Latin American Songs in the GDR and the East German Singer-Songwriter Repertoire (1970–2000): Gerhard Schöne's ‘Meine Geschwister’ in the Light of Translation Studies

Abstract

AbstractLatin American folkloric-popular music had an impact on the music scenes of both Germanies, where singer-songwriters emerged and became interested in Chilean Nueva Canción, the Argentinian Movimiento del Nuevo Cancionero, and Cuban Nueva Trova in the 1970s. Particularly interesting in this context is the contact of some Latin American countries with the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Based on translation theory and articles on Nueva Canción in Europe, this article examines the Latin American presence at the Political Song Festival in East Berlin and analyses some publications that focus on this annual event. The article focuses on the singer-songwriter Gerhard Schöne, who during the 1980s, took Nicaragua as a political example, as is shown in songs, and who also composed German lyrics to melodies by Violeta Parra, Atahualpa Yupanqui, and Silvio Rodríguez, transferring the songs into a new context.