Maximilian Hecker
“My character comes very close to the Asian mentality.” Maximilian Hecker is a pop star in Asia. In Germany he is not even recognized as a street musician. How can this be? Hecker makes ethereal pop music; he himself calls his songs “melancholy pop hymns”. They are all about love and loneliness. Hecker brought out his debut album Infinite Love Songs in 2001. The New York Times rated it as one of the ten best albums of the year. However, the breakthrough didn’t come until the Goethe-Institut sent him on a world tour from October 2003 to March 2004. Little by little, Hecker conquered Asia. First South Korea, then Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. The Korean electronics giant Samsung used one of his songs for a commercial and then the fast-food chain Dunkin’ Donuts followed suit. These days thousands come to Hecker’s concerts in Asia. “I think the people in Asia understand me. I feel exposed to many constraints in everyday life. I’m quite sober in the way I behave, sometimes inhibited,” says Hecker. “In Asia, you learn to be reserved with your feelings. However, in certain situations you then show your emotions all the more strongly. Also at concerts.” ///
Amorn Surangkanjanajai
Who is Gung? Gung is the Vietnamese neighbour in Germany’s first soap opera, Lindenstrasse, which has been on the air once a week since 1985. Gung has been in the cast since the fourth episode, having joined the programme after “arriving” with a group of boat people. He is known for passing on pearls of wisdom by Confucius. The person behind the role, however, is a Thai: actor Amorn Surangkanjanajai. He came to Germany in 1974, studied in Cologne and has been playing the role of Gung since December 1985. He is the longest-serving actor from abroad in a continuous role on German TV. Outside the script he has nothing to do with Confucius at all, he says. He is more interested in politics in his home country. So does he still feel like a Thai? “Like a Thai, a German, a Colognian – with a Rhineland accent.”///
Hermann Freidanck
“Good food is a competitive advantage.” That’s the credo of Hermann Freidanck, food and beverage manager at Singapore Airlines since 1998. A trained chef from Lower Saxony, he chooses the meals and regularly checks their quality, freshness and appearance. He has 10,000 dishes on his computer. The biggest challenge is that people’s taste buds change as a result of the low humidity, vibration and higher air pressure.///
