"Sagte mal ein Dichter" - from the eventful lives of the Biege brothers. Reading and talk with Wolfgang Martin and Schlager star Gerd Christian

HOLGER BIEGE, born in 1952 in Greifswald, was regarded in the GDR as a uniquely gifted artist. A pianist, singer, composer and arranger who taught himself both the piano and composition, he was shaped by classical music, the Beatles, American soul and Neue Musik in equal measure. His two AMIGA albums - "Wenn der Abend kommt" and "Circulus" - rank among the finest achievements of GDR pop history and remain part of the German-language music canon to this day.

In 1983, worn down by censorship and the bureaucratic constraints of the GDR's cultural establishment, he moved to Hamburg - only to be disappointed again by the uncompromising commercialism of the music industry there. After the fall of the Wall he returned to his fans in the east. When he tried to relaunch his career in 2012, on the occasion of his 60th birthday, he was struck by a serious illness and died in 2018.

His friend and champion WOLFGANG MARTIN, radio maker and music journalist, wrote a biography under the title of Holger Biege's best-known song - together with Holger Biege's brother, Schlager star GERD CHRISTIAN. Holger Biege not only composed Gerd Christian's biggest hit "Sag Ihr auch", but in doing so created one of the most timelessly beautiful German pop-Schlager ballads ever written.

At this tribute evening, Wolfgang Martin reads from the book while Gerd Christian sings his brother's songs: among them "Reichtum der Welt", "Deine Liebe und mein Lied" and "Sagte mal ein Dichter" - as well as his own hits "Das eigene Gesicht" and "Sag Ihr auch", both composed by Holger Biege. The brothers grew up in Stralsund; Gerd Christian, born in 1950 in Greifswald, now lives in Berlin.

Wolfgang Martin, born in 1952 in Luckenwalde, worked from 1976 as a radio editor and presenter at Stimme der DDR, from 1982 as head of department, and from 1986 as head of the music department at Jugendradio DT64. In 1992 he moved to the newly founded Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (now rbb).