THE German standard-bearer of rock'n'roll, Udo Lindenberg, will perform hand-in-hand with Cui Jiang to stage the long-awaited Multimedia Musical, "Atlantic Affairs" in Shanghai's Majestic Theatre later this month.

Lindenberg, famous for his creative and constant pursuit of the essence of rock, has a novel interpretation of "Atlantic Affairs". It concerns the story of many famous German artists such as Thomas Mann, Bertold Brecht, Billy Wilder and Kurt Weill who fled Germany for the US and Shanghai seeking refugees from Nazi persecution.

In the musical, Lindenberg is cast as a lucky heir of more than 20 briefcases. "However, these briefcases are extraordinary - they contain the manuscripts, compositions, paintings, diaries of the fleeing artists," Lindenberg said.

The briefcases work as the thread that holds the whole musical together. When he opens a briefcase, Lindenberg and his band will play one of the major musical themes, associated with one of the refugee German artists of the 1930s and the influence that artist has had on later generations.

This provides an effective and clever bridge from the past to the present. At the same time, said Sunny Mu, the marketing director of the Beijing Great Song Culture Co Ltd, Lindenberg would combine the achievements of the exiled artists with his 20-plus rock hits.

Lindenberg noted that one of the briefcases contains the masterpieces presented by Chinese artists of the 1930s and he will invite Cui Jian to perform them.

Two screens, one big and one small, are to be placed in the centre of the stage. The big one will show video tapes of abstract scenes, as a secondary means of conveying the music's emotional content. The small one will offer background information on the German artists.

Ma Pei, a music critic who has seen Lindenberg and Cui in rehearsal, believes the show manifestly does evoke the very spirit of rock.

Ma said: "Though the musical is defined as multimedia, Lindenberg has not abused the form or tried to intimidate audience with too many high-tech stunts or allowed stage gadgetry to manipulate the sound. They devote themselves to presenting beautiful music of high purity."

He said the spirit of rock lies in the quality of the music and its passion to express freedom, adding: "Lindenberg is an innocent person cherishing those two things the most and he is without doubt, the godfather of German rock."

7:15pm, February 27-28

Shanghai Majestic Theatre

66 Jiangning Lu

Tel: 6272-0310, 6272-0234

80-880yuan