Ronny Forelle

Project / Event / TrIBUTE BAND — 2018 / 2020

In this tribute band project, Herren von Zzet team up with some musician friends to honor an underdog of the Berlin music scene who has been forgotten since the 80s.

Background

West Berlin in the 80s was not only the breeding ground for new music and music careers that continue to this day, but also a place of freedom and disappointment. In a scene that enjoyed worldwide influence and where every evening could be the inspiration for an album, there were quiet heroes whose sound was fresh and formative while they themselves were being denied recognition.

Motivation

Herren von Zzet and friends honour one of these exceptional musicians. The freethinker and session-hero Ronny Forelle played with his ensemble sometimes lax and groovy, sometimes weird and complex fusion music, that has clearly founded or inspired later genres and styles of music, whilst still sounding unique and independent.

Findings

The Berlin jazz connoisseur and recordist Manfred Sau has edited some of the few remaining recordings and re-released them on his label under the title Fundstücke. Hherren von Zzet and their friends Annika Hein, Stefan Bots, Devon Elaschuk and Fabian G. Knof honored this album on two tribute concert evenings in summer 2018.

Ronny’s story

Ronny

Ronny Forelle was born in the mid 50s as Ronald Fischer into a working class family from North Rhine-Westphalia. Little is known about his childhood and youth - but it is said that he inherited his love of music from his grandfather, who played organ in a big band. In the mid-1970s, Fischer went to West Berlin to escape from his compulsory 1 yeah military service. There he kept his head above water in the first few years with occasional performances as solo entertainer »Ronny Forelle« - with moderate success. One of the many rumours surrounding the figure of Ronny Forelle was that »He was never able to pay off the debts for the purchase of his Dr. Böhm organ«

Ensemble

He spent his free time in well-known and dubious Berlin jazz bars. There he got introduced to the joys of excessive drug consumption - and to some of the musicians with whom he would later perform and do studio sessions as "The Ronny Forelle Ensemble". The Ronny Forelle Ensemble was not without controversy in the West Berlin scene. Some people ridiculed the band for their amateurish playing. Others loved the ensemble for its exuberant joy of performing and the often underestimated talent of Forelle to write such catchy and strange pieces. Despite its tremendous commitment, the ensemble was not able to achieve any real success and remained completely unknown outside of Berlin.

Mystery

In August 1987 Ronny Forelle went to East Berlin to attend the concert of James Last at the Palast der Republik. Since then he has never been seen again. Three months after Forelle's disappearance, the band was officially disbanded by the remaining members of the last ensemble line-up:

James Blanque (wind instruments)

Rüdiger van Houten (drums)

Jürgen »Jimmi« Schatullke (bass)

Henning H. Hennings (guitar)

Etwas Lachs

»Etwas Lachs« is the only Forelle-song for which there was already an official music video in the 80s. Although the video production was even more primitive than the audio production, it probably contributed to "Etwas Lachs" becoming the most famous Forelle-song.

Idea and realisation: James Blanque