Nina Hagen, the 1980s queen mother of punk from East Berlin, has developed multiple musical personalities over the years.
The first is the more familiar one who still performs her 1982 dance club hit “New York New York.” That one will appear at Webster Hall tomorrow night.
The second performs Indian spiritual music, which she did the past two nights at the Slipper Room with Moti Ma and the Om-Heriakhandi Band.
Hagen, who’s now a Hindu, has a guru and often visits India, where she filmed a documentary chronicling her passage to India.
“I couldn’t stop shooting,” she told the Post, just after a short shopping excursion in Manhattan’s Little India, where she bought a new hand drum.
The flick, “Om Gottes Willen-Om namah Shivay,” will unreel at the Anthology Film Archives on Monday and Tuesday.
Hagen wears a sari when she performs the Indian music, but will dig out her old punk boots for the Webster Hall show.
She likes to keep her two selves separate, but sometimes throws in some bhajans (Indian gospels) and mantras (Indian prayers) into the rock mix.
In concert, she performs her hits (such as “Univeral Radio” “TV-Glotzer” and “White Punks on Dope”). She also covers the songs of Frank Sinatra (“My Way”), Nirvana (“All Apologies”) and the female Elvis – Janis Martin, whom she is thrilled to have discovered.
But while the songs may be familiar, she fiddles with the words. “I sing ‘All Apolgies’ with my own lyrics,” she says. “People want to sing along, but then, oops, they realize it’s a different story.”
Hagen also will perform some songs by the late great Dee Dee Ramone, who became a good friend after they met at the Chelsea Hotel back in the day, including “How Can I Be So Lucky?” and “He’s so Stupid.” After this tour stop, she’ll meet with Blondie’s Chris Stein and Deborah Harry to discuss recording some of Dee Dee’s tunes.
In October, her autobiography “That’s Why the Lady is a Punk,” will be published and she also wants to release a remix of “New York, New York.”
The city means a lot to her.
“In the ’80s, I was so welcome here – with my music, my art, my whole being,” she says.
She’ll appear with her good friend Ari Up of The Slits (who, as the stepdaugther of Johnny Rotten learned to play guitar from Joe Strummer), the Toilet Boys and Theo from the Lunachicks. An after-party includes deejays and some local bands such as Avenue D.
Webster Hall: 125 East 11th St., between 3rd and 4th Avenues, (212) 353-1600 (www.websterhall.com). The Anthology Fim Archives: 32 Second Ave., at Second Street, (212) 505-5181.
