemporary folk/protest group formed in 1964. Half-jokingly, Krause described them as a German version of The Mamas & the Papas. She contributed vocals to their 1968 album Der Kurbis, das Transportproblem und der Traumtänzer (The Pumpkin, the Problem of Transport and the Dream-dancers), a spin-off from a German TV show. The City Preachers broke up in 1969, but their lead singer Inge Rumpf and Krause reunited in 1970 to record I.D. Company, the name of a studio project where each vocalist sung lead on and determined the direction of one side of the LP (Krause's side indicated her future direction with its avant-garde slant).
Hamburg had a thriving avant-garde scene that attracted numerous European musicians interested in pursuing aesthetic freedom and experimental music. It was here that Krause met Anthony Moore and Peter Blegvad, and in 1972 they formed Slapp Happy, a quirky avant-garde pop group drawing heavily on European musical traditions. Slapp Happy was the beginning of Krause's international musical career. They recorded two albums in Germany for Polydor with Faust as their backing band, Sort of... (1972) and Acnalbasac Noom (not released). Then they moved to London where they recorded a new arrangement of Acnalbasac Noom for Virgin Records, released as Slapp Happy a.k.a. Casablanca Moon (1974). The original Acnalbasac Noom only saw the light of day in 1980 when it was released by Recommended Records.
In 1974 Slapp Happy merged with Virgin label-mates Henry Cow, a politically-orientated avant-garde rock group, and they made two albums, Desperate Straights (1974) and In Praise of Learning (1975). But differences in approach caused Anthony Moore and Peter Blegvad to withdraw Slapp Happy from the merger. Krause, however, elected to remain with Henry Cow and that spelt the end of Slapp Happy.
Krause's singing added a new dimension to Henry Cow's repertoire and their tricky time signatures enhanced her vocal powers. Henry Cow toured Europe for two years, during which time they released a live album Concerts (1976) which included Krause singing duos with Robert Wyatt. But in May 1976 she was forced to withdraw from Henry Cow's hectic tour schedule due to ill health and returned to Hamburg. In October 1977, still unable to tour she left Henry Cow, but agreed to sing on their next studio album Hopes and Fears.
Hopes and Fears began in 1978 as a Henry Cow album but differences of opinion in the group about its content resulted in it being credited to Art Bears, a new band consisting of Krause, Chris Cutler and Fred Frith. Art Bears went on to make two more albums of songs, Winter Songs (1979) and The World as it is Today (1981).
In 1983 Krause joined a new band News From Babel, featuring core members Krause, Chris Cutler and Lindsay Cooper. They recorded two albums Work Resumed on the Tower (1983) and Letters Home (1985). After News From Babel, Krause was involved in a number of projects and collaborations, including Music for Other Occasions (1986) with Lindsay Cooper, Domestic Stories (1992) with Chris Cutler and Lutz Glandien, Each In Our Own Thoughts (1994) with Tim Hodgkinson, and A Scientific Dream and a French Kiss (1998) with Mari Goyette.
In 1991, Dagmar Krause, Anthony Moore and Peter Blegvad reunited to work on a BBC commissioned television opera "Camera" (Italian for "Room"). It was based on an original idea by Krause, with words by Peter Blegvad and music by Anthony Moore. Krause played the lead character "Melusina" and the opera was broadcast two years later on Channel 4 in the UK. Slapp Happy reformed briefly in 1997 to record Ça Va and they toured Japan in 2000.
Solo work
Dagmar Krause’s fascination of the cabaret of Germany's Weimar Republic and her love for the work of playwright Bertolt Brecht and his musical collaborators Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler produced some of her most satisfying work. In 1978 she stared in a London art-theatre production of the Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill play "The Rise and Fall of Mahagonny".
In 1986 she made two solo albums Supply and Demand: Songs by Brecht/Weill and Eisler and Tank Battles: The Songs of Hanns Eisler. These albums were also sung in German and released as Angebot und Nachfrage and Panzerschlacht: Die Lieder von Hanns Eisler. Krause's grandiose alto voice was perfectly suited to the emotionally and politically charged music of these German songs. Lyrically they continued the trend of earlier songs of social conscience Krause had performed, for example on Henry Cow's Living In The Heart Of The Beast.
Supply and Demand and Tank Battles are seen by many as Krause's best work, while Tank Battles is generally considered to be one of the finest interpretations of Eisler's work. She performed selections from these albums live at various venues, most notably the Edinburgh Festival, which was documented on Voiceprint Radio Sessions (1993).
Singing style
As a vocalist, Dagmar Krause is something of an acquired taste. Her singing style is highly original and idiosyncratic. Her husky, vibrato-laden alto voice can range from a sweet melodious croon to the love-it-or-hate-it Armageddon style typified on albums like Henry Cow's In Praise of Learning. Her English singing retains a heavy German accent, but whether she sings in German or English (which she often does on the same album), she maintains her impeccable phrasing and ability to inject the most oft-heard lyrics with almost palpable emotion.
Discography
This is a selection of albums Dagmar Krause has performed on, showing the year they were recorded.
Bands and projects
- 1968 The City Preachers: Der Kurbis, das Transportproblem und der Traumtänzer (LP Decca Records)
- 1970 I.D. Company: I.D. Company (LP Elektra Records)
- 1972 Slapp Happy: Sort of... (LP Polydor)
- 1973 Slapp Happy: Acnalbasac Noom (LP Recommended Records)
- 1974 Slapp Happy: Slapp Happy (aka Casablanca Moon) (LP Virgin Records)
- 1974 Slapp Happy/Henry Cow: Desperate Straights (LP Virgin Records)
- 1975 Henry Cow/Slapp Happy: In Praise of Learning (LP Virgin Records)
- 1976 Henry Cow: Concerts (LP Caroline Records)
- 1978 Art Bears: Hopes and Fears (LP Recommended Records)
- 1979 Dagmar Krause and Kevin Coyne: Babble (LP Virgin Records)
- 1979 Art Bears: Winter Songs (LP Recommended Records)
- 1981 Art Bears: The World as it is Today (LP Recommended Records)
- 1983 News From Babel: Work Resumed on the Tower (LP Recommended Records)
- 1985 News From Babel: Letters Home (LP Recommended Records)
- 1986 Lindsay Cooper: Music for Other Occasions (LP No Man's Land)
- 1991 Dagmar Krause, Anthony Moore and Peter Blegvad: Camera (CD Blueprint Records)
- 1992 Chris Cutler and Lutz Glandien: Domestic Stories (CD Recommended Records)
- 1994 Tim Hodgkinson: Each In Our Own Thoughts (CD Woof)
- 1997 Slapp Happy: Ça Va (CD V2 Records)
- 1998 Dagmar Krause and Mari Goyette: A Scientific Dream and a French Kiss (CD Resurgence)
- 2000 Slapp Happy: Live in Japan (CD FMN Records)
Solo
- 1986 Supply and Demand: Songs by Brecht/Weill and Eisler (LP Hannibal Records)
- 1986 Angebot und Nachfrage (LP Hannibal Records)
- 1986 Tank Battles: The Songs of Hanns Eisler (LP Island Records)
- 1986 Panzerschlacht: Die Lieder von Hanns Eisler (LP Island Records)
- 1993 Voiceprint Radio Sessions (CD Voiceprint Records)
Trivia
- When Slapp Happy was first formed, Dagmar Krause was known simply as "Dagmar", and on the first four Slapp Happy albums (from Sort of... to In Praise of Learning), she was credited as "Dagmar".
See also
External links
- The Canterbury Website (http://calyx.club.fr/mus/krause_dagmar.html). Dagmar Krause.
- The Rough Guide to Rock (http://www.roughguides.com/music/rock.html). Dagmar Krause.
- GeoCities (http://www.geocities.com/dagmarpage/index.html). Dagmar Krause: The Voice of Armageddon.
- Satoshi Nishihara homepage (http://www.zephyr.dti.ne.jp/~nishis/Dagmar). Dagmar Krause: Discography.
- Air Structures (http://www2.odn.ne.jp/airstructures/review%20slapp%20happy.html). Slapp Happy.