“Marusha: The Ambassador of Raveland”
October 6, 2023Interview: Peri GLOWKiD
The identity of German Electronic Music is loved by the world – from the godfathers Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream to the legends Paul Van Dyk, Sven Väth, Westbam, Dr. Motte, Paul Kalkbrenner, Ellen Allien, ATB, to name a few.
The country drew the worldwide attention in the late 80’s due to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, followed a year after by the reunification of East and West Germany. This history was written with technostalgic letters, and it was covered by the power of a soundtrack that was captured by Techno beats. At that time, UK were living their own days of innocence through the so-called Second Summer of Love, while in Berlin an outdoor party meant to become a huge cuddle puddle and one of the most significant trademarks in the capital of Techno music.
And this was the ‘Love Parade’; a festival that attained parity between people, music, and feelings. Numerous great DJs have played there from around the globe; however it is vitally important that we’d emphasize on
”a very talented woman that grew into a pivotal figure of that golden era”
More than just a DJ or a producer and more than meets the eye, Marusha is fairly enough an iconic rave persona, an incarnation of positivity, an indispensable rave queen and the ambassador of her own musical country, Raveland.
Born to a German father and a Greek mother, she firstly got in touch with Electronic music through an English friend during her summer holidays in Greek islands. In 1987,
”she had her first experiences at warehouse parties in Leeds and the Hacienda”
It was the world to me and after that I started to organize my own small House and Acid House parties alongside a friend. We launched a monthly party located in a red light area in my hometown Nuremberg,” she recalls. “And it was the first time somebody brought DJs from the UK in Nuremberg. The owner of the red light district asked us if we want to run the club every day as a Techno – House club. So, I run it for 1 ½ years with my best friend Markus. This was my connection with the German Techno scene.”
Eventually, this connection got her a job offer from the management of Westbam, as a radio presenter; something that she has never done before. So, since her club shut down, she moved to Berlin kicking off with her ‘Dancehall’ show broadcasted at the DT 64 station, followed by Radio Fritz and the famous ‘Rave Satellite’ show among a role as a video presenter of the ‘Feuerreiter’ youth show in the 1993-1996 period.
In 1992, she had her first single. The ‘Ravechannel’ came out through the legendary Low Spirit Records, a label which was originally founded by Westbam, Klaus Jankuhn (both known as Members of Mayday), DJ Dick, Sandra Molzahn and the late William Roettger. The label was the home of the thriving Techno breed that was taking over the place and the sound over the country.
Her biggest success came in 1994, with the single ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ that reached no.3 in the German charts, and it was a snazzy cover of the ballad featured on ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Her track delivers that happy hardcore element, and it marked one of the finest anthemic tunes of joy from that time, coming among a catchy videoclip. This tune was one out of the ten tracks that culminated her first complete musical journey, called ‘Raveland’. Her debut album remains one of the best dance albums of the 90s, in times when Marusha took a high ranking in everyone’s hearts.
“Raveland was an experience for me. I was producing it during a time when everything was exploding. The Wall came down and everything was in a new dimensional way reproduced, surrounded by a vibe of freedom and celebration”, she remembers, adding also about the process of the album that ”I was also influenced from the UK breakbeats but mixed it up with German music and this makes the album so interesting.
A German was producing fast ravey music with helium voices singing on it and piano through UK Hardcore Breakbeat. All these influences were mixed in the studio. To me it’s a very special album cos it reflects one part of the rave scene – my part of the rave scene how I was living it and it’s a good snapshot from those days.”
But what stands out facing legends such as Marusha, is that they have never forgot the authentic rave spirit, and they still deliver it to the masses, new or old crew. Her words are simple, inspiring and can eventually give you a citizenship of Raveland.
“Sometimes you should just listen to your heart and inner soul because the soul always talks to you”
Sometimes people don’t listen too well to it, but I always listen to it and I did things and for me it’s also very surprising how my life went and still goes on and I’m very grateful person to be honest”, she says.
‘Raveland’ turns 30 in the summer of 2024, and it is a good chance to play again this incredible record. Whenever you are, close your eyes and dance to it cos you are always free to do it.
