Probably the most important – and most dangerous – moment in the life of Leslie Mandoki happened in 1975. At the age of 22, together with two friends, he crept on foot through the four-kilometer-long Karawanken Tunnel to Austria. The escape from his native Hungary to the west was successful and he ended up in the Zirndorf reception camp. When Bavarian television filmed an episode of “Lebenslinien” about Mandoki ten years ago, the team dug up the recording sheet from Zirndorf from the archive. When asked about career aspirations, it said: “I want to work with Jack Bruce from CreamAl Di Meola and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull to play.”
When Mandoki celebrates his 70th birthday on January 7th, he can state that, against all odds, the daring dream from back then has come true. And even more. What the two other birthdays illustrate, which he can now celebrate on his special day in the Munich Künstlerhaus: It’s the 40th of his “Red Rock” studio in Tutzing, right across from the domicile of his friend Peter Maffay. Mandoki has already produced there with world celebrities such as Phil Collins, Chaka Khan, Jennifer Rush and Lionel Richie, all sorts of commissioned works for the VW Group, for FC Bayern or for Disney, and of course his own projects.
Neighbors in Tutzing on Lake Starnberg: Leslie Mandoki (left) and Peter Maffay
(Photo: private)
Which brings us to the youngest birthday boy, Mandokis soulmates. This supergroup has existed for 30 years, founding members were, listen and be amazed, the once so bravely named Ian Anderson, Jack Bruce and Al Di Meola, but also David Clayton-Thomas from Blood, Sweat & TearsBobby Kimball of pool as well as jazz stars Randy and Michael Brecker, Mike Stern, Anthony Jackson and Bill Evans. For the first published song “Mother Europe” you got the renowned TV award “Die Goldene Europa” right away. Meanwhile, many more stars like John Helliwell from super trampNick van Eede of cutting crew, Richard Bona, Cory Henry, Peter Maffay, Till Brönner or Klaus Doldinger participated in Mandoki’s musical dream of fusing classic British prog rock with American fusion jazz. A vision that the drummer, who was trained at the Budapest Conservatory, already had with his Hungarian band jam wanted to realize, which, however, brought him to prison several times and finally drove him to flee.
The founding of the “Soulmates” 30 years ago: Mandoki with (left) Jack Bruce and Al di Meola.
(Photo: private)
“Nobody else could put together such a troupe, that’s actually impossible with such stars, who have monstrous management and schedules behind them,” says Al Di Meola, “only Leslie can do it with his tenacity.” It also works because Mandoki has always seen his troupe not just as a band, but as a community of values. For him, music is – biographically underpinned, so to speak – an expression of freedom, global, democratic, peace-making.
Giant with a distinctive mustache: Leslie Mandoki in 1975 in Budapest.
(Photo: private)
Because that is the actual role in which the giant with the distinctive mustache and long mane sees himself: as a bridge builder. With all his energy, he tries again and again to bring together what is actually incompatible. He, who is himself a man of contrasts: On the one hand there is the commercial music entrepreneur who produces jingles for the Audi E-Tron or CDU spots, on the other hand the idealistic great composer who bombastic for the good of mankind Suites writes. On the one hand, there is the conservative politician, who stood up for the state elections in 2013 from the CSU and recently had himself harnessed for Söder or Laschet, who even wants to bring the controversial Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán, who is a friend of him, together with the EU. And on the other hand someone who railed against “casino capitalism” even more radically than the left and is robustly committed to intergenerational justice and climate protection. Quite apart from his liberal stance on the migration issue. The musical bridge between classic, rock and jazz is rather small stuff.
Accordingly, there are not celebrities from the music world, but also from society, politics and the media, when Leslie Mandoki celebrates his triple anniversary in the Künstlerhaus. “It is an urgent need for me to also say thank you to my Germany, to my Bavaria. Thank you for accepting me here with so much warmth as a 22-year-old illegal immigrant, as a refugee and asylum seeker who did not speak a word of German so that I could fall in love with this country and the people and find my home here.”
His children once again awakened the stubborn rebel in him
A bit of warning will of course also be part of it. Mandoki actually wanted to retire a few years ago, but his three children once again awakened the rebellious rebel in him. “I realized that we have to pass the torch on to the next generations,” he says. “It’s also about breaking the contract between generations. We screwed it up! After the fall of the Berlin Wall, happiness rained down from heaven.” But one failed to further develop the socio-political model into a social market economy with sustainable, ecological responsibility. “Today, instead, we experience a primacy of egoism and greed. An extreme social imbalance has arisen and we have irreversibly polluted the environment. We have to do something about it.” And so he continues for now. Working on a big September tour, a new album and a new book: “about the still ongoing wild revolt in my heart.”