In Memoriam 22 March: Gabi Delgado (D.A.F.), embodiment of electro body music

His full name is Gabriel Delgado Lopez. He was born in 1958 in Cordoba but, due to the Franco dictatorship, his father quickly fled Spain to settle in Germany.

In 1966, the family packed their bags to ultimately settle in the Düsseldorf region where Gabi Delgado would soon acquire German nationality. But throughout his life, between London and Zurich, Berlin and Andalusia, the leading figure of EBM, a nomad at heart, frequently changed his place of residence.

With almost 50 years having passed, it's difficult to imagine just how disruptive the emergence of Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft, the duo formed by Gabi and the metronomic drummer Robert Görl, was at the very end of the 70s. With a finely honed sense of irony, even a form of cynicism, the duo certainly didn't choose their pseudonym (German-American Friendship) out of a blind admiration for Uncle Sam. Far from it! In light of the notable cooling of transatlantic relations caused by Trumpist excesses, one might even discern a form of premonition...

When D.A.F. embarked on their first large-scale tour in 1981, the duo couldn't solely rely on the incendiary (and controversial) "Der Mussolini". They also relied on a gimmick that made a lasting impression. On stage, often grimacing, Gabi twirled around and bellowed with his guttural voice. Behind him, a wall of about twenty cassette decks each with the musical skeleton (basic electro) of a single track. Gabi pressed "start" and, behind his drums, Robert Görl began to pound like never before. Unseen! In this volcanic maelstrom, the man's classical piano training completely disappeared.

After some tensions, brief reunions, and five albums until 1986, the two comrades each went in a more personal direction. Before reuniting with Görl in 2007, Delgado participated in a handful of projects in the same musical genre and recorded "Mistress" in 1983 without much success. With its repetitive and hypnotic side as well as its trance references, "Viva la droga electronica" is undoubtedly the anthem that best describes the musical obsessions of the Germanic king of EBM.

Gabi Delgado passed away on 22 March 2020 following a sudden heart attack.

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Gabi Delgado with Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft on the stage of the Disque Rouge in Brussels (Belgium) in November 1981