IFA Wartburg was a Swedish pop duo, consisting of Magnus Michaeli and Nils Lundwall, under the aliases Rolf Kempinski and Heinz Klinger, named after the automobile brand

Wartburg The Wartburg () is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the p ...

of the East German manufacturer

Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau ''Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau'' ("Industrial Association for Vehicle Construction"), usually abbreviated as IFA, was a conglomerate and a union of companies for vehicle construction in the former East Germany. IFA produced bicycles, motorcycles ...

(IFA). Singing in the German language, the lyrics of their music evoke the vocabulary of the GDR, while also appearing apolitical and playful. Typical song titles include ''Frau Gorbatschowa tanzt Bossanova'' ( Mrs. Gorbachev dances bossa nova), ''Es ist nicht so schlimm auf der Insel Krim'' (It's not so bad on the island of Crimea) and ''Agrarwissenschaft im Dienste des Sozialismus'' (Agrarian science in service of socialism). Their music was eclectic, ranging from bossa nova (''Frau Gorbatschowa tanzt Bossanova''), pop/ska (''Freie Deutsche Jugend''), to jazz and swing (''Spassjazz''). They toured Germany and Switzerland in 1998, attracting the attention of the German media. A fan-made music video of their song ''Freie Deutsche Jugend'' (referring to the

Free German Youth The Free German Youth (german: Freie Deutsche Jugend; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth movement of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The organization was meant ...

) posted to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

has, as of August 2022, reached 1.6 million views.

Albums

* ''Im Dienste des Sozialismus'', CD, 1998 * ''Der Berliner'', CD, 1998 * ''Im Dienste des Sozialismus'', Vinyl (

picture disc Picture discs are gramophone (phonograph) records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or colored vinyl. Collectors traditionally reserve the term picture disc for records with graphics that extend at lea ...

) with the faces of

Erich Honecker Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts ...

and

Queen Silvia of Sweden Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:IFA Warttburg Swedish musical groups