Ostsee-Zeitung - August 26, 2003


Albums

Songs

Concerts

Press

by Bert Aschokowski

translation by Astrid Nolde-Gallasch


Chris de Burgh looks for romantic in everyday life

On Saturday night the singer wants to conquer his audience in Ludwigslust. 
It is the only concert in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern this year.

Rostock. Meanwhile he is in music business for over 25 years. With continual 
success - Christopher Davison. Better known as Chris de Burgh. That is a 
name that he borrowed from his grandfather. Ostsee-Zeitung met the Irishman 
with varied interests in Berlin.

OZ: In the beginnings you played in front of guests in the castle hotel of 
your parents. Today in big halls or open air. Sometimes with band, 
sometimes with orchestra. Which is the more difficult variant?

Chris de Burgh: No matter on which stage you are standing and how many 
listeners you have, for me it is always a seduction. It is important what 
you want to achieve. In my case that is to share my feelings with the 
audience over my songs and the music. I have a professional band with me 
since many years who gives their best to support me.

OZ: You have had worldwide success as singer and songwriter over the years, 
live happily with your family. Are you perfectly happy?

De Burgh: Nobody is that certainly. Every day has a new message for me. 
You'll find something new daily that is worth to think about and maybe even 
write a song about. I also love art, culture and architecture, there is 
always something to discover on my travels, between the concerts. 
Professionally I want to involve in film business a bit more.

OZ: One hears very little about the charity missions of modest artists. You 
often visit patients in hospitals, but don't talk about it ...

De Burgh: I love children a lot, therefore I mostly visit children's wards. 
But this is always a very exhausting matter. You can't appear there with 
the face of a gravedigger, you have to beam all over your face in order to 
give a moment of happiness to the children who are often very ill.

OZ: You have been extremely successful in Germany, since the beginning of 
the eighties. What do you like about our country?

De Burgh: I love being in Germany, because next to the success there is 
also a lot to see of culture and architecture. And there was also the 
political subject of the two German states. Therefore I also count my 
appearance at the Brandenburger Tor on October 3, 1990 to my personal top 
ten. At that time a song like "No Borderline" could not have been more 
current and more authentic. Recently I appeared in front of historical 
background at the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin. Now I am looking forward to the 
castle background in your area, in Ludwigslust.

OZ: How do you write your songs? Is there a certain work style?

De BurgH: Whenever I work with new titles in the studio, I have to be very 
disciplined. The most important thing is always the basic idea, you can 
have that in sixty seconds. You only have to observe carefully everything 
that happens around you. For example take this glass of water that I put to 
my lips now. Yesterday the lips of a woman touched this glass, today they 
are mine. But maybe there is another memory of her. You just have to carry 
on with the thought.

OZ: Do you have concrete examples for new songs?

De Burgh: One new song is about an American artist who died in the 70s of 
cancer. When I heard a song from her in the radio, I had to stop the car 
because I was so moved that I had tears in my eyes. After that I tried to 
learn more about her and wrote this song that has not been published yet. 
Or: When I saw out of my hotel window, a young woman - now I know that this 
is your colleague from the radio - came up the stairs from the subway. You 
talked to her for a while. That can also be the basic idea for a song. I am 
always the quiet observant in the background. And sometimes songs come out 
of that.

OZ: You have already sung in Spanish and French, but never in German. Why?

De Burgh: I believe, I would destroy my songs, because the German language 
seems to be rather difficult for me - I rather leave that to Peter Maffay 
or the Tote Hosen (dead pants). Btw, I really find this band name priceless.




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File last modified on August 26, 2006