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Different in 2017 at a performance in Tambov, Russia: "I sing for the population"
Photo: Alexey Sukhorukov / ZUMA Wire / IMAGO
Thomas Anders still gave his concerts in Tallinn and Vilnius, but the German pop singer canceled the twelve performances that were planned in March in Ukraine and Russia.
Anders, who has had a large following in the former Soviet republics since his time with Modern Talking, is disturbed by the images from the Ukrainian war zone.
"It's unimaginable for me and I'm stunned," Anders told the German Press Agency (dpa).
That's why he postponed the planned concert tour.
The chairman of his Russian fan club wrote to him that the fans found the cancellation very sad - "and all because of this small conflict in Ukraine," Anders quoted in the "world" from the letter.
He then replied that he had not canceled his shows because of “a small conflict or maneuver”, but because war was raging and the rest of the world had completely isolated Russia and imposed sanctions.
He has not yet received an answer.
But after he wrote it, the word war was mentioned for the first time in his Russian community: he quoted a fan club member as saying "Make love not war!"
At the same time, the 59-year-old warns against stigmatizing people with Russian roots in Germany.
"We have to look inside ourselves," he told dpa: "It's not the Russian people who want war.
Ukraine is a brother nation.
Almost all Russians I know have relatives or friends in Ukraine and vice versa.«
It is also wrong for him to place Russian artists under general suspicion and to cancel their performances.
Recently, several performances by the opera singer Anna Netrebko and the conductor Valeri Gergiev had been canceled, and Gergiev lost his position as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic.
Both are said to be very close to Putin.
Thomas Anders wants to perform in Russia again in the future.
"I sing for the people who deserve to be entertained and not for politics," Anders continued: "I even think you have to do it.
It's an exchange of cultures.« The hostility that is currently building up can be relaxed in this way.
Thomas Anders is currently calling for donations for needy children in Ukraine via his social media channels.
He also posted a recording of a TV performance in which he sings the modern-talking ballad "Give Me Peace on Earth" - with an announcement translated into Russian how important the title is to him.
feb/dpa
