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Charlie and his Orchestra (also referred to as the "Templin band" and "Bruno and His Swinging Tigers") were a Nazi-sponsored German propaganda swing band. Jazz music styles were seen by Nazi authorities as rebellious but, ironically, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels conceived of using the style in shortwave radio broadcasts aimed at the United States and (particularly) the United Kingdom. British listeners heard the band every Wednesday and Saturday at about 9 pm. The importance of the band in the propaganda war was underscored by a BBC survey released after World War II, which indicated that 26.5 percent of all British listeners had at some point heard programmes from Germany.〔(''Wir haben damals die beste Musik gemacht'' ), Von Steinbiß, F. und Eisermann, D., Der Spiegel, April 18, 1988.〕 The Propaganda Ministry also distributed their music on 78 rpm records to POW camps and occupied countries. ==History== During the 1930s there was a great demand in Germany for jazz music, especially swing (which included elements of the big band sound). However, such African and American influences were viewed as counter to goals of German racial purity; by 1935 they were outlawed, and the Nazis informally labeled it as ''Negermusik''. An underground jazz scene, however, persisted in Berlin. Here bandleader Lutz Templin and drummer Fritz Brocksieper brought together key swing figures of the late 1930s, including singer Karl Schwedler ("Charlie"), clarinetist Kurt Abraham and trombone player Willy Berking. They escaped notice by pasting pro-German lyrics over sheet music and using instruments like harpsichords for boogie-woogie rhythms.〔 Goebbels recognized that both art and propaganda were meant to bring about a spiritual mobilization in its audience, and was well aware of the popularity of swing and big band music in Allied countries. He gave permission to bring Berlin's best jazz musicians into the music-propaganda program, and in 1940 Charlie and his Orchestra was born. As an official ''Reichsministerium'' band, the group made over 90 recordings between March 1941 and February 1943. Arrangements were by Templin, Willy Berking and Franz Mück, with lyrics written by the ''Propagandaministerium''. Schwedler was permitted to travel to neutral and occupied countries to collect jazz and dance music, which helped the band and propaganda ministry to produce more recordings. Outside their "official" duties, many members of the band supplemented their income by playing in underground venues. By 1943, bombardment by Allied planes took a toll on German broadcast operations; the studio, employees and musicians were moved to southern Germany to perform on the ''Reichssender Stuttgart'' radio station. Even when the city finally came under attack the band played jazz hits live on international shortwave radio, as German domestic stations played the "cuckoo" air-raid warning.〔 After the war the musicians reorganized under Fritz Brocksieper with the band name "Brocksieper Freddie", but were still recognized as "Goebbels' band". They played at US Armed Forces clubs in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg.〔 Conductor Lutz Templin became one of the founders of the ARD broadcast network. Schwedler (in varying accounts) either emigrated to the US in 1960, or became a businessman who retired at Tegernsee.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charlie and his Orchestra」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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