Mijk van Dijk, Johannes Wöhrl, Madeo and Johannes Talirz in the studioI am quite sure that Mario Marino aka Madeo would have loved to see  Conchita Wurst‘s historic victory at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. My former studio and live act partner Johannes Talirz and me worked with Madeo on several demos in 1991 that never saw the light of day until Berlin drag queen extra-ordinaire GĂ©rĂ´me Castell asked me about those sessions. One of these was a song called Love Salvation, which we wrote in spring 1991 in anticipation of the 1991 Love Parade.

Having been a close friend of Madeo she wanted to sing our unreleased song “Love Salvation” on the Queerovision Song Contest in 2012.
So I reproduced the song as an instrumental for GĂ©rĂ´me’s performance but also did an edit of the original vocal version. Reworking the tune by carefully adding stronger beats and sound layers over the original stereo recording I was touched again by the drama and passion of Madeo’s vocal performance, which was due to our limited equipment back in those days a one-take performance directly to DAT (digital audio tape) with no overdubs or auto-correction. No wonder why Madeo was dubbed the “Callas Of Jazz” in her lifetime.
The photo of this post was taken for a report about our work in Zitty or Tip Magazin, I’m not sure anymore.
From right to left: Johannes Talirz, Madeo, our third studio partner Johannes Wöhrl and yours sincerely Mijk van Dijk. This is the same studio that you can see in the historic Techno City Berlin video from 1993.

Madeo sadly died of that horrible “big desease with a little name” in 1994. In September 2013 GĂŞrome became the victim of a cowardish homophobic attack and received a huge warm wave of sympathy for her recovery.
All these memories overtook me again by the triumphant victory of Conchita Wurst at ESC 2014. So I post this YouTube video edited by  GĂ©rĂ´me in conjunction with Cihangir GĂĽmĂĽstĂĽrkmen for her friend Madeo as a celebration of Madeo’s life and the equality between people of all colours and genders.
Rise like a phoenix, my friends and live your lives like you want it!


Lyrics:

1. Vers:
People all around the world,
live their lives so hopelessly,
divided into nations,
how should there be unity?

We must overcome the hate,
that keeps us from the sunshine  in the shade,
don’t you hesitate,
high on hope, it’s never too late for…

Chorus:
LOVE SALVATION (Choir: Love Salvation)
ALL WE NEED IS LOVE
La-la-la-la Love——- (Choir: Love Salvation) Oh yeah,
all around the globe, spread the spirit of hope!

2. Vers:
There is only one solution,
hand in hand, we must stand,
for peace and love and harmony,
a better world won’t come for free.
It is up to everybody,
out in the street, we shout for what we need!
man and woman, black and white,
and gay and straight, the time is right for

Chorus:
LOVE SALVATION (Choir: Love Salvation)
ALL WE NEED IS LOVE
La-la-la-la Love——- (Choir: Love Salvation) Oh yeah,
all around the globe, spread the spirit of hope!

(Words: Mijk van Dijk, Music: Mijk van Dijk, Johannes Talirz, Madeo)

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