Bürkholz Formation - Sei Kein Vulkan [1973 Progressive Rock Heavy Jazz GDR Germany ]

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Here’s a jazz-rock progger with great use of hammond and sax. Thomas Bürkholz and Heinz Geisler played together in the early 70s in the band Robbys. Both decided in 1972 to form their own band and make their own music. First-class musicians were sought for this. Bassist Bernd Sarfert and wind players Wolfgang "Suhle" Zahn (flute, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone), Bernhard Wachsmann (trombone) and Erich Mückenheim (trumpet). After Silvia Kottas became pregnant, she and two of the wind players left the band again. The third, "Suhle" Zahn, stayed on board. In the end, Kottas was replaced by Hans-Jürgen Beyer, who had been Bürkholz and Geisler's preferred choice as singer from the start. Along with him came Michael Heubach from the Klaus Renft Combo, who made his joining the band dependent on Hans-Jürgen Beyers. Bernd Sarfert only stayed with the Bürkholz Formation for a short time and was replaced by Frank Czerny.

Shortly after its founding, the band got its first opportunity to perform in Hoyerswerda. At that time, the group only had three of their own songs in their repertoire, which, moreover, were only improvisations. The band performed with these three songs and a selection of internationally successful covers, such as "Child in Time" by Deep Purple, and brought the hall to a boil. Through their live concerts, but certainly also through the musicians Beyer and Heubach, who had already made a name for themselves in other bands before, the Bürkholz Formation had a loyal fan base within a very short time, who followed the band's concerts throughout Germany.

In the same year, the Bürkholz Formation got the opportunity to record their own songs at the GDR radio station in the studio on Berlin's Nalepastraße. With Luise Mirsch as editor, the group recorded three of their own titles. With "Sei kein Vulkan" a song by the group was released on the 10th edition of the Amiga series "Hallo". Within just a few months, the Bürkholz Formation established itself at the forefront of the GDR rock scene through the aforementioned successful live concerts and media presence on radio and TV. At the beginning of 1973 the band was on a par with already established groups such as the Klaus Renft Combo (coming up next), Electra and Stern-Combo Meissen (both in the previous DDR volume). With the title "Wer bloß ist heute groß" (lyrics by Gerulf Pannach) the band even had a No. 1 hit.

The quick ascent in a very short time was followed by a steep fall. After about a year and a half, the Bürkholz Formation was banned on July 20, 1973. The reason was an open-air concert in Radeberg in June 1973 in front of about 3,000 spectators, to which the band was invited and for which some of the country's cultural leaders had prepared a trap for the group. During the performance, riots broke out due to deliberately provoked power outages and interruptions during the performance. The Bürkholz Formation played their concert to the end and the musicians then left the venue in for the hotel. After the band had long since left the concert venue, riots broke out against the security forces. Some concert-goers stormed the stage and damaged the equipment. Although the Bürkholz Formation was demonstrably no longer on site, the incidents were blamed on them. The band got the blame from a culture functionary, who proposed that they take responsibility for the riots, on the proviso that they would be allowed to carry on touring. However, this cultural functionary did not stick to the agreement. As a result, the public prosecutor's office in Leipzig filed an application to revoke the band's permission to play. The Bürkholz Formation never performed under that name again and the musicians were never allowed to play together again.

So the Bürkholz Formation was banned and the musicians were punished individually. While Heinz Geisler and Thomas Bürkholz were banned from working, Hans-Jürgen Beyer got the chance to switch from rock to pop. He took the opportunity and achieved international success as a pop singer. Shortly afterwards, Michael Heubach founded the Automobil group. An interesting detail: Automobil was supposed to consist of the musicians of the Bürkholz Formation, except that instead of Beyer, the young singer Nina Hagen was supposed to be at the mic. But nothing came of it, and the band around Heubach and Hagen got a completely different lineup, after more harassment by the same cultural functionary who was significantly involved in the ban of the Bürkholz Formation.

The full un-edited band history can be read at https://www.deutsche-mugge.de/portraits/2324-buerkholz-formation.html