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Hopefully we can all go together into a peaceful future with this new generation.” And the Russians back then, the young kids, said,“ Ah, come on Klaus – the Cold War will be over soon. There’ s a whole new generation with Mikhail Gorbachev being in power. And it’ s going to all be different – it will be a different world.” Their outlook on the future was so positive. But to see this turn around almost 30 years later, it’ s like,“ Whoa. I didn’ t expect to see that in my lifetime!” I mean, we live in a global, modern world today, but we grew up with a wall. So we cannot understand how anybody – wherever it is in the world – can think about putting up walls, dividing the world again. It’ s like we’ ve turned the clock backwards – it’ s just crazy.
IE: And meanwhile, climate change – a scientifically-proven threat to the survival of
Award that night for“ Wind of Change,” which was a wonderful moment for us And in my Thank You speech, I said something like,“ Music is the shining light on a dark cloud, and music is what brings us together tonight. And we should take this into a peaceful future without ever forgetting what happened here in the past. We should always remember what happened here, and never [ let ] it happen again.”
IE: You seem grateful, in general. And grateful is a good way to go through life. I mean, you actually lost your voice years ago, and potentially your career along with it before you recovered. KM: I am grateful. I’ m really very grateful Every time I go out there, and I’ m still playing the longest encore, like back in the‘ 80s when I did lose my voice. But I was lucky. After undergoing surgery twice, It was serious. And even back then, I tried to photo by Jovan Nenadic
26 illinoisentertainer. com september 2017 our species – is being ignored in favor of corporate greed. It’ s sickening and criminal. KM: Yeah. But I’ m still optimistic. And I count on the young generation, you know, to find a way out of this global mess and make the right moves. And there’ s a whole new generation of politicians, like Macron in France, that gives us a very good feeling that there is a whole new group of leaders in charge who will make he right decisions for a better, more peaceful world, joining us together instead of dividing. You want to see your children grow up in a peaceful world, and this can be our future. This is all that matters. And it’ s so important, you see. We may be talking more about politics than music, but as a musician, it’ s all about coming together, singing together, and being united in the world of emotions and music. And no matter if we lay in the Middle East, in America, or in Russia, it’ s amazing when you see our fans – fans of music – react to the same songs. Wherever they come from, they react very much the same, because music speaks to their emotions. So it’ s wonderful to be a musician, and to see people truly united, at least in the world of music. When we played Auschwitz, we received a Peacemaker make my peace with it, and said,“ Okay – even until’ 82, I had a great run, and it was wonderful. But if this is it? This is it. What can you do?” But I was lucky, and I was carried through by being surrounded with friends. And in the band with Rudolf, when I said to look for a new singer, he said,“ No, come on Klaus – we’ ll wait for you in the studio. You do whatever you have to do – your voice will be back at the end of the day.” And my voice was back And when Blackout was released, it was a huge success. But for me, with all our platinum records, the best thing for me was, my voice was there. I could go out there and sing in front of an audience again, and my instrument – my vocal cords – were working, and have been up until today. So performing for fans around the world? This is the fuel that keeps me going. If you could see it through my eyes, what I see when I walk out onstage when we start the show, and you see all these kids going crazy, there’ s so much positive energy it’ s like a huge shot of it. And you just have to appreciate that, you know? Especially after all these years and growing older, but staying young in your heart. It’ s really a privilege, and you’ re grateful that you can still live your dream.
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