I think the second or third time we went to East Germany the wall had officially just come down but things hadn’t changed much. There were things I noticed though. Suddenly, for instance , pornography was visibly on sale at the railway station. That shocked me and made me think..well western democracy’s not all good then! Other things have slipped my mind since but it reminds me of the second time I went to Russia after the wall came down. One of the first things that was proudly announced was that a Macdonalds had opened on the outskirts of Moscow. You may remember the news reports where it stated that people would spend the equivalent of a weeks wages on one burger…progress had arrived. I saw that Macdonalds for myself and there were queues.
The other thing that was deeply disturbing were the derogatory comments from some West Germans about the East Germans. Terrible stereotypes and quite personal attacks unfortunately some of that still exists today. We got to hear some of that because we usually did west German concerts on our way there and on the way back.
One time I remember we had had the most fabulous time with audiences going wild to our music in a way that you might associate with Italians, say, rather than Germans. Yelling for more, stomping on the floor etc. On leaving we were next due to play in a small folk club in the west. We set up and did the gig and it was like playing to wall paper. I don’t know what was wrong that night but it felt like such hard work and I was absolutely convinced they hated us and disliked the music. When we finally finished playing audience member after audience member came up and said things like, “That is the best music I have ever heard” !!!!!!! You wonder if it really was as bad as it felt or whether the cultural contrast was just so vast it felt like that.
So, that time after the wall had come down, we visited Peter and Christine and there was excitement in the air. They were going to be able to travel to the west. They planned to take the boys to an English folk festival and maybe other things too., visit friends etc etc I talked to them about how it had been in the build up to the wall falling. They said they both went on demonstrations but never together. They couldn’t risk both of them being imprisoned and disappearing as the boys would need at least one parent to carry on. Nobody knew if the demonstrations would succeed or not. Imagine even having to take that into account now, here! Unthinkable.
Previous to our last visit any of the band who hadn’t managed to spend their East German marks gave them away……at least that’s what we thought we had done. Not so, on arrival I was handed an envelope by Christine. In it were West German marks. They had taken what I had left and exchanged it as the government allowed, kept it for me and then handed it back. Extraordinary.
I have a feeling that Peter and Christine were part of Leipzig morris dancers originally. Again an amazing thing to even think about existing. Peter’s knowledge of folk music from the Uk was extensive and he wasn’t the only one. Before the wall came down I remember talking to one of the young morris dancers who was in love with an English woman. He had applied to leave the GDR and was waiting to see if his exit would be approved. If that didn’t feel major enough I remember him saying that if it was approved and he went he would never be allowed back in. Wow…I know there were visits across the boarder particularly in Berlin as families had been split but they weren’t often and there seemed to be a real suspicion of anyone who expressed a wish to leave even if it was only for a short time.
About a year later I was invited to Berlin to do some dance workshops. I was collected at the airport and driven to this beautiful area in the East of Berlin. Lovely old buildings and a magnificent hall. On getting into the hall a workshop was in full flow. Who ever was leading it stopped in mid flow and said, “Ladies and gentleman the Tanz meister from England has arrived – Jo Freya” and the whole hall erupted into cheers and a huge round of applause. Amazing to have such a reputation.
At the end of the weekend Christine was in tears. I asked her what ever was the matter and she was distraught because someones purse had been stolen. It had been left at the side while someone was dancing. ‘This,” she told me,”had never happened at any of the events they had run before the wall came down”. Yet more progress. Fascinating.
Jo Freya’s Musings 