Although the trio
Dissidenten specializes in the exotic sounds of Africa and India, all
three of their members -- Uve Müllrich, Marlon Klein, and
Friedo Josch -- hail from Berlin, Germany. Originally formed
in 1981, the trio issued a few self-financed singles, before
touring Asia for the better part of a year. By 1982, the group
had relocated to India, where they lived in the palace of
Maharaja Bhalkrishna Bharti of Gondagaon in Madja Pradesh in
central India. This proved to be the location where
Dissidenten's debut full-length recording was written; the
album, Germanistan, saw the group joined by such outsiders as
the Karnataka College of Percussion, female singer Ramamani,
and American saxophonist Charlie Mariano. A year later, it was
time for the trio to move once more, this time to North Africa
(more specifically, to Tangier, Morocco), where renowned
author and composer Paul Bowles introduced the trio to some of
the area's best instrumentalists -- resulting in Dissidenten's
sophomore effort, Sahara Elektrik, produced by Abdessalam
Akaaboune.
The mid-'80s saw the group score their first big hit (in Spain
and Italy) with the dance track "Fata Morgana."
Subsequently, the group launched a sold out tour of Spain,
which led to a John Peel recording session in England, and
increased interested in the band throughout the remainder of
the world (the group was especially embraced by Canada, where
Sahara Elektrik topped the independent charts). The trio
decided to set up shop in Spain during 1986, which was where
they recorded their third recording, Life at the Pyramids,
issued the same year. To support the release, Dissidenten set
out on a world tour, a standout performance being the opening
night at the 1988 New Music Seminar at the Palladium in New
York City.
Dissidenten's first release of the '90s, 1990's Out of This
World, was also their first album to be featured on a major
U.S. label (Sire/Warner). The album featured several guest
North African musicians, including the string section of the
Royal National Orchestra of Morocco, plus Cherif Lamrani and
Mahmoud Saadi (both members of such renowned outfits as
Lemchaheb, Jiljilala, and Nass El Ghiwane). Since beginning
the group nearly ten years earlier, the trio decided to move
their operations back to their homeland of Berlin. A year
later, the in-concert album Live in New York was released
(taped at the aforementioned show at the 1988 New Music
Seminar), as the bandmembers concentrated on completing a
movie/music project that focuses on Native American Indian
music.
Dissidenten spent much of 1992 working on their next studio
release, The Jungle Book, which again featured several guest
musicians -- including the Karnataka College of Percussion,
Trilok Gurtu, and Ramesh Shotham. Upon its release a year
later, the album proved to be well worth the wait, as European
DJs in their annual World-Music-Charts Europe voted the album
into second place, while Sven Väth remixed a version of
"Jungle Book Part II" as a techno dance track. Once
the album's supporting tour wrapped up in 1995, Marlon Klein
spent the remainder of the year in Los Angeles, producing the
albums Human Love and First Sign of Life for Gary Wright (of
which former-Beatle George Harrison made a special
appearance).
In 1996, the members of Dissidenten formed their own music
company, Exil Musik, and issued Instinctive Traveler, an album
that marked the first time that the vocals were sung in
English -- supported by appearances at such festival shows as
Stuttgart Jazz Open, Leverkusener Jazztage, and Festival De La
Diversidad, Barcelona. 1998 saw the group play further shows
with guest musicians/singers Izaline Calister, Noujoum Ouazza,
and Manickam Yogeswaran, including a spot at the Glastonbury
Festival in England, which resulted in the release of the
second live album of Dissidenten's career, Live in Europe.
Still going strong in the early 21st century, Dissidenten
spent 2000 collaborating on an opera about the Danube River
with American composer Gordon Sherwood, which was performed
with an orchestra and choir at the International Donau Musik
Festival in the city of Ulm. The same year, Marlon Klein
traveled to Durban, South Africa, to record the Zulu Choir
Phikelela Sakhula and the Real Happy Singers, in addition to
producing the album Love Letter for PILI-PILI. 2001 marked the
group's 20th anniversary together, which was celebrated by the
compilation 2001: A Worldbeat Odyssey, as nine DJs and
producers (including such artists as Badmarsh, Lemongrass,
Shantel, and Slop Shop, among others) remixed tracks from
throughout Dissidenten's long and winding career. Unlike most
other remix albums, the release was supported by a tour,
featuring several of the album's participants.
Dissidenten is touring Europe the summer of 2009. |
