Wor was it the most beautiful thing in its long life? Maybe really in Zanzibar? Achim Reichel does not give a clear answer about his personal paradise on the phone, but laughs: “Well, I wouldn't write this text like that today.” By this he does not mean the rhyme of “Zanzibari” with “Zanzibari” with “was”, but the use of “Matrosen am Mast” and “Gonokokken” in the last verse of his hit “Aloha Heija He” from 1991: “A man from NDR once told me , that this song is one of the most requested, but it was always “People called again and complained about the confusion in the last verse.”

Whether anyone in China understands the crude allusions to possible sexual practices in past shipping and is offended by the language is beyond anyone's control, but it's not surprising that “Aloha Heija He” is a huge hit in the Empire 30 years after its release. has become average. The song was number one there on the music recognition app Shazam in late 2021 and was streamed millions of times, which in turn ties into the current massive pop culture power of the video platform Tiktok. The Chinese star on this platform, with a double-digit million following, had for some reason chosen Reichel Shanty, which has nothing to do with China, as the background music for his videos, giving the singer from Hamburg unexpected success.

“This number is truly a miracle. “Last year I made more money in China than in Germany,” says Reichel. Now he has even been offered a tour of China, which he, who celebrates his 80th birthday this Sunday, is sure to love, even if he really wanted to on March 9 to say goodbye to concert tours with the German tour starting.

But maybe he will change his mind, because born on January 28, 1944 in Wentdorf near Hamburg and St. Paul's raised musician and composer continued to experiment with new things throughout his career. However, in the tense post-war West Germany, there was often ill-will and only in retrospect, the trailblazer who initially followed his own example was given due recognition. For the young singer and guitarist, these were primarily Little Richard and Chuck Berry, whose rock 'n' roll Reichel imitated with his band The Rattles, founded in 1960. So successful that the Rattles not only became one of the most popular German beat bands, but were also invited to tour Britain in 1963, where they performed with their idols Bo Diddley and Little Richard and the Everly Brothers. also with the then little-known band The Rolling Stones.

In support of the Beatles

Rattles' other musician friends from Hamburg's “Star Club” days already enjoyed greater attention and took the first steps towards becoming world stars when they returned to Germany in 1966 for the “Bravo Blitz Tour”: The Beatles. And The Rattles were their opening act, but Achim Reichel did not enjoy their triumph for long. In the same year he was drafted into the Bundeswehr, had to cut his hair and give up his career with his band to the applause of the then and now stupid tabloids.

Rattles found a replacement for Reichel in the form of singer Frank Dostal, who nevertheless signed a long-term musical collaboration with his successor after completing his military service. The two played in the psychedelic rock band Wonderland, produced by James Last and of which Les Humphries was a member, but also worked together on Reichel's subsequent solo project AR & Machines, whose debut “The Green Journey” was released by music magazines in 1971. like “Sounds” is panned, but in retrospect it is considered a style definer for genres like trance and has been compared to groups like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream.