In Extremo: To Be Free - blowing the wind of change Berlin style

No more walls..........

In celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall 30 years ago on 9th November, Music Eye is featuring one of Berlin's Folk/ Mediaeval Metal bands, In Extremo, playing "Frei zu Sein" (To be Free). A catchy song with heavy metal guitar and German bagpipes. The bagpipes were recreated in eastern Germany as part of their heritage after re-gaining their identity and freedom following re-unification.

People with Celtic traditions all over Europe play Bagpipes and the German variety are heavier and more macho than most. The origin of bagpipes is though to be ancient Egypt,Greece and Rome; the Roman infantry used bagpipes amazingly and the Legions did spend a lot of time in Germany.

I reckon a Pipe band of the German style could well have brought the Berlin Wall tumbling down like the walls of Jericho...

In Extremo have been around since 1995, 12 albums under their hefty mediaeval belts with catchy songs, albeit sung in German. They use a range of traditional instruments, harp, hurdy gurdy, pipes of various kinds and two to three Bagpipers, with a heavy metal guitar underlay pumping out those Germanic chunky chords. Interestingly, along with the gutteral vocals, it works....

It doesn't matter that they sing in German - Frei zu Sein is a song that could stir your porridge without a spoon.....again, the dynamic of the live video beats the official video version hands down....

see more: www.inextremo.de