Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester

If you have an affection for German popular music of the 1920s and early 1930s you probably know all about Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester. This musical genre is best known today in the music of Kurt Weill and in the use made of it in the musical Cabaret. But no one has brought it back to life as Max Raabe has done it. His singing captures the style perfectly and the arrangements used by his 12-piece orchestra are dead on.

Raabe and the Palast Orchester recently concluded a tour of the United States and Canada and charmed audiences wherever they went. In this video we see a live performance from 2006 of "Mein kleiner gruener Kaktus," a piece made famous in 1934 by the Comedian Harmonists.

Paul E. Robinson