Who was/is Bodo Kolbe ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
Bodo Kolbe
"Godfather of modern South Hessian dialect music." ('Frankfurter Rundschau')
Bodo Kolbe (born 1949) from Mörfelden-Walldorf in southern Hesse is considered the founder of dialect blues in Germany. Since 1970 he has been playing blues with South Hessian dialect lyrics. His first LP 'Mer speele de Bluus' (1977) belongs "meanwhile to the classics of this style" ('AZ', Frankfurt). Kolbe's first band, which existed for five years and whose members changed from gig to gig, from rehearsal to rehearsal, was called Die Kränk, because - according to Bodo Kolbe - everyone agreed: "In dere Combo krigt me die Kränk". Which in southern hessian means "there you go, you break. In 1979 the group Dood un Deiwel followed, whose LP 'Uff Deiwel kumm raus' was awarded a quarterly prize by the German record critics in 1981. Three years later Saure Gummern was founded, with which Bodo Kolbe performed until the beginning of 2007. Today he plays his "Riedblueszeug" in the duo Dr. Kolbe & Frl. Schmitz as well as "a bunch of bizarre stuff" with the final Südhessische Ukulelenorchester. In addition to his activities as a master of Riedblues, Kolbe also works for independent theatre groups, television and radio.
Bodo Kolbe, according to his own statements, began to devote himself to the region on the night of December 24, 1949, "when I was born in Mörfelden (which is a few kilometers south of Frankfurt am Main). This is also the reason why I came to this language. This language is one of many German dialects, to my regret not the one that has been declared a high-level German language. This caused me some difficulties during my time at school and during my studies. This went and goes here apparently still more people in such a way, why just a few of my older things in some areas of South Hesse in the meantime almost got folk song character. The 'Vorm Door Steher Räg' belongs in this category."
The story of this song probably fits anywhere in a German small town or village. "It's taking place at my place on the B44 in front of my birthplace. 200 meters further north is the pub, 400 meters further south is the cemetery. Local life takes place between these narrow horizons. The piece is from the early 70s. Not much has changed since then: The pub is now called 'Asian Classic' and the traffic on the B44 has increased so much that you sometimes have to shout in front of the door when talking".
Bodo Kolbe publishes his records in his own publishing house, which was founded in 1977 as "the desperate act of a handful of musicians from southern Hesse who wanted to listen to records" (Bodo Kolbe). The focus of the programme has remained unchanged throughout the years: 'Riedblues', the mixture of folk blues from the 20s and 30s and dialect texts from southern Hesse. In addition, records with folk and historical songs from the Rhine/Main region were produced. The collaboration with the Klappmaul Theater in Frankfurt resulted in three records with radio play versions of children's plays, and a sampler presented an overview of the South Hessian music scene at the end of the 1970s.
"Certainly. In southern Hesse, too, young musicians rap and hip-hop. And the metal is heavy and loud. We don't have a living folk music tradition and we won't get it back despite the resurrection attempts of various folk revivals, but ... awwer: Mer speele de Bluus" (from the booklet of the CD-release of 1997).
www.dickworz.de
www.sauregummern.de
www.kolbeschmitz.de
www.ukulelenorchester.de
Extract from
Various - songwriter in Germany
Vol.3, For whom we sing (3-CD)
/various-songwriter-in-Germany-vol.3-for-who-who-we-sing-3-cd.html
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