Biography

The history of Saâda Bonaire has to be divided into two periods. A) 1980 - 1988 B) 1990 - 1995 Saâda Bonaire was an art concept project formed in Bremen by DJ ralph "von" richthoven, vocalists Stephanie Lange & Claudia Hossfeld in 1982. Saâda Bonaire's objective was to combine wave, reggae, dub, disco and arabian music into a string of otherworldly thought provocative dance floor hits. In 1982 the group was signed to EMI Germany. London based dub wizard Dennis Bovell produced the group's only single at the Kraftwerk-studio in Cologne. But EMI dropped the group one week before the release of the 12". Label-less, the two girls and Richthoven continued recording before finally calling it quits 1987. Who would have guessed that decades later Saâda Bonaire would be perceived as early icons of feminist pop poetry. In 2013 Captured Tracks released a self titled double lp with these Saâda Bonaire-tracks from the 80.s in 1991 the story continues: Richthoven had began a production collaboration with Mike Ellington. Mike had built a recording studio in the catacombs beneath the sex shop his father owned. The supercharged soul-voice of Andrea Ebert was a perfect contrast to Steffi's deadpan vocal style. Musically, the project moved between soul-funk, trip-hop house & oriental elements in the 90s. It wasn't until 2021 that these Saâda Bonaire tracks from the 90s accidentally turned up in East Berlin. The material was immediately released by Captured Tracks in New York.