The green dragon: "Tabaluga" was "love at first sight" for Maffay

An ice and heart-cold snowman - and a little green dragon that is supposed to melt hearts: Almost four decades ago, the rock singer Peter Maffay invented the character Tabaluga - together with the musician Rolf Zuckowski and the children's book artist Helme Heine, among others.

The green dragon: "Tabaluga" was "love at first sight" for Maffay

An ice and heart-cold snowman - and a little green dragon that is supposed to melt hearts: Almost four decades ago, the rock singer Peter Maffay invented the character Tabaluga - together with the musician Rolf Zuckowski and the children's book artist Helme Heine, among others.

In 2023 this little Tabaluga is celebrating a milestone birthday - and there is already a new album as a present. This Friday (October 14th) Maffay's fresh Tabaluga record entitled "The World Is Wonderful" will be released.

This time it's about climate change

"It was love at first sight," says Maffay in an interview with the German Press Agency about the moment he saw the finished design for the character for the first time. "Helme Heine created a positive, life-affirming character that delighted both young and old." Since then, six albums have been released.

In 2022, the focus will now be on what is probably the most pressing issue of our time: climate change. Tabaluga's mean adversary, snowman Arktos, blames the dragon for causing the ice to melt away from under his butt. Tabaluga, on the other hand, accuses Arktos of littering the sea. Neither of them is to blame, says Lucy, the firefly, who lands in Grassland with an E spaceship. "The human beings" are to blame for ensuring that "the formerly blue planet", as the album announcement reads, is almost uninhabitable.

"Tabaluga itself has always been green. But never before has a story about the ageless dragon boy been so politically and socially relevant and important," it continues. Tabaluga embodies "values ​​that will never lose their importance, such as: respect in dealing with each other and the "spaceship earth" on which we live," says Maffay. "We're expressing what the world is about in a way that's suitable for children." "It's time to name things clearly."

"Without electricity, you go swimming"

Musically, the record sounds pretty much what you're used to from Tabaluga - even if Maffay says: "We took the liberty to get out of hand musically." Together with the Swiss singer Stefanie Heinzmann he sings "Without electricity, there you go swimming" in "Electricity", suitable for the upcoming energy-scarce winter. Maffay also sings the ballad "Kingdom of Love" with Heinzmann. Because the album hasn't become pessimistic or even apocalyptic, despite the dark subject matter.

"I sing songs like this and try to keep a positive perspective because there is no alternative - if you don't want to let the children feel hopeless," says Maffay. "If not we, who else should be able to create the conditions for a perspective worth living in. It is our obligation to try this effort together, at least with all our might. We owe it to our children."

Incidentally, his own little daughter has a very special relationship with Tabaluga, says Maffay in the dpa interview: "He sleeps in her bed with "Flederfred", "Affi" and several other plushies. It's a small community."

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