Dlé (GER)
Authors / Theater
„Probably the most creative thing rap has ever produced in Germany. Dlé are the masters of storytelling. Anyone who wants to tell concept stories with rap must be measured against them.“ – Käptn Peng (quote originally in German)
Since its founding in 2014, the theatrical-musical collective Dlé has been exploring hybrid forms of theater and narration. The starting point of their experiments is always storytelling/ spoken word [rap], which Dlé then chimerically crosses with other art forms. After their furious debut DER FLUCH DER TANTALIDEN (The Curse of the Tantalids), with a recording release by Kreismusik in 2016, Dlé followed up in 2018 with ANDROID ERGO SUM at Theater Aachen – a musical science fiction thriller that was also released as a recording by Kreismusik in 2022 under the title WACK TO THE FUTURE.
Dlé’s members are …
Jaques Tabaques
also known as The Little Raven, already rapped song-spanning stories in the late 90s with his combo “Maximal Evoked Potential” [The Big Leerdammer Deal]. In the middle of the 2010s he felt the need to drop the rhymes again, and with DER FLUCH DER TANTALIDEN (The Curse of the Tantalids) he flew off the handle. Ever since, his output for Dlé consists of sophisticated motivational rituals.
Kemo
was born in London and studied jazz guitar at the Maastricht Conservatory. He has been active as a musician, producer, arranger and composer for over 20 years. Since 2008, in his bourgeois identity, he has been the musical director of drama at Theater Aachen and has composed and been responsible for the music for over 60 theater productions. He is an ambitious long-distance runner and lives in Aachen with his wife and two dogs.
Jaxxon Mehrzweck
is Dlé’s multi-purpose weapon. Since he gets bored quickly, he can do a lot, but nothing really. He likes to make up stories, he sings and dances and plays bass [and guitar to a certain extent]. Musical influences were, among others, the metal records of his older sister and the Jazz-AG of his school. He likes to bustle in front of and on theater stages.
Works
HOUSE OF CARLS
March 30, 2024
Premiere: Theater Aachen
The Rap-Trio Dlé focuses on the most legendary figure of Aachen, Charlemagne, and the obscure period of the Early Middle Ages. Who was Karl the Great? And what happens if we pull him out of the museum?
SICK OF SICKFRIED!
2022
Premiere: Nationaltheater Mannheim
„Es ist nur zu hoffen, dass auch die Rap-Erzählung zur Utopie „Android Ergo Sum“ auf Platte gepresst wird: Der musikalische Krimi […] ist brillant.“ – Kristina Toussaint, Aachener Nachrichten
Die omnipräsente MADI [Multiple Artifizielle Dividuelle Intelligenz] hat der selbstzerstörerischen Natur des Menschen Einhalt geboten und ein paradiesisches Gesellschaftssystem installiert. Roboter, Androiden und Menschen leben in Harmonie miteinander. Krieg, Überbevölkerung, Hunger, Konsum und andere Geißeln der Menschheit sind überwunden; Kriminalität ist nur noch ein Nischenphänomen. Dann geschieht das Unmögliche: Human-Mord. Da sämtliche Crime-Solve-Algorithmen der MADI versagen, setzt die künstliche Intelligenz auf intuitive Polizeiarbeit und beauftragt eine der wenigen menschlichen Kommissarinnen, die es noch gibt. Jeanne Kran wirft sich voller Elan in die Ermittlungen und muss schnell erkennen, dass der Fall komplexer ist als zunächst angenommen …
ANDROID ERGO SUM
2018
Premiere: Nationaltheater Mannheim
„Dlé machen ein Riesenfaß auf, aber wer ihren letzten Knaller „Fluch der Tantaliden“ in der Spielzeit 2013/2014 gesehen hat, weiß: Die Jungs können das. Die haben es einfach drauf. Währenddessen Genre-Grenzen sprengen? Kein Problem! […] Hingehen und ansehen, bitte. Dlé weiß, welche Knöpfe gedrückt werden müssen, damit das Publikum bestens unterhalten wird. Danke dafür!“ – Klenkes Stadtmagazin, Aachen
DER FLUCH DER TANTALIDEN (The Curse of the Tantalids)
2014
Premiere: Theater Aachen