Santrra Oxyd (real name: Sandra Herbener; 23. July 1961 in Konstanz) is a German musician whose musical style is characterized by punk undetibetic folklore. At the age of 14, she left her family and moved to Freiburg and from the early 1980s to Berlin. There she attended school, worked in a health food store and was a groupie at DAF and the Einstürzenden Neubauten. From about 1983, she herself appeared as a musician. She had contact with the drug scene early on and was a drug addict until 1982. In 1986, she was ordination as a Zen nun. In the same year, she suffered a crack in the brain in a bicycle accident and still performed regularly with her accordion, but otherwise withdrew from the public eye.
In 1993, she suffered a herniated disc and decided to travel to the Dalai Lama's home in Dharmshala in India due to dreams of the Tibetan spiritual leader after her recovery. From 1994, she traveled to Asia several times, including to Dharmshala, where she actually met the Dalai Lama. There she also met her later husband Ngawang Gelek, a Tibetan lama and exile, who lived there as a hermit monk after a three-year prison stay as a result of a demonstration of Tibetan monks against the Chinese occupation. Gelek gave up his celibacy and married Sandra Herbener, who as a Zen nun had no celibacy. They moved to Germany together, where shortly afterwards, in July 1995, their daughter Tara Tenzin Namdröl was born. The unusual marriage became the subject of a documentary. The couple were divorced in 2003.
Links to Peel[]
Peel seemed to have discovered the musician in early 1986 via her debut album, '...Und Sonst Niemand...'. Further material from Santrra were played on his radio programmes, especially on BFBS, who were based in Germany.
Peel mentioned seeing Santrra and the Chills perform at Borkum in Germany on his 18 November 1987 BBC Radio One programme and thought they both were great live,.
On his 09 August 1991 (BFBS) show, Peel revealed that he tried to get Santrra to come to London to record a session for his show, but mentioned that she never came.
Shows Played[]
- 1986
- 01 February 1986 (BFBS): A Little World (album - ...Und Sonst Niemand...) Rebel Rec
- 03 February 1986: Aqua (LP - ...Und Sonst Niemand...) Rebel
- 08 February 1986 (BFBS): Jenseits (album - Und Sonst Niemand...) Rebel Rec
- 22 February 1987 (BFBS): Eis In Grau (album - Oxyd) Zensor
- 27 May 1987: 'Liebeslied-Japanisch (LP-Oxyd)' (Zensor)
- 16 November 1987: Auto (12" - King And Queen + Car) Zensor
- 27 November 1987 (BFBS): Auto (12" - King And Queen + Car) Zensor
- 1988
- 22 February 1988: Auto (12" - King And Queen + Car) Zensor
- 1991
- 09 August 1991 (BFBS): Liebeslied - Englisch (LP - Oxyd) Zensor (JP: 'In fact I wanted Santrra to come to London and record a session for my programmes here, but she never came, but why should she')