German Folk- and Blues-Singers

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: alanabit
Date: 26 Feb 07 - 05:48 PM

Gulliver, that sounds a bit like Wolf Maahn, who was a pop star about twenty five years ago. He did an unplugged tour about twelve years ago.
BAP did sound pretty vital in their early days. They had the idea of doing very topical songs in the Kölsch dialect. It certainly caught on in Germany in a big way for a while, but BAP are only a medium level band now.
They were friends of Wolf Maahn, of course. Maahn is originally from Berlin, but they are both Köln based.
The connection of either band with folk music is pretty tenuous, however. Klaus (der Geiger) did appear on one of Niedecken (of BAP's) solo albums. So I guess Nidecken got a little "folk music" credibility out of that.
You can't really compare the German music scene to the UK one though, because even in rock - let alone folk - the regional differences and dialects are so much more important.

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: JennyO
Date: 26 Feb 07 - 05:07 PM

Funny this thread should appear just after I've got back from a festival at Cobargo (down near the south coast of New South Wales), where the hit of the festival was a German band called The Beez. They were very good musically, and a lot of fun!

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: Gulliver
Date: 26 Feb 07 - 04:46 PM

Ooops, misspelled a name up above--should be Lydie Auvray (no wonder I couldn't find her in Google!). She was liaised for a while with the Braunschweiger singer Jurgen Slopianka, who had a pub in Braunschweig and also for a time in Hannover. She's still going strong.

Another group doing Yiddish music was Espe. Groups that my girl-friend liked were Lilienthal (from Hameln, I believe) and Schmetterlinge (I think from Vienna) doing political-type stuff.

Saw a great singer playing "unplugged" in Bochum about 12 years ago, then again with a rock band somewhere else in the Ruhrpott. I hear he's made a good few CD's by now, but can't think of his name (just one word--his surname)...

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: Gulliver
Date: 26 Feb 07 - 04:27 PM

Was Dieter von Haase associated with that pub, Bubbly? He was a pal of Hamish's.

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: bubblyrat
Date: 26 Feb 07 - 10:08 AM

I used to live just around the corner from the little bar that was once owned by Hamish Imlach, in Bielefeld( about 5 years ago ). Some of the local German musicians who used to gather in there for an Irish session,were pretty damned good, I can tell you !!---no sense of humour,of course, and they never smiled,or seemed to be enjoying themselves, but they were TOP CLASS musicians,nevertheless. I also enjoyed listening to Brian McNeil talking to the audience ,in a Bielefeld folk-club, in fluent German, but I think that was because his mother is either Austrian or Swiss ???

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 26 Feb 07 - 08:01 AM

I remember the shock of visiting Germany in the early 1980's and hearing BAP - the Kristalnacht album.

Over in England - all the bands were synth based Thompson Twins, Eurthymics, Depeche Mode......

And here was a band having enormous success with guitar based folk rock, and moreover not straining to sound 'olde fashioned traditional' like Steeleye and Fairport.

I was chartreuse with envy - we had nothing remotely as good.

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 26 Feb 07 - 06:58 AM

Not to forget great leftie Dieter Süverkrüp and Walter Mossmann!

Susanne - Bettina Wegener.

To mention some others : Tom Kannmacher, Fiedel Michael, Siegfried Lersch ("Die Gedanken sind frei")

Manfred

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 25 Feb 07 - 08:26 PM

Peter Rohland ought to be mentioned. Sadly, he died young, but not before he'd given the German folk revival of the Sixties and Seventies a big push.

Also, some of those who made folk a force in the then GDR; Folklaender, Wacholder, Duo Sonnenschirm, Piatkowski & Rieck, Bettina Wegner (who is in a league of her own) - to mention but a few.

And I forgot Helmut Debus, writer of Low German songs from East Frisia.

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 25 Feb 07 - 05:07 AM

What about Franz-Josef Degenhardt, Eckhard Kahlhofer, Schobert & Black and early recordings of Reinhard Mey? They all started in the 60'.

Manfred

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: Ernest
Date: 25 Feb 07 - 04:08 AM

My friend Güno van Leyen did 3 nice albums with poems of the lower rhine area set to music - apart from that a fine singer of irish american stuff too...

Best
Ernest

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: alanabit
Date: 25 Feb 07 - 02:47 AM

Susanne: Of course you are right about the Yiddish album being by Zupfgeigenhansel. I ought to know as we hear it often enough.
Arguably "Klaus der Geiger" is his real name now Leadbelly. I had known him for many years before I ever heard the name "von Wrochen". I first heard it when I went to visit him in hospital some years ago! It's hard to convey the effect of his performances on record or television. You really have to experience him close up, where he is something of a force of nature. He can get well paid work doing gigs and sessions for famous musicians and singers. He is also quite prepared to go into the studio to play for friends. For me he is a giant.

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: Gulliver
Date: 24 Feb 07 - 08:42 PM

My favourites were Werner Laemmerhirt, Lydia Ouvray, Herman van Veen (though he's Dutch), Liederjan, (some) Ougenweide, among others. A guitarist I liked was Chris Jones (lived in Germany a long time), but died just over a year ago. He used to play with Kieran Halpin, who gave me the bad news at a Dublin gig last year.

There's a number of young (and not-so-young) folkies around Hannover/Hamburg playing Irish and acoustic folk as well as their own compositions in bands such as DeReelium (Barbara Steinort), Cara, Ceolta (with a good piper, Achim Gretsch), Déirin Dé, etc. I used to know a lot more, eg, Ten Feet Below, but I don't know whether they are still playing. A good long-running Irish group in Stuttgart is Bachelor's Walk.

Friends of mine in Hannover sing accapella (all women) in Herzen in Terzen--very funny and well worth seeing if they come your way (their website is here ).

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: CharleyO'Neill
Date: 24 Feb 07 - 08:08 PM

The old Irish folk music seems to have had abig following in Germany for many a year. I have heard many a tale from visiting musos regarding fine German hospitality. I heard that the German's latched on to British folk music many years ago as trad German stuff had come to be associated with the Nazis and generally was not that cool.
My mate Craig Herbertson (a scot) seems never to have looked back since emigrating to Germany a few years ago. Check out him and his group, Scapa Flow.

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 24 Feb 07 - 07:47 PM

Liederjan did a Yiddish album? You sure you aren't thinking of Zupfgeigenhansel? Both bands have recorded (or did record, in the Zupfis' case) many marvellous albums.

There are other artists, many of them less well known, who are excellent nevertheless. Christof Staehlin is one of my favourites, with a breathtaking way with the German language. Dragseth Duo are another, singing mainly in Low German though they have turned to English in recent years and are doing a nice version of 'Sailing to Philadelphia'.

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 24 Feb 07 - 12:18 PM

alanabit - I would like to add that on Hannes Wader's second longplayer Werner Laemmerhirt accompanied him (Title of this record: "Ich hatte mir noch so viel vorgenommen"). Seems to me one of the best german folksong records ever.
"Real" name of Klaus der Geiger is Klaus von Wrochen.
All others: agreed!

Manfred

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: alanabit
Date: 24 Feb 07 - 11:42 AM

So are Eric Burdon and Tony Sheridan, though I would hesitate to describe either of them as folk or blues acts.
However, if we are going to talk about real folk singers, let's talk about the magnificent Klaus der Geiger. He is a stunning fiddler, a live performer of enormous physical presence and he absolutely embodies the spirit of vital, immediate music, which is passed on face to face. Had he been born in an English speaking country, he would have been renowned throughout the world.
Hannes Wader is a fine interpreter of both German and translated songs. Liederjahn combine good taste and fine musicianship with a commitment, which easily crosses cultures. Their album of Yiddish songs still sounds fresh after nearly twenty years.
There is any number of groups playing medieval music - and doing it rather well. They don't get on TV, but you can hear them at the markets and pageants.
You can find brilliant blues guitarists anywhere and Germany is no exception. Werner Lammerheardt and Peter Finger are two of many.
Richard Bargel, Köln's slide guitarist, is able to get almost any musician he wants to play with him.
All in all, there is plenty of good folk and blues music to lap up in Germany.

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 24 Feb 07 - 10:40 AM

John- I believe so but I'm not quite sure about this.

Manfred

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 Feb 07 - 10:36 AM

Isn't Colin Wilkie a naturalised German now?

G ¦¬]

Subject: RE: German Folk- and Blues-Singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 24 Feb 07 - 10:32 AM

Sorry for including Blues-singers. This should be another thread.

Manfred

Subject: German Folk--Singers
From: Leadbelly
Date: 24 Feb 07 - 10:30 AM

Hi 'Catters,

while reading all about known resp. little known folk-singers from english speaking countries I asked myself whether non-german 'Catters
are aware of any german folk-singers.

So, if you are interested in this topic, let's start this little survey!



Manfred