There is a trend of Classical Music CDs that say Classical Music or Oprea for People Who Hate It. Well, why can't the same be fur Volksmusik? Not all Germans or German Americans love Volksmusik and all its different genres; one time I was on YouTube pleading to VlogDave and GetGermanized to do language analysis on Volksmusik from different German and Austrian cultures. Dave's response was, "Yuck! Volksmusik!" and Dominic just laughed. However, Good Mythical Morning did a great video on jodeln and I'd wish they also did one on different kinds of Volksmusik.
Unlike most people, I hate Olaf from Frozen, and if I did try to burn a snowman people would think I was a loopy person. However, in Switzerland and Austria, they have a whole tradition of burning and blowing up this monstrosity by Disney in a celebration on the third of April called Sechselauten which means the ringing of the bells at six-o-clock. It all starts right in the town square of Zurich where after a parade they burn a snowman made out of straw barrels, sticks, and dress him up to the nines and call him the Boogg which is short for boogyman. Superstition says that the quicker the Boogg burns the faster spring will come.
This means Switzerland is a great place to hate Frozen; however the German's, Austrian's, and Swiss do have a universal hatred of Disney. This is because in Germany they have laws on over-marketing to children, one German psychologist of the Frankfurt am Main school of psychology called Walt Disney the devil. German's were inventors of the first garden gnome which is not a gnome but a dwarf or group of dwarfs called Kobalts who work alongside humans if you are nice to them.
The reason why their hats are red is that they not only help humans but also fought alongside them dyeing their hats red with the blood of their victims. Even my Oma and Opa's village of Utzing has dwarf folklore; tourists like to visit a cave that according to the village lore the dwarfs lived in and tried to mine in with no luck at all just dirt until the people of the village came and were appalled by their condition. So they cleaned them all up and gave them jobs in the village and some say the cave now has invisible treasures that only dwarfs can see but we cannot. This is because like in the Orignal Grimms tales and now even in Tolkien's books dwarfs have magic and craft magic; this dates back to Norse mythos where dwarfs made things like...
Skidblaner: A ship for the gods that favored a good wind and fit into your pocket
Gullinbrusti: A golden florescent boar that could run faster than any horse
Daupnir: A ring that could multiply its's self
Thor's Hammer
Odin's Spear
and Hair for Siff because of a bad prank by Loki...
It's nothing like the Marvel Version that we all know and love, which is now owned by Disney along with Star Wars...and Disney's Snow White is nothing like the original Grimms Version. Where the Queen not only wants to eat her heart but her liver!
Also in the Grimms version, Sneewittchen gets poisoned three times and is very cautious about the poisoned apple to the point of cutting the apple to see what is inside and then eats it. Also, the prince only comes to her grave while on a hunting trip which means...he's drunk and plans to steal from the dwarfs until he realizes he's crashing a funeral. However, it's no kiss that wakes her up but a Heimlich maneuver from one of his servants who got tired of carrying a coffin. Then once she's finally saved by her prince...they have a surprise for the queen on their wedding day and it's not a red blender or a fruitcake. It's a red hot pair of iron shoes straight from the furnace for her to wear; a gift she will die for and die from.
One time while reading an issue of German Life about the legacy of German-Americans and their strong perseverance and struggle to keep their cultural expression alive; there was one word I spotted that was very new to me. It's a word that only we both Richendeuch and Bauerdeuch say but those other people (non-German Americans) are not allowed to say, and it's no different than a white person dressing up as a Native American in full Cheif regalia, or not asking to wear lederhosen or a dirndl at a gathering or wedding. To us, it just means friendship, well-being, or another way to say, Prost, Servus, Gerzi, or Danke Schon! That word is Gemulichkite... When non-Richendeutch or Bauerdeuch people use this word it is not in a positive light like we want it to mean; when I hear this word uttered by regular non-immigrant Americans this is what I picture...
"Should wei ban the toys in the dungeon heir Bergermister?"
Some German-Americans use Gemulichkite in advertising for Beirhausen or Restaurants without knowing its passive-aggressive history and association with the charactures of Kiser William, Otto von Bismark, Adolf Hitler (a real xenophobe like Trump who also wrote a best-selling book), and characters Burgermeister Misterberger who bans all the toys from the town (except the ones that make him tickle...).
What many people don't realize is that Otto warned Archduke Ferdian of Austria about going into an open car and parading it around a poor village would lead to both his death and a World War, and told him his safest bet was to cancel if he wanted to stay alive. Advice that he did not listen to because he got a rich motor car to show off how wealthy he was which is a big mistake and lead to his assassination and the rest you know in your AP World History 101. He was not only a general but also a man who helped modernize and elevate Germany into a socialistic democracy that put cleanliness in industry, food, drink, and in the streets in high regard, was against child labor, and used mothers and children as positive messages in political art.
Many of the negative portals of Otto and Willam come from French propaganda and the American Eugenics Movement a.k.a Prohibition. Germany was way ahead of human health than America during its Industrial Revolution; many German ideas also lead the Progressive Movement in the United States. One German-American Henry Heinz was the first to put electric lights in his factory and invented the assembly line way before Henry Ford (also a xenophobe). Also, a German-American cartoonist named Thomas Nast is the one credited with introducing Santa Claus and also used him as an Abolitionist symbol giving gifts and supporting Union soldiers during the Civil War; making Ulysses. S. Grant who also met Otto von Bismark declare Christmas a national holiday.
Teddy Roosevelt who practiced temperance (not drinking), defended and even supported German-American unions and businesses. At one point he tried his best to learn German and remarked about our drinking songs as glorious even though he could not understand what we were singing (maybe Doc should travel back in time and give him Google Translate).
We have many drinking songs of pride, joy, and fun; one I like to play on my tuba Hubert is Im Muchichen Steht ein Hoffbrauhausbut one song that people are familiar with that refects when you should say Gemulichkite is the song Ein Prosit. The song is sung before drinking beir or any hard liquor in hopes that you and others drinking is blessed or does not die which is why in Bavaria there is the saying, "Hopp und Maltz, Gott mitt talz!" which means God Bless my Hopps and Maltz, two ingredients in German beir (it's also a motto for a wing of the Bavarian government that inspects beir for impurities...). The song has its origin in the Saxony region of Germany written by Benard Deitrich and is the only piece of his work to survive for a long time; only to be popularized by a Bavarian band leader and landlord Georg Lang who sung and introduced the song with a large orchestra in 1898 in a beir tent, how do you fit an orchestra into a tent, wei don't know how he did it? But he did and now it's ritual to sing the song before drinking.
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit! Der Gemütlichkeit! Ein Prosit, ein Prosit! Der Gemütlichkeit!
Whenever I’m talking to a person about the wonderful
genre that is Volksmusik there is always that annoying question that pops up, “Isn’t
that Polka Music?”. This question has a murky feel to myself a young
woman growing up in a German-American family because not only is polka a dance
but is also an umbrella used by non-German Americans for any music that sounds
German, Austrian, or is played at a beir tent. The history of this dance name
being used as an umbrella is shameful to the number of Musikanten who came to
America to share their music only for it to be plastered with this label. Yet
this umbrella has protected us from xenophobia and has united us with other
cultures who share the same dance with Czech, Slovenian, and Polish peoples and
also created and adapted to new genres of music. Even though it’s an ugly umbrella
with a history of assimilation and exploitation behind it; we all have to acknowledge
it’s there like Vroom in the Room.
So What Is Polka Music Really?
A Polka can exist in all genres of music all over that have been influenced by Eastern Europeans just like when Indian people were inspired to develop their own marching bands because they saw the English military and navy have their own brass and military bands. However, the Indian people's bands had wonderful and colorful uniforms which influenced a British band named The Beatles to come together to form...you know the lyrics...
We hope you enjoy the show!
There are polkas written by Classical composers like Johan and Richard Strauss, African Americans used it as the foundation of Ragtime Music which became jazz, Mexicans created La Banda music that is heard in every Mexican Restaurant because of German Immigrants who were kicked to the curb because of Prohibition moved to Mexico to brew German Beers and taught Mexicans about their music. Without Volkmusik in America, there would be no Jazz, Country, Pop, Dixieland Jazz, Jodeling, or Rock. Even some songs in musicals are even polkas or have the polka's AABA format such as Shall We Dance, Be Our Guest, A Spoonful of Sugar.
The Vroom in the Room
However despite Volkmusik's influence on much of America's music genres; we still have to talk about why the term Polka despite it being in much of European folk music and being based on the Chezch word for dancing around the pole; has an ugliness tied to xenophobia at a time when Germans were considered like people from Central America today illegal immigrants even through two World Wars. Americans were afraid of singers and performers who sung or used their native dialects in their songs which is why many German and Austrian Americans formed their own communal music groups specific to a bar or brewery which is why polkas and ballads of German, Polish, or Slovenian-German descent mention either the name of the brewery or the name of the town the beer was being brewed such as Milwaukee Polka or Old Milwaukee.
If they ever performed outside of their community there would be riots and police-involved which is why when Prohibition his us hard; bands like the Six Fat Dutchmen and many others changed from traditional German attire and music to something more akin to the Swing Band style of jazz, however, I'm proud the Harrold Loeffelmacher kept playing his favorite instrument the tuba despite all these changes.
Even though Polka sounds like an inclusive label it's also like Country Music rife with exploitation by the record industry who for a long time had a history of xenophobia, elitism, and racism. Barn Dance Music or Beer Hall Music was once actual terms for German or Austrian American Folk Music and anti-Semitic and xenophobic people like Henry Ford and other wealthy men thought that this music was so damaging to youth in America that he wanted schools to start square dancing which unbeknownst to him has it's origin back to the Irish and German folk-dance tradition along with Riverdance and Schuhplattler. This is also how we got the myth of the jodeling, gun-slinging, and chap wearing Cowboys because it was the record industry assimilating jodeling into something American audiences could understand.
Even Polka music was exploited in the bubbly guise of the Larenwence Welk Show where it becomes even more stereotypical knowing that Larence used his German accent for show rather than admit he was not German or German American. It was an even bigger blow to local German and Austrian Folk groups in America who were replaced with corny song and dance numbers. Marv Herzog is also one of our most well-known victims of the Narm Charm the show presented around folk musicians and he is from Frankenmuth, MI! If only I had a time machine...
Like This Number Was A Swell Idea...
I'm sorry to say this but Time Machines only exist in science fiction; however, the only thing I can do is help change people's minds with the knowledge and experiences with the knowledge I'm learning about Volksmusik and it's development in America which is why the history of xenophobia and assimilation targeted towards German and Irish immigrants must not be ignored in our textbooks along with how damaging and painful Prohibition was not only to workers, our economy, cities, and drinking culture but also to a culture of people who had traditions and wonderful music and literature to share with the world.
Calling all Volksmusik Polka Music is like saying, "All penguins are the same" when really all Penguins are different and come from different countries. Volksmusik means Peoples Music for a reason; because German's, Swiss, Tirolan's, Steirlander's, Laventaller's, Egerlander's, and Slovenian's want to share their music with you and it does not belong to one person it should be for all people to hear and enjoy it.
In honor of my Uncle Gorge who was my Grandma Lill's brother I like to talk about something that bothers me as a Michigander of German-American heritage. You see, people in Pennsylvania and Texas have their own unique German dialects that litter their expressions and idioms that define them as a German-American culture. In Pennsylvania, the language has survived because of groups like the Amish and even have a newspaper written in the dialect called Pennsylvania Dutch. The bumper sticker on the right of me says "We still speak the mother tongue" when in standard German it's Mutterspreacher in their language it's Mudderschprooch
Also in Texas, they have a dialect too known as Texas German which sadly is a dying dialect that is beginning to have a revival because of a water park with a very German-sounding name which means Slippery (Schlitter) and Rode (Bahn) in the town of New Braunfels, Texas which is also on my bucket list along with Dr.Seuss's home in La Jolla until a waterside called Verruckt ruined my dreams....wait that was in Kansas?
However something odd has happened to us as German American Michiganders, how did we lose the language of our immigrant ancestors? The answer may lie in our accents depending on where you are as a Michigander; for non-Michiganders, it seems odd that some car salesmen in ads say, "Buy this new kharr" with a k sounding c to the point where it sounds like Harr! This is because of the way an American English c sounds like the German k sound like Karl. Or this one that I make all the time, "I'm putting on my shwetter!" in German w can have a soft sh or hard rr sound. I hate it when people say we do not have an accent because we do and it's full of German-sounding vowels.
Also, take a look at this map; the purple and red spots are where the population of German ancestry is the highest in the 1990s before I was born in 1991; and here is a good challenge for Google Earth users find out which counties and cities land on the makers in red and purple because you won't just find Frankenmuth, you will find other towns that are predominately German. Because of the internet, we can finally learn our mother tongue in Standard German; but it was even harder for German Americans in the 20's and post-war years to fully embrace the language because of German anti- sentiment in World War One and the rise of the Third Riche in World War Two. If you listen to Volksmusik or the Leider of Schubert or even to Mozart's Opera The Magic Flute(Die Zauberflaute) you as a non-German speaker or regular person can learn to understand how powerful the language is but how beautiful it can be too. I end this post by letting you listen to one of the most beautiful sounding song in Jodeln history Der Konigsjodeler sung by Franzl Lang.
Gruss vom Krampus and Greetings from The Grinch
As a younger generation of German Americans, we know the story of Dr.Seuss's book How The Grinch Stole Christmas....however, you have never heard of the Grinch's older Bruder und mutter who live in Germany and Austria; Krampus and Frau Perchta. Krampus is the Christmas demon or beast who is harry, has a big grimacing mouth, has the horns of a goat, and carries a sack on his back and a bundle of Burch sticks for beating naughty children. Also, there is not just one Krampus, a whole group of them will go looking for naughty children on December, 5th which is Krampusnacht where they terrorize spectators by shaking chains, bells, beatings, and all-out rowdiness in the streets in an event called the Krampuslauf. Also, that sack that Krampus carries on his back is his way of taking you to hell where he will burn you, whip you, or even eat you...which is way scary than just a little lump of coal!
At one point Hitler banned poor Krampus because he represented socialistic justice; which is exactly what the Grinch represents. Theodor Geisel wrote the book because he too felt the same way about Christmas becoming an overly capitalistic holiday and also had a dark scene of humor. Also, studies in Psychology prove that the sourness and depression that comes with Christmas makes people very Grinchy; another is because the Grinch represents a very hard issue for many immigrants and people with mental health issues, how to feel happy during the holidays. Now that I'm a German American of Generation X along with my cousins I can find out about Volksmusik and German culture but people like Seuss did not know about Krampus's mutter Frau Perchta. Frau Perchta or Frau Holleis called The Mother of Beast which means she is one powerful fairy, that's right Krampus is a fay creature! She is an old woman with long white hair and tattered clothing and oversees if people are working or are being forced to work on the twelve days leading to Christmas. If she sees that a person is working and not celebrating like usual she will ask you who your employer is and why your still working when it's Christmas? If you tell her she will reward you with gifts and punish your boss in the most gruesome way possible....how? First, her children will eat your food (sound familiar...), and then she will disembowel your boss and fill your boss's guts with sawdust and stuff his belly with straw or stones. Imagine what she would think about Walmart's worker schedule around the holidays! After all
Christmas doesn't come from the store. Maybe Christmas means a little bit more...
So when people think they need Krampus or an Elf on the Shelf...We German Americans have the Grinch instead of a chew toy for Max
The Happy Wander or Mein Vater war ein Wandermann is a very popular song known to many people in choruses as a camping or walking song covered by Frank Weir, The Stargazers, and even The Muppet's; however what people do not know the song's connection to a German environmental movement and the history of the choir who put music to the words of a poem written by Florenz Fredrick Sigismund. Often mistaken as a German Folk Song it's music was written by Friedrich-Willheim Moller for his sister Edith who ran a choir of children in Northern Germany who were orphans during World War Two.
After the war in 1953, the BBC broadcasted the Obernkirtchen Children's Choir singing the song which landed number two on popular music stations and even appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. It also became an anthem for the revival of the Wandervogel, an environmental group that fought against industrialization by hiking in the woods. When German-Americans brought the concept to America we now know it as either the Boy Scouts or the Hippie Movement in the 1960's which in Germany and Austria was a perfect time to revitalize Volksmusik and bring back Eche (real or traditional) Volksmusik into not just to a younger generation, but also into the record stores of America. It was also the beginning of a new genre calledSchlager that would borrow concepts from American pop and novelty music and blend it with folk instrumentation. The English version of the song is different in many ways from its original German version; for example, the German version's fourth verse has the brook going through a tube instead of the English version's brook dancing in the sun. The German version also asks us to listen to the birds, the stream, and that hiking creates fresh desire and helps us breathe. In the English version, they seem as if their distractions which is why we should learn the song in its original form because it's important for us a German-Americans to know our language before it's too late; like the original German version says... Ein Wanderburshe Sein/ Be A Wander!
