Magdeburg - Heisses Land [1975 Progressive Rock GDR Germany ]

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Here’s doom laden slow-burner from a band that evolved out of Klosterbrüder, who were in the previous DDR volume (link). After the joint "Fusion" tour of the Klosterbrüder and Stern-Combo Meissen (also on previous volume) in 1975, Lothar Kramer and Jörg Blankenburg left the Magdeburg group Klosterbrüder. The band was under enormous pressure from the GDR authorities, who repeatedly found fault with Klosterbrüder. Shortly after Gisbert Piatkowski joined Klosterbrüder as the new guitarist and Hans-Peter Dohanetz as the new keyboardist to replace the dropouts just mentioned, the group was renamed Magdeburg. Musically, however, there was no change of direction, and they stayed true to hard rock, but also made a brief excursion into disco music ("Funky Dance" and "Come on, and stay with me").

Dohanetz' affiliation with the new formation did not last long and he switched to the group Pilot. Rüdiger "Ritchie" Barton came in for him as the new keyboard player. Magdeburg premiered in a TV show on GDR television. The first time was not easy for the newly founded band, because the old fans from Klosterbrüder times had their problems with the new name and the story behind it. Despite this, the group established itself very quickly. New songs emerged; Band leader Dietrich Kessler and Klaus Weigert were responsible for the compositions. Lyrics came from Ingeburg Branoner, Burkhard Lasch and Jan Witte. The first recordings were made for GDR radio, and in 1976 Magdeburg's first record was released with the single "In Meinem Land".

The band suffered continuous problems with the authorities, which sadly brought them to a quick breakup in 1981, soon after the release of their first full album, these troubles even lead to Dietrich Kessler and Hans-Joachim Kneis going to prison for 18 months!

In 1992 Magdeburg started a comeback and played live again. Since 2000 the band has been active and touring again under their original name Klosterbrüder. The founding members Hans-Joachim Kneis [† 2020] and Hans-Peter Dohanetz [† 2006] have since passed away. This bio can be read in full detail at https://www.deutsche-mugge.de/portraits/3386-magdeburg.html