German music in review: 2017

Does a politically charged year like 2017 leave its mark on pop music? The answer is a decisive jein, yes and no: last year’s pop lyrics ran the gamut from escapist calendar mottos to point-blank social criticism. 

Tropical drums, Berlin hedonism and plaintive pleas – in 2017 electronic music in Germany showed itself once more to be pleasantly multifaceted - and the community to be politically aware and socially involved. Thomas Venker looks back over the year.

All over the world democratic systems are losing out to authoritarian despots. Jarring tones seem to be de rigueur. So what about contemporary music? Can it act as a kind of counterbalance? It could. And it should. Where has it managed this and where is it still bogged down in repetition? Find out in this review of the year 2017.

The more recognition federal and state policymakers show for the creative output of the German jazz scene, the more jazz musicians engage in public discourse about issues of wider social import. Public recognition breeds confidence within the scene: German jazz musicians not only weighed in on a number of public issues in 2017, they even took a combative stand that got some of those debates going in the first place.