EVELYN KÜNNEKE, Kikilala Hawaii, 1976

All these topical records made me forget about the good tunes. Here`s a really funky song. Well…a funky German song, so that`s probably not too funky BUT it combines the funk with a Hawaiian theme plus great nonsensical lyrics partially sung in Berlin dialect!!! Listen!

Evelyn Künnke, a native Berliner, was one of the lesser known German divas. Born December 15. 1921, she was a star of the late Hitler dictatorship. While swing music was largely forbidden she still managed to recorded some of the swingenest music of the period. In the 50s she recorded some Rock`n`Roll. By the 60s her career was largely finished.

In the mid-70s it took off again after Künneke starred in a Fassbinder film and famous gay film-maker Rosa von Praunheim made a documentary about her life called “Ich bin ein Antistar-Das glamouröse Leben der Evelyn Künneke”(“I`m an Antistar”) for German Television in 1976. This record must have come out in the wake of that. She continued to perform until her death in 2001.

EVELYN KÜNNEKE, Kikilala Hawaii, 1976

(Ein kleiner Text von mir über Evelyn Künneke und den Song Kikilala Hawaii erschien als Folge 20 meiner Kolumnen Berlin Beatet Bestes am 12. November 2009 in der Wochenzeitung Jungle World. Im Internet nachzulesen hier.)