17 Hippies

Based in Berlin, Germany, the 17 Hippies started off in 1995 as a trio playing the otherwise unlikely mix of Cajun and melodies from East Europe. Gradually, they expanded their line-up and eventually ended up as an orchestra consisting of around fifteen musicians. Coming from different backgrounds like rock, jazz and classical music, the band members assimilated virtually any musical style available and blended all of this into their own unique sound.

Who could have imagined that this loose-knit group might one day grow into a formidable 13-piece band with such a special and distinctive sound? Remember: 20 years ago it was not en vogue to play handmade accoustic music – back then Berlin was the hotspot of Techno!

Their first album in 1996 was planned as an audio cassette! Then the younger band members insisted on releasing a CD. Anyway, it was recorded with just one mic… mono! More discussions followed, and as the group expanded they discovered that playing with a lot of people is a lot easier then playing with a usual band size of 3 to 5 members. Of course the band’s anachronistic size meant that there never was enough money to go round anyway, all earnings went into a hat.

So with all business rationale thrown to the wind they were free to make the impossible possible, and so the band simply carried on touring – with now more than 2.300 gigs played in almost 30 countries around the globe. Just to prove how crazy it is.

You can’t recall (or even google) every step along the road from then to now – and of course each of the thirteen members will have her or his own story to tell – but all together they know that the sound of the band adds up to more than its individual members. Dreams have come true… they’re on a musical journey to the moon!

And now, twenty years on, 17 Hippies are a household name and their story is part of music history.