Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft
Encyclopedia
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (ˈdɔʏtʃ ameʁiˈkaːnɪʃə ˈfʁɔʏntʃaft) or D.A.F. is an influential German electropunk/NDW
band from Düsseldorf
, formed in 1978 featuring Gabriel "Gabi" Delgado-López (vocals), Robert Görl (drums, percussion, electronic instruments), Kurt "Pyrolator" Dahlke (electronic instruments), Michael Kemner (bass-guitar) and Wolfgang Spelmans (guitar). Kurt Dahlke was replaced by Chrislo Haas (electronic instruments, bass-guitar, saxophone) in 1979.
D.A.F.'s most famous songs are "Kebabträume" and the grimly sarcastic "Der Mussolini" from the album "Alles ist gut
", a pulsing dance song. The lyrics "Dance the Mussolini, move your behind, clap your hands, and now the Adolf Hitler, and now the Jesus Christ", caused a scandal.
In interviews they claimed to not target anything or anyone specific while creating lyrics to be taken as a parody of words and phrases floating around in the public media. "Sato-Sato" and "Der Mussolini" are both examples of songs written around Delgado-López's fascination with the sound of a particular word. A few months before the 2003 invasion of Iraq
D.A.F. released "The Sheriff (An Anti-American Song)".
The album "Alles ist gut" (Everything is fine) received the German "Schallplattenpreis" award by the "Deutsche Phono-Akademie", an association of the German recording industry.
In 2007 DAF partially reformed under the name DAF.Partei with Thoralf Dietrich (from Jäger 90) replacing Gabi Delgado as lead singer.
In 2010 the band, consisting of Gabi Delgado-López and Robert Görl, has returned with the new single 'Du Bist DAF', limited to 2010 copies. The sound snippet is available via Soundcloud
.
As their sound crystallized into a more rhythmically intense and minimalistic style, Gabi and Robert ejected the other members, who had become superfluous both musically and in terms of the chemistry within the band. On the later albums recorded by the remaining duo, the arrangements were sparse and heavily electronic, the singing evolved from abstract screams and mumbles to a very direct, rhythmic vocal style, and their live performances were delivered with such intensity that a 1980 concert in Düsseldorf had to be stormed by the police to bring the crowd under control.
The second full length album, Alles ist gut
, was recorded entirely by Gabi and Robert working as a duo, and displayed the distinctive D.A.F. formula. Robert played drums — usually fairly simple and relatively unsyncopated
patterns, but with simple variations that prevented them sounding robotic — while Gabi sang. The only other instruments used were Korg MS-20 and ARP Odyssey analogue synthesizers usually driven by a Korg SQ-10 analog sequencer
, with an Oberheim OB-Xa added around the time of the album Für Immer
. Typically only a single sequencer-driven line would be used for a song, the sequence functioning both as melodic accompaniment and as a bassline. The song Der Mussolini is a perfect example of this. On other songs, such as the title track, certain notes of the sequence were set slightly out of tune. Overall the songs entail a complex tension between the predominantly visceral (the voice), the relentlessly robotic (the 16-step sequences), and the drums, which lie somewhere in between. One song, Der Räuber und der Prinz (The Robber and the Prince), also features a Glockenspiel
as a sinister reminder of childhood.
This was uncompromisingly minimalist
pop. The next two albums, Gold und Liebe (Gold and Love) and Für immer (Forever), continued in the same vein, until, as one British music journalist of the time put it, D.A.F. had exhausted all the possibilities of the 16-step sequencer. These possibilities ranged from something resembling rhythm and blues
— you could just about play Der Mussolini as R'n'B if you wanted — to the microtonality
of Im Dschungel der Liebe (In the Jungle of Love) (on Für immer) or Knochen auf Knochen (the B-side of the single Sex unter Wasser). These three albums (from Alles ist gut to Für immer) were all produced by Konrad "Conny" Plank
, who was renowned for his pioneering work both with minimalist-influenced Krautrock
bands and other experimenters in the 1970s, and with electro-pop artists in the 1980s.
After Für immer D.A.F. split up for approximately twenty years, except for a brief reunion in 1985 to record 1st Step to Heaven, their only album in English. During this extensive period their historical importance began to become clearer. Legendary radio DJ John Peel
went as far as to call them the Grandfathers of Techno
. Both Robert and Gabi had solo musical careers, with Robert becoming a respected techno artist in his own right. Gabi Delgado also recorded two albums as DAF/DOS
('Dos' here referring to the Spanish word for 'two').
When DAF reformed for the 2003 album Fünfzehn neue D.A.F-Lieder (15 New D.A.F-Songs) their style had shifted to a fusion of the classic Plank
-produced D.A.F. sound with elements taken from Robert's techno work. The drums were replaced with crisper electronic beats, but the ARP Avatar
and, of course, Gabi's vocals remained in place.
As a lyricist, Gabi's concerns throughout D.A.F.'s recording career have ranged from sardonic reflections on ideology and political violence, to journeys into a very physical, even brutal, sexuality, sometimes related from a child's point of view. Having grown up as the child of working class Spanish immigrants in the Ruhr Valley, and coming of age in the politically polarized era of the German Autumn
(his response the left wing extremist terrorism of that time being thematized in the 2003 song "Kinderzimmer (Heldenlied)" ["Childhood Bedroom (Hero Song)"], he was blunt and unromantically detached about social reality in West Germany, and unapologetic about the provocative potential of his songs.
As performers and media personalities D.A.F. were, much like New York's Suicide
, forerunners of later 1980s techno-pop duos, such as the Pet Shop Boys
and Soft Cell
, in that the singer (in this case Gabi) appears relatively extroverted while the one who plays with the electronics (Robert) appears quiet and reserved. Visually, at least from Alles ist gut until 1st Step to Heaven, they cultivated a homoerotic image of black leather, muscles, hairy chests, and sweat. Gabi's hairy chest made a comeback appearance in the 2003 promotional video for Der Sheriff, a song about the George W. Bush administration.
Neue Deutsche Welle
Neue Deutsche Welle is a genre of German music originally derived from punk rock and New Wave music...
band from Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, formed in 1978 featuring Gabriel "Gabi" Delgado-López (vocals), Robert Görl (drums, percussion, electronic instruments), Kurt "Pyrolator" Dahlke (electronic instruments), Michael Kemner (bass-guitar) and Wolfgang Spelmans (guitar). Kurt Dahlke was replaced by Chrislo Haas (electronic instruments, bass-guitar, saxophone) in 1979.
D.A.F.'s most famous songs are "Kebabträume" and the grimly sarcastic "Der Mussolini" from the album "Alles ist gut
Alles Ist Gut
Alles ist gut is the third album by the electropunk/NDW band D.A.F. from Düsseldorf, Germany. It was released in 1981 and was the band's first album on the British Virgin label....
", a pulsing dance song. The lyrics "Dance the Mussolini, move your behind, clap your hands, and now the Adolf Hitler, and now the Jesus Christ", caused a scandal.
In interviews they claimed to not target anything or anyone specific while creating lyrics to be taken as a parody of words and phrases floating around in the public media. "Sato-Sato" and "Der Mussolini" are both examples of songs written around Delgado-López's fascination with the sound of a particular word. A few months before the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
D.A.F. released "The Sheriff (An Anti-American Song)".
The album "Alles ist gut" (Everything is fine) received the German "Schallplattenpreis" award by the "Deutsche Phono-Akademie", an association of the German recording industry.
In 2007 DAF partially reformed under the name DAF.Partei with Thoralf Dietrich (from Jäger 90) replacing Gabi Delgado as lead singer.
In 2010 the band, consisting of Gabi Delgado-López and Robert Görl, has returned with the new single 'Du Bist DAF', limited to 2010 copies. The sound snippet is available via Soundcloud
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform which allows collaboration, promotion and distribution of audio recordings.-History:SoundCloud was originally started in Stockholm, Sweden, but was established in Berlin, Germany in August, 2007 by sound designer Alex Ljung and artist Eric Wahlforss...
.
Style
The second and third D.A.F. albums featured the original four-piece line-up and a range of styles. Some songs on Die Kleinen und die Bösen (The Small Ones and the Evil Ones), featured thrashed guitars, electronic screeching, and hammered drums while Gabi screamed and ululated. The record was widely lauded by the British music press, and earned the group an early cult following in the UK.As their sound crystallized into a more rhythmically intense and minimalistic style, Gabi and Robert ejected the other members, who had become superfluous both musically and in terms of the chemistry within the band. On the later albums recorded by the remaining duo, the arrangements were sparse and heavily electronic, the singing evolved from abstract screams and mumbles to a very direct, rhythmic vocal style, and their live performances were delivered with such intensity that a 1980 concert in Düsseldorf had to be stormed by the police to bring the crowd under control.
The second full length album, Alles ist gut
Alles Ist Gut
Alles ist gut is the third album by the electropunk/NDW band D.A.F. from Düsseldorf, Germany. It was released in 1981 and was the band's first album on the British Virgin label....
, was recorded entirely by Gabi and Robert working as a duo, and displayed the distinctive D.A.F. formula. Robert played drums — usually fairly simple and relatively unsyncopated
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
patterns, but with simple variations that prevented them sounding robotic — while Gabi sang. The only other instruments used were Korg MS-20 and ARP Odyssey analogue synthesizers usually driven by a Korg SQ-10 analog sequencer
Analog sequencer
Analog sequencers were early generation of electronic music sequencers. Their peculiarities and limitations left a lasting stylistic imprint on Berlin School electronic music, and hence, indirectly, in many later rhythmic synthesizer-driven music genres such as techno, trance music, 1980s synth...
, with an Oberheim OB-Xa added around the time of the album Für Immer
Für Immer
"Für Immer" is a song composed by the rock band Warlock, from their 1987 album Triumph and Agony. It was the band's fifth single and it was published by Vertigo Records. The title is translated as "Forever" from German.-Review:...
. Typically only a single sequencer-driven line would be used for a song, the sequence functioning both as melodic accompaniment and as a bassline. The song Der Mussolini is a perfect example of this. On other songs, such as the title track, certain notes of the sequence were set slightly out of tune. Overall the songs entail a complex tension between the predominantly visceral (the voice), the relentlessly robotic (the 16-step sequences), and the drums, which lie somewhere in between. One song, Der Räuber und der Prinz (The Robber and the Prince), also features a Glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
as a sinister reminder of childhood.
This was uncompromisingly minimalist
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
pop. The next two albums, Gold und Liebe (Gold and Love) and Für immer (Forever), continued in the same vein, until, as one British music journalist of the time put it, D.A.F. had exhausted all the possibilities of the 16-step sequencer. These possibilities ranged from something resembling rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
— you could just about play Der Mussolini as R'n'B if you wanted — to the microtonality
Microtonal music
Microtonal music is music using microtones—intervals of less than an equally spaced semitone. Microtonal music can also refer to music which uses intervals not found in the Western system of 12 equal intervals to the octave.-Terminology:...
of Im Dschungel der Liebe (In the Jungle of Love) (on Für immer) or Knochen auf Knochen (the B-side of the single Sex unter Wasser). These three albums (from Alles ist gut to Für immer) were all produced by Konrad "Conny" Plank
Conny Plank
Konrad "Conny" Plank was a German record producer and musician. He was born in Hütschenhausen. His creativity as a sound engineer and producer helped to shape some of the most important and innovative recordings of postwar European popular music, covering a wide range of genres including...
, who was renowned for his pioneering work both with minimalist-influenced Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
bands and other experimenters in the 1970s, and with electro-pop artists in the 1980s.
After Für immer D.A.F. split up for approximately twenty years, except for a brief reunion in 1985 to record 1st Step to Heaven, their only album in English. During this extensive period their historical importance began to become clearer. Legendary radio DJ John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
went as far as to call them the Grandfathers of Techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
. Both Robert and Gabi had solo musical careers, with Robert becoming a respected techno artist in his own right. Gabi Delgado also recorded two albums as DAF/DOS
DAF/DOS
DAF/DOS was an electronic music project formed by Gabriel "Gabi" Delgado-López in 1995 as a continuation of his work as D.A.F. .-History:...
('Dos' here referring to the Spanish word for 'two').
When DAF reformed for the 2003 album Fünfzehn neue D.A.F-Lieder (15 New D.A.F-Songs) their style had shifted to a fusion of the classic Plank
Conny Plank
Konrad "Conny" Plank was a German record producer and musician. He was born in Hütschenhausen. His creativity as a sound engineer and producer helped to shape some of the most important and innovative recordings of postwar European popular music, covering a wide range of genres including...
-produced D.A.F. sound with elements taken from Robert's techno work. The drums were replaced with crisper electronic beats, but the ARP Avatar
ARP Avatar
The ARP Avatar was a guitar-controlled synthesizer , manufactured by ARP Instruments, Inc. beginning in 1977. While innovative, being one of the first commercial guitar-controlled synthesizers, it was a commercial flop for ARP, and is widely credited with causing the financial collapse of the...
and, of course, Gabi's vocals remained in place.
As a lyricist, Gabi's concerns throughout D.A.F.'s recording career have ranged from sardonic reflections on ideology and political violence, to journeys into a very physical, even brutal, sexuality, sometimes related from a child's point of view. Having grown up as the child of working class Spanish immigrants in the Ruhr Valley, and coming of age in the politically polarized era of the German Autumn
German Autumn
The German Autumn was a set of events in late 1977, associated with the kidnapping and murder of industrialist Hanns-Martin Schleyer, President of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations and the Federation of German Industries , by the Red Army Faction , and the hijacking of the...
(his response the left wing extremist terrorism of that time being thematized in the 2003 song "Kinderzimmer (Heldenlied)" ["Childhood Bedroom (Hero Song)"], he was blunt and unromantically detached about social reality in West Germany, and unapologetic about the provocative potential of his songs.
As performers and media personalities D.A.F. were, much like New York's Suicide
Suicide (band)
Suicide is an American electronic protopunk musical duo, intermittently active since 1970 and composed of vocalist Alan Vega and Martin Rev on synthesizers and drum machines. They are an early synthesizer/vocal musical duo....
, forerunners of later 1980s techno-pop duos, such as the Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
and Soft Cell
Soft Cell
Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They consist of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The duo is most widely known for their 1981 worldwide hit version of "Tainted Love" and platinum debut Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret...
, in that the singer (in this case Gabi) appears relatively extroverted while the one who plays with the electronics (Robert) appears quiet and reserved. Visually, at least from Alles ist gut until 1st Step to Heaven, they cultivated a homoerotic image of black leather, muscles, hairy chests, and sweat. Gabi's hairy chest made a comeback appearance in the 2003 promotional video for Der Sheriff, a song about the George W. Bush administration.
Albums
- Ein Produkt der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundschaft (1979 on Ata Tak, reissued in 2000 on The Grey Area)
- Die Kleinen und die Bösen (1980 on Mute Records, reissued in 1990)
- Alles ist gutAlles Ist GutAlles ist gut is the third album by the electropunk/NDW band D.A.F. from Düsseldorf, Germany. It was released in 1981 and was the band's first album on the British Virgin label....
, (1981 on Virgin Records, reissued in 1998 on The Grey Area) - Gold und Liebe (1981 on Virgin Records, reissued in 1998 on The Grey Area)
- Für immer (1982 on Virgin Records, reissued in 1998 on The Grey Area)
- 1st Step to Heaven (1986 on Ariola)
- Fünfzehn neue D.A.F-Lieder (2003 on Superstar Recordings, also issued on Subspace Communications)
- Das Beste von DAF (2009)
Singles
- 1980 Kebab-Träume / Gewalt, 7" (Mute Records)
- 1981 Der Mussolini, 12" (Virgin Schallplatten GmbH)
- 1981 Der Räuber und der Prinz / Tanz' mit Mir, 7" (Mute Records)
- 1981 Goldenes Spielzeug, 12" (Virgin Records (UK))
- 1981 Liebe auf den ersten Blick, 7" (Virgin Schallplatten GmbH)
- 1981 Sex unter Wasser, 7" (Virgin Records (UK))
- 1981 Der Mussolini, 12" (Virgin Records (UK))
- 1982 Kebab-Träume, 12"/7" (Virgin Schallplatten GmbH)
- 1982 Verlieb' Dich in mich / Ein bisschen Krieg, 12" (Virgin Records (UK))
- 1985 Absolute Body Control, 12" (Illuminated Records)
- 1985 Brothers, 7"/12" (Illuminated Records)
- 1986 Pure Joy 7"/12" (Dean Records)
- 1986 Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi Ce Soir 7"/12" (Dean Records)
- 1987 The Gun, 12" (Dean Records)
- 1987 Der Mussolini (Remix) / Der Räuber und der Prinz, 12" (Virgin Schallplatten GmbH)
- 1988 Liebe auf den ersten Blick '88 Remix, 12" (Virgin Schallplatten GmbH)
- 1989 Verschwende deine Jugend / El Que, 12" (Virgin Schallplatten GmbH)
- 1998 Der Mussolini, 12" (The Grey Area) (5-track compilation EP)
- 2002 Der Sheriff (Anti-Amerikanisches Lied), CD5" (Superstar Recordings) (541)
- 2010 Du Bist DAF, CD (self-released)
External links
- DAF at NDW-Wiki (Neue Deutsche Welle Wiki) (german)
- http://netshowscommunity.ning.com/profile/DAFyoutubecom