Peter Maffay: Hendrikje is “my solid rock”

The corona pandemic has also left its mark on Peter Maffay (72): The musician has thought about a lot during this time. Against the backdrop of the crisis, his new album “So Weit” was created and will be released on September 17th.

In an interview with the news agency spot on news, the 72-year-old tells about his family life with his partner Hendrikje Balsmeyer (* 1987) and remembers his father Wilhelm Makkay (1926-2021) who died in April with loving words. He also explains why the general election is so important to him and looks back on his childhood in Romania.

Your partner Hendrikje contributed to the writing of the album “So weit”. How was it for you to have her on board? What do you particularly like about her?

Maffay: She’s my most ruthless critic and doesn’t mince her words if she doesn’t like something. At the same time she is my solid rock. I can always count on them.

You also worked with Johannes Oerding again for the album. What do you like about him?

Maffay: Johannes has become a good friend. We have the same understanding of working on songs and we work on the same wavelength. So I called Johannes and he and his creative partner Benni Derloff agreed directly. In ten days we had eight texts ready. I almost always write my prose interpretation for the draft music. And Johannes is so much a musician that he translates my ideas into singable texts extremely well.

“So far” is a very special album because, among other things, you composed all the songs on a long player yourself for the first time. How was this process for you?

Peter Maffay: The corona pandemic set the framework for this project. The band members were widely scattered and so I was on my own. An old desire crystallized, namely to make a totally reduced, autobiographical album. Over the years I have collected quite a few song ideas that I had not yet realized. It was the right moment to pull out the sketches and stay as close as possible to my original ideas.

At first I was determined not only to compose all the songs myself, but also to record all the tracks on my own, but I had to realize that I really can’t do that. Fortunately, I was able to win my buddy, the great multi-instrumentalist JB Meijers, as a musical partner for this album. We recorded everything together in our studio in Tutzing. For me it was an extremely beautiful, creative and satisfying job.

The album is practically under the motto “Do it yourself”. Did you deal with yourself in a completely new way?

Maffay: Above all else, I dealt with the lockdown situation. I wanted to reflect a little bit about the time. I think some people asked themselves one or the other question of meaning – me too. In addition, my father died at the age of 94. We were very close. So there was a lot to process.

You describe “So Far” as “the quintessence of a lifelong journey – from your own origins to today”. How do you look back on your origins and your beginnings?

Maffay: It was a damn long trip from Kronstadt to Tutzing. Our conditions in Romania were modest, but it was no different with any of our neighbors. I didn’t know at the time that my father was being threatened by the Securitate secret service. I didn’t find out until much later. My parents wanted me to be able to grow up carefree. As a child I had to learn the violin. My mother insisted. I liked making music from the start, but in the long run the violin wasn’t the right instrument for me. I got my first guitar when I was 14, and I was already in Germany. That changed everything. From then on I knew that I didn’t want to do anything else. I am infinitely grateful to life that I was able to turn my passion into my profession.

The album was created against the backdrop of the pandemic. How has the pandemic got you thinking?

Maffay: Lockdown, ban on playing, this enforced abstinence – we are still not allowed to play big concerts in halls. That made me look into the things that were happening around me. Many songs are dedicated to the people around me: the children, my partner Hendrikje, my father. The isolation got me thinking a lot.

How did you experience the Corona period as a family?

Maffay: We had a lot more time together than usual, which we really enjoyed. But we haven’t been idle. Hendrikje wrote a children’s book: “Anouk who travels at night”, which was published at the end of August, and I made the album “So Weit”.

How do you think the government has fared in the pandemic?

Maffay: On the one hand, it doesn’t feel good when the citizens’ freedoms are curtailed as much as is the case. On the other hand, people’s health is the greatest good. One can sharply criticize individual measures or failures, but it must also be credited to politicians that there was no experience in dealing with a global pandemic. You are always smarter afterwards.

The general election is due on September 26th. How important is the choice to you?

Maffay: Voting is a freedom right and that is why it is important to vote. This time the decision is not an easy one. I see so much appalling mediocrity in the political landscape. I would like two or three personalities à la Willy Brandt or Helmut Schmidt: politicians with contours. Many of today’s representatives of the people are so obsessive about conforming that they don’t want to offend anywhere, don’t create conflict and don’t want to scare off voters.

Instead of working together on a great future vision that we urgently need, the politicians indulge in endless arguments and internal quarrels. Part of the left would like to remove Ms. Wagenknecht from the party, the Greens want to put Boris Palmer in front of the door and when I think of how the CDU and CSU have put together on the candidate question, then one has to say that the Union has its own candidate from weakened from the start and Armin Laschet did not make the start easy.

Your father passed away in April. What are the fondest memories you associate with him?

Maffay: There are a few. As a child, I loved going out into the woods together and skiing in the Carpathian Mountains in winter. My father was a ski jumper, so it is not surprising that at the age of five I was already standing on the boards that my father had built for me by hand. He taught me to ride a motorcycle very early on. This passion then linked us for decades. We went on wonderful tours together.

What are you particularly grateful to him for?

Maffay: For emigrating to Germany with my mother and me so that I can grow up in freedom and go my own way. For not putting any obstacles in my way despite his fear that I might become a jobless artist. For showing me how to walk upright, respect all living beings and truthfulness. For talking about God and the world, but also being able to understand each other without words.