Why The Grinch is Our Krampus

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 Holle is 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


You better run little elf's...

The History Behind The Happy Wander

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 called Schlager 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!       

Why We Need to Talk About Der Steirische Brauch

                      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. 

    

Rocking with Kilts?

Like rock music but think Volksmusik is something just your Oma and Opa listen to?
Meet the Volkmusik group Die Lauser....

They are funny, gritty, wear kilts, one guy plays bagpipes along with some other instruments and also their baritone player Marcus Ponhold has a wonderful voice!

This amazing group comes from the Steiermark in Austria along with another being Die Edlseer. Not only are their songs funny such as one about a Steinmann who gets in trouble in Dubai for playing his clarinet and jodeling, homages to their home, and have some bagpipes; but their instrumentals such as Milwaukee Polka are filled with joyful wildness and make one want to dance! They are also known for their covers and meddles of Slovenian artist Slavko Avsenik's, Kern Baum, Die Stoakoger, and even my favorite Die Original Tiroler Echo. From what I read on their website they have traveled all over the world (including Dubai...) and I hope as a German American I can enjoy them at the D.T.E Music Theater but for right now this summer.....it's Alice Cooper on July, 20th, 2019.

Es tud uns leid Die Lauser, Es tud uns leid......:(

   

Is There Such a Thing as "Naughty Volksmusik"?

   Like Rock and Pop music which the genre of Schlager is based off on there have been times where some songs make us laugh and cringe over the naughty and inappropriate subject matter, and Volksmusik is no different. Remember the Alice Cooper song Cold Ethyl? Well it's German/Austrian cousin is a traditional song called Heut ist Mei Alte Gstorbn means in English My Old Lady Died Today and this song is meant to be a song involving Dead Body Humor since it's an upbeat song about a spouse dying and if you think Kern Baum has taken things too far then look at this cover...

Ja Tat amal die Arbeit sterb'n  in English Yes Do the Dying Work
(Maybe a Good Idea for Alice Cooper's next album...)

   In fact, there is a sub-genre of Volksmusik called Witze (Joke) or Nix which means, "nothing" in English and why is it called Nix? Well imagine you have an Opa that gives you some money to buy any record...you hide the Nix Record in your Rucksack so he won't know until...

Opa: Wat are you hiding?

You: Uhhhh.....Nix...

Opa: Don't be a Dumkoff! Show mei wat you got at de record store?

(You pull out this CD Box)

Opa: Alright where did you get these CDs! Dis is a cheap piece of krap voll of vulgar Witze und Songs!

  So buying these records, or CD's is no different than a middle school boy in the eighties buying a copy of National Lampoon and then his father catching him reading an inappropriate joke. In fact, this sub-genre is still alive and well today because of artists like Kern Baum, Hias, Beirmosl Blosn, and many others who were apart of the Volkmusik revival in the sixties. So while Laurence Welk and his buddy Myron Florian were doing their same old clean stick on television in America, people in Germany and Austria were revisiting Volksmusik and creating a new and diverse generation of singers and performers who created and combined Volkmusik with other genres of popular music including Rock which I will talk about in the next blog...         

Gstanzln: The Bavarian Art of Insults!

 Hallo mei gute Freunde! Today this issue is going to talk about the Rap Battle's great Bavarian Opa the Gstanzl or, the Bavarian art of rhymes and insults. These songs of mockery are up to four or eight lines long and are sung in various dialects in Bavarian and Austrian-German. A person whose profession is to sing these songs without repeating a lyric is a Gstanzler, one man who makes his living doing this is a man whose stage name is Erapferkraut here is him doing his work... walking around and mocking people thru song!

    However when two or more people Gstanzl are Gstanzln, sometimes the object of this song-game is too take turns insulting each other, or a group insulting someone or something else until the whole group comes up with an insult so bad it makes everyone laugh or offended...One example is this clip of the humorist and accordionist Hias and singer and host Michael Hartl Gstanln each other live on television!

   So I ask all my fans of this blog to make their own Gstanzl in English-German dialect in the comments, I can't wait to see all of them and remember to be nice, or else you will end up like Biermosel Blosn! 

How Did an American Frau Find Real Volksmusik in America?

               

       My love of Volksmusik began when I was looking for music in a gift-shop in the town of       Frankenmuth, Michigan that would suit my needs as a tuba player. The first album on a CD that I found and still keep to this day was called Die Beste aus Melodien der Bergen basically songs that appeared on a popular travel/ music show in Austria what some of these regions call Volkstumliche Musik however I got it nonetheless...

    On the second track was a song by Ursprung Baum that did not sound like what Americans think of German or Austrian Folk Music, it sounded at first like Mexican Mariachi music without the trumpets and maracas. That was until I heard them singing in their Austro-Bavarian dialect one that is partly native to their home, Zillertal, Tirol, and that song were Don Camillo und Peppone. Another was an upbeat track by Die Hegel called Hallo, Servus mitenander and apparently, both Hallo and Servus are both greetings in Germany and Austria and miteinander means together which means the song is about Germans and Austrians singing and yodeling together.

 The next song Sens'n Boarischer by Original Tiroler Echo began the teenage-tuba-player-crush I had with their baritone player Helmut Mueringer...ist so handsome...When you get near the end of this folksy song you might wonder what the sharpening-knife-sound is? It's the sharpening of hay-cutting shears so that the hay-cutters can finish their work before the harvest, and store their hay to feed their livestock before the avalanche comes and yes it is an actual lyric in the song.

Music Video of Sens'n Boarischer

This next song I really liked for the jodeling and the chicken clucks in between and that song was an arrangement by Alm Zigeuner of a Bavarian Folk Song called Goassbeitbauernbuam. As it turns out the song is about two farmers insulting each other about whose goat's balls...are the biggest...you get the idea...A song like this one is part of a Bavarian song tradition called Gstanzln which I will discuss in my next post.

  That CD piqued my interest in Volksmusik so much that I started finding these artists on iTunes and on other CDs in Frankenmuth. One artist that I wish would be on their radar (please listen iTunes!) is a group of fantastic jodelers called Die 4 Holterbuam and one of their songs that I liked was on a Volksmusik Hitmix, however, my advice is to not buy hit mixes because you are only getting half the song. Sadly this led to getting their song Jodel du Amol on a pirated site which led to the crashing of my computer. This song is a fascinating one because it has different styles of jodeling all in one song, so here is one of their other songs Der Jodelerbua so please listen to their wonderful jodeling iTunes or else Ich Wutend mit iTunes!!!