Album Notes

Listening to Marc play with Tom Waits, John Zorn and Elvis Costello, not to forget his own projects like the fabulous Cubano Postizios, we knew that he has this very sophisticated way of making unusual and even diverse ideas come together. His very distinguished sound made (and still makes) him our favourite guitarist. We were very happy, when he liked the idea to join us on stage.
17 HIPPIES meet Marc Ribot and Jakob Ilja - some experiment that went very right!



17 HIPPIES - The truth and nothing but the truth

For the past 12 years Berlin’s very own ‘orchester spezial’, the 17 HIPPIES, have been playing their whirling, crashing, diving, bobbing and weaving mixture of music from around the world all over Europe … and beyond.


Imagine a mix of Eastern melodies, Balkan rhythms, French chanson, Anglo song writing, Cajun tunes, all perfectly blended together, creating their unique own „Berlin Style“ of ... well pop music. Oh, and they sing in German, English and French.


This energetic 17 HIPPIES music is the quintessence of many genres. The musicians musical backgrounds reveal influences from rock-pop to classic and jazz, and is reflected in the instruments they play: accordion, trombone, trumpet, violin, cello, woodwinds, mandolin, ukulele, banjo, Irish bouzouki, guitar, double bass, Indian harmonium and more ...



All in all, more than a 1.200 live concerts, all over Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Russia and Japan. With additional concerts in London and the SXSW festival in Austin/Tx.

Look forward to see them perform live!

“The 17 Hippies are ridiculously underrated.
They should be in the front rank of European world music artists …”
Charlie Gillet, BBC London