Gisela May - Every Song Tells A Story - Codaex Deutschland

Internationally acclaimed as First Lady of the Political Song and Best Brecht Interpreter, Gisela May has performed all over the world for the past forty years. Die May was one of the leading artists in the former DDR from the early fifties onward. She enjoyed an intensive collaboration with composer Hanns Eisler and was attached as an actress to the Berliner Ensemble for thirty years, until she was fired after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Every Song Tells A Story shows how Gisela May keeps alive the tradition af performing the songs of Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler. We see her singing in archive fragments beginning in 1958 and in the recording of a 1996 concert given in the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg with the Willem Breuker Kollektief. The rehearsals with these musicians reveal her firmly held views regarding the interpretation of these songs. During a masterclass in Berlin she manages to convey her craft to the students with humour, precicion and great passion.

Concert Gisela May and the Willem Breuker Kollektief:
"Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"
"Die Seeraüber Jenny"
"Das Lied vom Surabaya Johnny"
"Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib"

Masterclass:
"Das Lied vond der Moldau"
"Die Seeraüber Jenny"
"Der Song von Mandelay"

Archive fragments:
"Lied der Mutter Courage"
"Das Lied von der Moldau"
"Zwei Schwestern"
"Der Song von Mandelay"
"Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen"