17 Hippies is a band from Berlin, Germany, playing largely on acoustic instruments, a radically democratic collective of professionals and amateurs.

At this time Antje Henkel (clarinet), Elmar Gutmann (trumpet), and Ulrike "Rike" Lau (cello) joined the band.

In 1997 Henry Notroff (clarinet) and Dirk Trageser (guitar & vocals) also were added, and live recordings of different concerts and rehearsal room sessions were compiled into their first CD Rock'n'Roll 13.

In 2001 the band wrote the score for the German movie Grill Point (Halbe Treppe) by Andreas Dresen and they performed in a cameo role in the film.

A tour of Budapest, Prague, Vienna and France took place, and the second French album Sirba was released, featuring their first radio hit "Marlène".

In 2006 the band made a tour of Japan and Spain and composed the music for the play Kasimir and Karoline, staged at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin.

Concert highlights included appearances at WOMAD in Charlton Park (UK), and a sold out show at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris.

Resulting music was published on the album of the same name, featuring Elyas Khan, Marc Ribot, Mars Red Sky,Tunji Beier, Banda Bardo, Aris Doryono and Les Ogres de Barback (among others).

On 19 December 2004, a concert for German national radio WDR in Cologne, featuring the two electric guitarists Marc Ribot and Jakob Ilja, was recorded and released on CD in 2006.