By Tom Faber
CSMR Editor
CHICAGO, USA -- It's been three full years since we last profiled Marilena. And a lot has happened since then.
She was the cute little girl from the bucolic Hessian town of Tann, who was a pre-teen volksmusic and teeny-bop sensation beginning in 2011.
With a powerful voice and animated stage presence, she powered her way onto the stage of major volksmusic German TV shows, won a slew of music awards and sold a considerable number of records.
So we wondered - where is Marilena now?
Well, we're happy to report - she's plowing right ahead and doing very, very well, thank you.
Now at age 21, Marilena Kirchner has retained a large segment of her teeny bop fan-base (she has a big Facebook following), who as they, themselves have grown up - have stayed with the girl who was the pop/volksmusic icon of their youth.
And she's added to it considerably.
In a way, Marilena - who got her start at 13, may be made out of the same cloth as Lee Ann Rimes, Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift - all of whom made the successful transition from child to adult stardom.
Marilena has stayed mostly true to her volksmusic roots, although in her videos she lends an animated air that can only be called a trifle modern.
She has been performing in concert, over the past two years in her home Germany, as well as Switzerland, Austria and Holland and has a vibrant schedule of tour dates on tap for 2018.
Signed to the Telamo record label, Marilena now has her own permanent back-up band - a clear sign of moving forward.
Marilena exclusively told the Chicago Schlager Music Review that last week she began commenting on music for Frankfurt Radio FFH.
She's as cute and ebullient as she ever was and as one of our American correspondents remarked - "She just makes German music light, easy and fun."
It's a bit after Christmastime, but here, filmed in Marilena's lovely little home town of Kaltensundheim, from last December, is her very nice Weihnachten am Palmerstrand (Christmas in the Palmer Square) :
We've long written about the similarities between Germanic Volksmusic and American Country and Western music and if you have any doubts about that, just listen to Marilena's "Starker Typ Fur Schwache Stunden" A Strong man for weak hours (Even the title sounds like a C&W song.)
And here, from just a week ago, is Marilena's very pretty ballad, "Liebe Ist" (Love Is.) :
You can get more on Marilena at her official website:
http://marilena-musik.de/
Or at our earlier Chicago Schlager Music Review article on Marilena:
http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2015/01/marilena-making-shift-from-tween.html
CSMR Editor
CHICAGO, USA -- It's been three full years since we last profiled Marilena. And a lot has happened since then.
She was the cute little girl from the bucolic Hessian town of Tann, who was a pre-teen volksmusic and teeny-bop sensation beginning in 2011.
 |
| Marilena Kirchner |
With a powerful voice and animated stage presence, she powered her way onto the stage of major volksmusic German TV shows, won a slew of music awards and sold a considerable number of records.
So we wondered - where is Marilena now?
Well, we're happy to report - she's plowing right ahead and doing very, very well, thank you.
Now at age 21, Marilena Kirchner has retained a large segment of her teeny bop fan-base (she has a big Facebook following), who as they, themselves have grown up - have stayed with the girl who was the pop/volksmusic icon of their youth.
And she's added to it considerably.
In a way, Marilena - who got her start at 13, may be made out of the same cloth as Lee Ann Rimes, Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift - all of whom made the successful transition from child to adult stardom.
Marilena has stayed mostly true to her volksmusic roots, although in her videos she lends an animated air that can only be called a trifle modern.
She has been performing in concert, over the past two years in her home Germany, as well as Switzerland, Austria and Holland and has a vibrant schedule of tour dates on tap for 2018.
Signed to the Telamo record label, Marilena now has her own permanent back-up band - a clear sign of moving forward.
Marilena exclusively told the Chicago Schlager Music Review that last week she began commenting on music for Frankfurt Radio FFH.
She's as cute and ebullient as she ever was and as one of our American correspondents remarked - "She just makes German music light, easy and fun."
It's a bit after Christmastime, but here, filmed in Marilena's lovely little home town of Kaltensundheim, from last December, is her very nice Weihnachten am Palmerstrand (Christmas in the Palmer Square) :
We've long written about the similarities between Germanic Volksmusic and American Country and Western music and if you have any doubts about that, just listen to Marilena's "Starker Typ Fur Schwache Stunden" A Strong man for weak hours (Even the title sounds like a C&W song.)
And here, from just a week ago, is Marilena's very pretty ballad, "Liebe Ist" (Love Is.) :
You can get more on Marilena at her official website:
http://marilena-musik.de/
Or at our earlier Chicago Schlager Music Review article on Marilena:
http://chicagoschlager.blogspot.com/2015/01/marilena-making-shift-from-tween.html