Volkmar Andrä Papers
Volkmar Andrä (b. 1944) worked in music production for the East German, state-controlled record company VEB Deutsche Schallplatten (and primarily with the sub-label, AMIGA Records) beginning in 1972 and through the dissolution of East Germany. The collection includes business and personal documents amassed by Andrä during his tenure with the VEB Deutsche Schallplatten/AMIGA Records. These materials include: licensing and legal agreements, promotional materials for various East German artists, planning documents for music festivals, documents related to album releases, meeting minutes, budgeting documents, and VEB Deutsche Schallplatten internal labor organization documents. Some personal documents, such as correspondence and vacation planning documents can be found in the collection.
Prior to his tenure with VEB Deutsche Schallplatten, Volkmar Andrä studied musicology, cultural studies, and German literature. In 1966, he founded the Hootenanny-Klubs (renamed the Oktoberklub in 1967) and was a member until 1968. From 1968 to 1972, he worked for DDRFernsehen (East German television) as an editor in the entertainment division, responsible for the programs “Schlagerstudio” and “Notenbank.” While at VEB Deutsche Schallplatten, from 1972 to 1996, he worked for AMIGA (the popular music division) as a music editor. In that capacity he produced a number of pop and rock sampler LPs, such as “Kleeblatt”, “Hallo”, “Rhythmus”, and “Die großen Erfolge”. Before leaving VEB Deutsche Schallplatten, Andrä founded Firma BTM, a label dedicated to the release of light rock and folk music (with artists such as Herbert Roth, De Plattfööt, and others) from the newly reunited German states.
The cataloging and digitization of this collection was made possible by the support of Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.