German musician
“Aloha heja he”: Achim Reichel’s 30 year old song is a huge hit in China
Achim Reichel celebrates success in China with a 30 year old song
© Ulrich Perrey // Picture Alliance
In Germany he has so far been denied a number 1 hit. But in China, of all places, Achim Reichel is swimming on a wave of success: his song “Aloha heja he” is number 1 there on the Shazam charts.
He is one of the first German pop stars: Achim Reichel was already successful in the early 1960s with his band The Rattles, which were at times referred to as “the German Beatles”. He started his solo career in the 70s and has released more than 20 albums since then.
But the breakthrough was a long time coming. At least in Germany – here he achieved his greatest success in 1991 with “Aloha heja he”, which made it to number 5 in the charts. 30 years later, Reichel landed a huge hit with exactly this song – in China. The song is number 1 on the local Shazam charts. The reason for this success can be found in the social network TikTok. There the catchy shanty song is posted in countless photos, also in China.
In an interview with NDR radio, the musician, born in Wentorf near Hamburg in 1944, spoke about his surprising popularity in the Middle Kingdom, which he first found out about a year ago. At that time he received an email from a German businessman who was listening to Reichel’s song on the radio in China.
Achim Reichel lands his first number 1
At that time, Reichel did not suspect that something big could emerge from this. But over the course of the year the song spread – until he got a call from his record company, which congratulated him on being number 1 in China.
“I thought I was dreaming,” says Reichel, describing his reaction. A German-speaking number 1 in China – that has never happened before. The nice thing for him: There is no campaign or marketing strategy behind the success: “The song did it all by itself.”
The musician cannot yet say whether the success for Reichel will also pay off financially: “If things are right, then yes. Only: Right things are different in Europe than in China.” In China there is no collecting society like Gema that automatically collects the money. The Chinese Bertelsmann branch is now taking care of that.
So it could well be that the unexpected popularity for Achim Reichel will soon be reflected in hard cash. But regardless of that, he already says: “I’m just so happy as I’ve rarely been.”
Source used: NDR.de, Shazam China