Arabesque are an all-girl trio formed at the height of the European disco era in 1977, in the West German city of

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. The group's changing lineup worked with the German composer Jean Frankfurter (Erich Ließmann). Arabesque were especially popular in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Their songs began being aired on Japanese late-night radio shows in the late 1970s, and with support from groups such as the

Takenoko-zoku Takenoko-zoku (竹の子族, lit. "bamboo shoot tribe") describes a type of dance group active from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s in Tokyo, especially in Harajuku. The teenagers, mainly girls but often with one boy leading, were colorfully dresse ...

, they became especially popular with teenagers and a driving force behind the popularity of Western music in Japan in the early 1980s. Their popularity also spread to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, Chinese-speaking countries and other parts of

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

History

1975–1978: Formation and early years

In 1975,

schlager music Schlager (, " hit(s)") is a style of European popular music and radio format generally defined by catchy instrumental accompaniments to vocal pieces of pop music with simple, easygoing, and often sentimental lyrics. Schlager tracks are typ ...

singer Mary Ann Nagel proposed a girl group to producer

Wolfgang Mewes Wolfgang is a German male given name traditionally popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The name is a combination of the Old High German words ''wolf'', meaning "wolf", and ''gang'', meaning "path", "journey", "travel". Besides the regula ...

, who accepted. Two additional members were recruited through a

singing competition A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, soloists, composers, conductors, musicologists or compositions. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are held to find pop starlet ...

. A Brit (Karen Ann Tepperis), a German-Mexican ( Michaela Rose), and a German ( Mary Ann Nagel) comprised the initial group. After the first album, the band lineup changed by keeping only the original member Michaela Rose, while replacing the two other girls, Karen Ann Tepperis and Mary Ann Nagel, with new members Jasmin Vetter and Heike Rimbeau, respectively. Nagel was replaced due to family commitments and becoming tired of the long daily commute from

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, where the group was based. Tepperis was replaced shortly after the release of Friday Night in 1978, due to the fact that she was pregnant and could not go on tour. The surprising overnight success of Hello Mr. Monkey in Japan prompted the producers to schedule an immediate tour to

. The duration of Heike Rimbeau in the group was also short-lived; due to her pregnancy in 1978, she was briefly substituted with

Elke Brückheimer Elke (''see panel for pronunciation'') is a feminine given name. Different sources give different accounts of its origin. One source describes it as a Low German and East Frisian diminutive of Adelheid, meaning "of noble birth". Another states t ...

. This West German country singer appeared only in a few live performances during the year 1979. However, shortly afterward, she too was replaced by Sandra Lauer. Lauer had previously attended the Young Star Music contest in 1975, where she achieved a record deal and released the song " Andy mein Freund" (''My Friend, Andy''). In 1979, at age 17, Lauer was invited to become the lead singer of Arabesque.

1979–1984: Breakthrough

Arabesque became extremely popular in

and

, and also had success in the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

. The group first appeared in Japan in 1979 for a television special, performing Hello Mr. Monkey on the "11PM" TV show. Lauer even spent her 18th birthday in Japan while they were on tour there in May 1980. They later took part in the

Seoul Song Festival Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, in 1981. Further, the group performed a number of concerts in Japan between 1980 and 1982. During these, they released a live album, dubbed "Fancy Concert". All in all, Arabesque came to Japan on tours a total of 6 times during their career. Back at home, in West Germany in 1980, the single "

Take Me Don't Break Me A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production. Film In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each ...

" became a hit, which only scraped the German Top 40. Their next single, "

Marigot Bay Marigot Bay is located on the western coast of the Caribbean island country of Saint Lucia, 3.75 miles southwest from Castries and a short distance from the Saint Lucian National Marine Reserve. It is surrounded on three sides by steep, forested ...

", would become their only Top Ten hit a few weeks later. They made multiple TV appearances in Europe with this song about a lost love. Arabesque never had the same level of success in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

than in the Far East. Albeit they were almost identical in appearance to other European disco trios (i.e.

A La Carte A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...

Luv' Luv' were a Dutch girl group that scored a string of hit records in Continental Europe ( Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway and Finland) as well as Israel, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Australia, New Zealand, Cana ...

), their songs were mostly written to cater a Japanese audience, instead of the European

discotheque A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighting displays, and ...

scene. 5 albums were released in their entirety in West Germany. The group did release in some 20 other countries, such as

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, and they had a Number 1 album in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. The group's two last singles, 'Ecstasy' and 'Time To Say Goodbye' became hits in various

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an markets after they split, as they sounded very close to the

Italo disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, ...

sound which was a very popular music genre in Europe in the mid-1980s. Those songs spread and gained success through LP compilations of dance/pop music and bootleg tapes, so the band could never take advantage of this success.

1985–1989: Duo Rouge

After they split up in 1984, Jasmin and Michaela continued on as the duo "Rouge". The duo aimed to continue the tradition and style of Arabesque, and surprisingly featured Jasmin Vetter as the lead singer.

After split

After split, Sandra embarked in a solo career becoming a successful singer worldwide. While Sandra's success spread worldwide, the interest on Arabesque raised as well. The last Arabesque singles also introduced the "

" sound to Japan, under the term "

eurobeat Eurobeat refers to two styles of dance music that originated in Europe: one is a British variant of Italian Eurodisco-influencedAng, Ien & Morley, David (2005). "Cultural Studies: Volume 3, Issue 2". ''Routledge''. pgs. 171, 173, 170. . "Eurorec ...

", previously used in the UK for the

Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW and also known as the Hit Factory) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s throug ...

productions.

2006–present: Comebacks

*On 16 December 2006, Michaela Rose restarted the Group as „Arabesque feat. Michaela Rose“ with two new members, Sabine Kaemper and Silke Brauner) headlined the second "Legends of Retro FM" festival in Moscow. Since then, they've performed in many countries worldwide. *In 2008, Michaela Rose recorded a former Hit of Arabesque, “Marigot Bay 2008”, released by Monopol Records. *In 2017, Michaela Rose re-recorded one of the Arabesque songs, "

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

", that was released with a support from Monopol Records *Also in 2017, Jasmin Vetter launched her own reincarnation of the group (Jasmin Vetter of Arabesque and the City Cats), as part of a celebration of the 40-year anniversary of the group. *In 2018, Michaela Rose released the Album “The Upgraded Collection” with 13 renewed and refreshed Songs of “Arabesque” under “Arabesque original Michaela Rose” also at Monopol Records. *2021 “Arabesque original Michaela Rose” released together with DJ NEJTRINO the new version of the Arabesque Hit “Friday Night” as “Friday Night the Oriental Night Mix” at the Label L Music.

Discography

*1978 – ''Friday Night'' (also called ''Arabesque I'') *1979 – ''City Cats'' (also called ''Arabesque II'') *1980 – ''Marigot Bay'' (also called ''Arabesque III'') *1980 – ''Midnight Dancer'' (also called ''Arabesque IV'') *1981 – ''In for a Penny'' (also called ''Arabesque V'' or ''Billy's Barbeque'') *1982 – ''Caballero'' (also called ''Arabesque VI'') *1982 – ''Why No Reply'' (also called ''Arabesque VII'') *1983 – ''Loser Pays the Piper'' (also called ''Arabesque VIII'') *1984 – ''Time to Say Goodbye'' (also called ''Arabesque IX'') *2018 – ''The Up Graded Collection'' *2019 - The Greatest Hits ever....

References

External links

* * * * *“Arabesque original Michaela Rose” on Social Media: *https://youtube.com/@arabesqueoriginalmichaelarose?si=3WSMZNnhVvhd3zbQ *https://www.instagram.com/arabesque_michaela_rose?igsh=MTlwamRoMzduMm5meQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr https://www.facebook.com/arabesqueoriginalmichaelarose
http://arabesque-music.com
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups disestablished in 1984 1977 establishments in West Germany 1984 disestablishments in West Germany German musical trios German disco groups Eurodisco groups German dance music groups German girl groups Disco girl groups Dance girl groups Pop girl groups