Thursday music corner: Nina Hagen (b. East Berlin, 1955), 'the Godmother of German punk', was an operatic prodigy as a child, and began her career as an actor appearing in her mother Eva-Maria Hagen's films. At age 21, her stepfather's East German visa was revoked, and she followed him to Hamburg in West Germany, where she quickly gained a record contract, formed the Nina Hagen Band, and released her first album in 1978.
Naturträne (Nature's Tear) is one of two songs on the self-titled album solely written by Hagen, and was the album's third single, after the hit TV-Glotzer (White Punks on Dope) and Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo. The recording below is taken from a December 1978 live German TV broadcast from Dortmund's Westfalenhalle, and features Hagen's sweeping vocal range, her operatic shriek, and a high-camp sense of humour.
Hagen has to date released 17 studio albums, the most recent being 2022's Unity. In December 2021 German Chancellor Angela Merkel chose Hagen's best-known youthful East German pop tune, Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen (You Forgot the Colour Film), for her farewell military band concert.
Nina Hagen - Naturträne (live, 1978)
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