Starting on May 24, 2013, the Allied Museum will be completely devoted to music. The temporary exhibition “From G.I Blues to G.I. Disco” shows how the American soldiers stationed in Germany influenced German youth and musical culture through their music and lifestyles. For this exhibition, the Allied Museum is collaborating with the Berlin DJ duo G.I. Disco aka Daniel W. Best and Karsten Grossmann.
Les orientations musicales comme le rock’n’roll ou le hip-hop ont marqué le style de vie de nombreux jeunes en Allemagne. Des décennies durant, les G.I. furent aussi des ambassadeurs de la culture populaire américaine. Elvis Presley remplit parfaitement ce rôle pendant son service militaire en Allemagne dans les années 1950.
Musical genres such as rock ’n’ roll und hip-hop helped to shape the whole attitude towards life of many young people in Germany. Over the decades, G.I.s were also ambassadors of American popular culture. Elvis Presley played this role perfectly during his Army days in Germany in the 1950s.
Americans and Germans met in soldiers’ clubs and later in discos as well. The German music and club scene drew important inspiration from the G.I.s. In 1986, several people were killed and many more injured in the bombing of the Berlin disco La Belle.
We invite young people and the young at heart to plunge into the exhibition’s multimedia presentations. From jazz on the military radio station AFN and the jukebox of the 1960s to hip-hop, music from six decades will be available for listening on a “wave of sound.” In video contributions, eyewitnesses such as club legend Rolf Eden, entertainer Ron Williams or rapper and DJ Michi Beck (Die Fantastischen Vier, Turntable Rocker) will present their personal recollections of the G.I.s, clubs, and music. The exhibition will also give visitors the opportunity to demonstrate their own DJing skills or to dance.
A CD will appear to accompany the exhibition, which will take listeners on a musical journey through time. There will also be a program of various events throughout the exhibition period.
For a first impression, click here
