IFA Wartburg

IFA Wartburg

Group

About IFA Wartburg

IFA Wartburg was a Swedish band formed by Magnus Michaeli and Nils Lundwall under the aliases Rolf Kempinski and Heinz Klinger. The band was formed in 1984 in Upplands Väsby and disbanded in 1999. Named after the East German auto brand Wartburg, as built by IFA, their lyrics are written in German and evoke the vocabulary of the GDR in a playful tone. Their songs are satirical. Some song titles include Frau Gorbatschowa tanzt Bossanova (lit. 'Mrs. Gorbachev dances bossa nova'), Es ist nicht so schlimm auf der Insel Krim (lit. 'It's not so bad on the island of Crimea'), Agrarwissenschaft im Dienste des Sozialismus (lit. 'Agriscience in the Service of Socialism'), "Freie Deutsche Jugend (FDJ)" (lit. 'Free German Youth'), "Der Alte Böse Kapitalismus" (lit. 'The Old Evil Capitalism'), and "Zwei Tage in Berlin" (lit. 'Two Days in Berlin'). Their music is eclectic in influence, ranging from bossa nova (Frau Gorbatschowa tanzt Bossanova) and pop/ska (Freie Deutsche Jugend) to jazz and swing (Spassjazz). The band itself stated that the genre of their music was 'Mauer Power' (a reference to the Berlin Wall) and 'Russian Roll', although this was likely a joke. Günther Raubschaentze, who claims to be affiliated with IFA Wartburg, runs a YouTube channel and a website for the band. As of December 2024, the YouTube channel had amassed 3.1 million views and over 9,600 subscribers. IFA Wartburg also had a Spotify account that, as of July 2024, had over 50,000 monthly listeners. In September 2024, IFA Wartburg's music was removed from online music streaming services after a person named Losi Gaydyn copyrighted the songs from the album Im Dienste des Sozialismus, although the songs could still be accessed through the band's YouTube channel. In January 2025, the album was released again on streaming platforms but was removed swiftly two days later, only to be restored a few days after. After another removal and restoration four days later, the songs can now be found on most streaming platforms.

Taken from Wikipedia.org