Sechts Leuten ist Die Steirische Brach...
If you happen to be around German-American Biergarten's chances are you have heard the song Der Steirische Brach (The Steirsche Custom) but did not know who made the folk-song famous? If you guessed Kern Baum then congrats, however in America some people will label folk-songs that are written and passed down as traditional rather than give credit to the actual artist who made the song popular. For both German and Austrian Americans, this becomes a problem when record companies or any company that capitalizes on a culture; imagine if profits for The Sound of Music went to the Von Trapp family instead of Roger's and Hammerstein! However because so much of Volksmusik and the musicians that make good music have been victims of over sanitation by the music industry in America; we forget about the real people who revive these old songs and want to talk about them. However, this problem is not only extended to Volksmusik but other genres of folk music.
One time I saw a documentary on Netflix called The Lions Share which tells the true story about a Zulu man and his choir who got up to a microphone to sing what we now know as the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
Just like Die Steiriche Brach is a Gstanzl about young men causing a ruckus in a bar, the original song Wemoweh is also a song of rebellion against oppressive rulers in Africa.
The Lion, The Lion
He Sleeps Tonight
But When He Wakes
He Will Wake Up
And Free Us All- The Original Lyrics of Wemoweh
It saddens me that this young man and his choir's song is still written off as a traditional African song rather than lifted this man and his family out of poverty by giving him credit. Sadly just like this young man a lot of Volksmusikant have died without American audiences giving them credit to their music. The last member of Kern Baum, Sepp Kern passed away on June, 10th, 2010 which was the year I graduated High School not knowing about the group and their songs until now. I'm so proud of the Schneiderwirt Trio and their work at the Kern Baum Museum for sharing the legacy of Kern Baum with others. We still need to fight for folk-artist to have rights and for the traditional songs to be valued by these artists so that they do not die in the hands of sanitation and corporate power.
