Who was/is Zupfgeigenhansel ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
Zupfgeigenhansel
Songs of love and folk suffering
Actually Thomas Friz and Erich Schmeckenbecher had more to do with Wolfgang Steinitz and his collection of democratic folk songs than with the repertoire of the song collection 'Zupfgeigenhansl', in which there are also plenty of nationalistic tones. Nevertheless, the two musicians called themselves Zupfgeigenhansel when searching for a name - as an 'embarrassment solution', but with an 'e' at the end to distinguish them. Founded in 1974, the duo quickly developed into the most successful new folk singers, partly because of the clear political statements in their songs. But fun also played an important role at Zupfgeigenhansel. The programme booklet of the 1977 Festival Deutsches Volkslied in Freiburg stated: "The broad spectrum ... makes a concert with a plucked violin hansel an evening full of good, atmospheric, conscious entertainment". However, this was never at the expense of thorough research and archive work by Thomas Friz and Erich Schmeckenbecher for their song selection.
Thomas Friz described her approach as follows: "We want something to happen, as for example in America, that songs penetrate more into the consciousness of the population, namely democratic songs. So that e.g. such stories as fascism are no longer possible. So that one has a clear picture of the history, otherwise everything repeats itself. I think it is still a great task to work on the democratization of the whole folk song culture, and that is still insufficient" (quoted from Florian Steinbiß, 'Deutsch-Folk: Auf der Suche nach der verlorenen Tradition').
The first long-playing Zupfgeigenhansel record 'Volkslieder 1' appeared in 1976. The weekly magazine 'Die Zeit' said in its review: "Some songs are surprisingly original, sometimes beautifully set and orchestrated. The song Ich bin Soldat, taken from this album, shows the topicality of the old songs that Zupfgeigenhansel chose for their program. It is about the soldier who was forced to fight for wars waged by tyrants. When asked what relation this song had to today, Thomas Friz replied: "The soldiers today must stand ready for the freedom of capital, the 'Nato freedom'. Exactly this fighting and dying must for the rulers and their interests is called into question in the 'old' song."
Rebellious against priests and princes and love stories from past times, thus songs of the small people, against oppression and the authorities as well as songs against paternalism and moral hypocrisy shaped also the follow-up LP 'Volkslieder 2'. The titles I am a freyer farmer's servant and Pope and Sultan are found on it. The latter is an example of the rich repertoire of suggestive or crude texts from German folk song history. While concert-goers enjoyed it, some radio listeners and program managers had to get used to such sounds. When the Pope and Sultan were broadcast, the music editor had to prove that it was really a traditional song. The 'FOLKmagazin' said enthusiastically, one wishes oneself, "Heino may hear these folk songs, so that he stops with his own."
In 1978 Thomas Fritz and Erich Schmeckenbecher published a book entitled 'Es wollt ein Bauer früh aufstehn' ('A farmer wants to get up early'), which has become a standard work with 222 folk songs they have edited. In the foreword Zupfgeigenhansel expressed their new understanding of folk songs and at the same time called for a new way of dealing with them at school: "It was always a matter for the ruling classes only to have 'clean' and 'soft' subservient sounds collected ...; today schoolbooks are approved by the ministries of education of the Länder and their selection is monitored.
In 1986 Zupfgeigenhansel disbanded in a dispute. They had their last live performance as a surprise guest at a concert with Pete Seeger in the Bochum 'Zeche'. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the record, all ever released Zupfgeigenhansel productions have been re-released as CDs. Today Erich Schmeckenbecher works as a soloist and released a recording of a concert on his 30th stage anniversary with many friends and companions on a box set of four CDs in early 2005. Among them are Lydie Auvray, Bernies Autobahn Band, Liederjan and Konstantin Wecker.
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Extract from
Various - songwriter in Germany
Vol.1, For whom we sing (3-CD)
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