Mieze Katz: Why Hildegard Knef is a role model for her

Mia. singer Mieze Katz (46) released her solo debut album this Friday. In an interview with the news agency Spot on News, the musician reveals why she recorded songs with women and flinta people for the duet album and how the idea for the song with Hildegard Knef (1925-2002) was created. She also tells why her “Sing my song” participation became a “fabulous journey” for her.

Mieze Katz: The difference between me as a solo artist and me as a singer of Mia. is that the musical decisions at Mia. of course to be hit together. As a solo artist, on the other hand, I make all artistic decisions myself. I said: “Now the song is finished”, and then it was done because I found it so good. At Mia. Can it happen, on the other hand, that I say: “Hey, the song is great, that’s done”, and one of the boys answers: “Oh no, I’ll do something again, I’ll listen to it again.”

Mieze Katz: It is one of my absolute favorite songs on the album. It is a song about the exchange, a proposal that you can also reject – but especially in the time we live in, exchange is what I need most.

Mieze Katz: great question! I also believe that it is one with which it is really worth dealing with. For me it is extremely different: sometimes I suck everything that is in the air, and sometimes I urgently need demarcation. Then I collect strength in a small scale – with my family and my circle of friends.

Mieze Katz: I have been part of Mia for 28 years. -a band that consists in a classic men’s women’s constellation: three men, a woman. My bandmates are like a family for me. And yet the music industry – whether on or behind the stage, at events, in record companies or at festivals – is still strongly male. The desire for a conscious countermovement grew in me. I appreciate the many inspiring women and flint artists: very inside in our music scene – their perspectives, their stories, their art. I am interested in what moves them – in life as in creativity. For my project “for this or against” it is part of opening me artistically and really inviting my counterpart to bring my own vocal melodies, texts and thoughts – without I having this or correcting it. I open my world to the world of my counterpart.

Mieze Katz: The idea for the duet with Hildegard Knef actually had Mia guitarist Andy Penn and I – on the train to Leipzig. I don’t know exactly what we did today, but in any case we talked on the train journey across the duet album and about who I could sing with. Andy knows that I find Hildegard Knef super exciting as a person and artist. He said, “You actually have to do that.” I said, “Yes, but how?” And then Andy was suddenly in discovery mode.

He heard and taped through the entire KNEF portfolio, which in his opinion could fit well. Like a crazy professor, he said: “I will bring it into the present time musically.” And he really did that. I am infinitely grateful to him. I saw how much fun he was. I love the song “Be with you”. I not only had support from Andy, but also from our drummer Gunnar Spies, who wrote the text – a text that makes this song so important to me.

It is a loving farewell letter to his mother. We both lost our mothers at a relatively short distance. With this song we were able to say goodbye in the most loving way – and somehow Hildegard Knef is the inspiration. I am very grateful that this happened.

Mieze Katz: I discovered Hildegard Knef about her autobiography “The Guelled Gaul”. There is also a great reading from her – her voice no longer got out of my head at the time. I also touched her way of writing. She once said herself that she felt the most free in the literature – because the songs were partly written by others, the films anyway. But in the literature she wrote herself – and determined. I felt this freedom very much.

I think Hildegard Knef was a role model in her time – and it is still – when it comes to giving space to your own creativity. I have already said it: she wrote, sung and acted. And even today it is often the case that you are looked at if an actress suddenly wants to sing. Knef already lived this freedom at the time. I would say: With her love of freedom, her free spirit and her impressive biography, I am very grateful that this duet came about. It would have been a hundred this year – and “being with you” is my gift to her.

Mieze Katz: I hope for Flinta people that they can feel safe that they can develop. I wish for you the same rights as for all other people – that you can develop and express yourself safely, whether creative or in any other way. And honestly, I also wish for an integrative language: let’s make the language as diverse as our society.

Mieze Katz: with Mia. We have been committed to a wide variety of organizations for a long time – and check very well where we become active. And we also decided for ourselves that we would be active without the band, such as B. at Greenpeace or at “School without racism” – topics that deal with us as humans, regardless of whether we are artists: inside or not. And if you want, you can listen to this with “for it or against”. It is even more important for my current album that people come to exchange, into a conversation, in the discourse.

Mieze Katz: My “Sing my song” trip was fabulous – it was so much fun in preparation. Get out of the box, out of the comfort zone, try different styles and grow from these challenges that we have put ourselves. It was a great, playful, creative environment. We have supported each other extremely and accompanied each other. Friendships have emerged for life and really fabulous music. My heart opens when I think back to it.

Mieze Katz: Without revealing too much: I found the stories of my colleague: Inside behind the songs and the song development really very special and will wear each one in my heart. I found the interpretation that Boki (Clockclock) brought with me, great and surprising. Finch’s version was also great. What Aki Bosse told about his version touched me very much. Madeline’s version blew me up in an energetic way. And – blatant, sorry – but Michael Patrick Kelly sings a mia song! So good! So please: just look at, celebrate, with pleasure – there are many glitter and also a lot of reason to celebrate. Really a great, super great episode.