Wolf & Pamela Biermann

In the organizer's words:

"Ah, the first love ..." - Songs as bread for the soul in dark times
presented by the Harbour Front Literature Festival Hamburg

The Harbour Front Literature Festival is looking forward to a special evening, a joint concert by Wolf Biermann & Pamela Biermann. As always in life, and especially when the sky darkens, songs are comfort, support and weapons. Wolf Biermann & Pamela Biermann sing their favorite songs, against desolation and for more confidence in the strife of the world. Is it okay to sing in view of the seriousness of the world situation? You should! Because: "We won't let our mood - or any suffering - be spoiled!" Biermann wrote back in 1972 in the GDR.

The eponymous song "Ach, die erste Liebe..." by Bulat Okudschawa shines above the evening - a song about the eternal poles of privacy and politics. Some of the most beautiful Biermann songs, such as "Ballade vom Preußischen Ikarus", "Wann ist denn endlich Frieden?" or "Der Hugenottenfriedhof", which says: "Wie nah sind uns manche Tote, doch wie tot sind uns manche die leben!", stand alongside international classics such as Louis Aragon's "Glückliche Liebe", the dreamy revolutionary hit of the Paris Commune, "Die Zeit der Kirschen" or the mocking ballad of the lovers "Johnny Sand und Betsy Bucht". Songs of love counter songs of war. The anti-war song "Johnny I hardly knew you" or the ancient Russian soldier's song "Rabe Rabe" tell of the latter. A musical journey through time from the end of the 19th century to the present day.

The atmosphere is the best thing about this evening," reports rbb: "It's an event. A concert that opens up an entire century and is comforting precisely in the sadness of the songs, in the non-beauty of things." (rbb, 1.4.2025, Barbara Berendt)

About Wolf and Pamela Biermann

Wolf Biermann, born in 1936. First songs and poems from 1960. Biermann became the most radical critic of the GDR's party dictatorship. In 1965 he was banned from performing and publishing and was expatriated in 1976. The expatriation triggered an unexpectedly large protest movement in East and West and is considered the beginning of the end of the GDR. Wolf Biermann was awarded all the major German literary prizes. He has given concerts in many countries around the world and is known for his sharp-tongued essays, in which he provocatively intervenes in the politics of the day.

Pamela Biermann, born in 1963, is a singer, editor, literary and concert agent, screenwriter and painter. She first appeared in public as a singer in 2012. The song recital at the Berliner Ensemble with Wolf Biermann was followed by numerous concerts in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Publications Pamela Biermann/ Wolf Biermann: "Ach, die erste Liebe" in 2013; together with the free jazzers Neues Zentralquartett "...paar eckige Runden drehn!" in 2016, as well as in the compilation "Ermutigung", Clouds Hill, 2024.

Price information:

plus fees; advance booking via Harbour Front Literaturfestival Hamburg