50 years of karat: The rock legend celebrates its anniversary in Heidenau!

50 years of karat: The rock legend celebrates its anniversary in Heidenau!

Heidenau, Deutschland - this day, June 6, 2025, the rock band Karat celebrates its 50th anniversary. The band was founded on February 21, 1975 in the cultural center "Otto Buchwitz" in Heidenau near Dresden. Originally, the members were mostly jazz musicians and previously appeared as "Panta Rhei". The first rehearsals took place in a mill in the picturesque Elbe Sandstone Mountains. Already in January 1975 the band recorded their first songs at the GDR radio, which laid the foundation for their later career. rbb24 reports that ...

with Bernd Römer, who joined the band as a guitarist in 1976, and Herbert Dreilich, who was integrated as a fixed singer a year later, quickly developed Karat into one of the best -known bands of the GDR. The most remarkable work in the group is the title song for the film "You have to go about seven bridges", written by Ed Sillms and with texts by Helmut Richter. The song published in 1978 was based on a love story and became a hit in the GDR and West Germany due to its deep emotions. Wikipedia emphasizes that ...

milestones and successes

The meaning of "You have to go over seven bridges" for the band cannot be assessed high enough. The song not only reached second place on the GDR annual hit parade, but also led to Karat won the Grand Prix at the International Schlager Festival in Dresden in 1978. At the same time, the album "About Sieben Brücken" was published in the GDR and as "Albatros" in the Federal Republic of Germany, where it was sold over 800,000 times. The popularity of the song was further increased by a later version of Peter Maffay. mdr reported on the enormous successes of the band .

from the name dispute to rebirth

The death of Herbert Dreilich in 2004 After a long fight against cancer, the band presented further challenges. His son Claudius took on the role of the singer, but a name dispute forced the band in 2006 to under the name "K ...!" to appear. It was only in 2007 that you could call yourself karat again. Another live highlight was the concert in the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, which symbolized the return of the band to the old strength.

In 2023, the band experienced rejuvenation by integrating Heiko Jung (drums) and Daniel Bätge (bass) and released a new album entitled "Hohe Heaven". Karat look back on impressive 5,000 concerts and 20 million recordings sold; Bernd Römer is the last remaining founding member and remains a central figure in the history of the band.

In order to appreciate the 50th anniversary, the film "50 Years Karat-A German Rock History" will be presented in the Leipzig Forum on March 25, 2025. All current and former band members and management will be present. This documentary accompanies the band and illuminates the creation of new music and its extraordinary history.