Volkstümliche Musik (German for "folksy/traditional/popular music") is a modern popular derivation of the traditional ''

Volksmusik Alpine folk music (german: Alpenländische Volksmusik; German's ''Volksmusik'' means "people's music" or as a Germanic connotative translation, "folk's music") is the common umbrella designation of a number of related styles of traditional folk ...

'' genre of German-speaking regions. Though it is often marketed as ''Volksmusik'', it differs from traditional

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

in that it is commercially performed by celebrity singers and concentrates on newly created sentimental and cheerful feel-good compositions. Volkstümliche Musik is sometimes instrumental, but usually presented by one or especially two singers and is most popular amongst an adult audience in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and also in

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

(Italy), Alsace-Moselle (France), Netherlands, Flanders (Belgium), Slovenia,

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

(Poland) and northern Croatia.

Characteristics

Closely related to the German schlager genre, many titles stress a

Heimat ''Heimat'' () is a German word translating to 'home' or 'homeland'. The word has connotations specific to German culture, German society and specifically German Romanticism, German nationalism, German statehood and regionalism so that it ha ...

affect, being presented in regional dialects (e.g. Bavarian,

Upper Saxon Upper Saxon (german: Obersächsisch, ; ) is an East Central German language spoken in much of the modern German state of Saxony and in adjacent parts of southeastern Saxony-Anhalt and eastern Thuringia. As of the early 21st century, it's mo ...

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle ...

or Rhinelandic) or colloquial language and invoke local and regional lifestyles and traditions, particularly dances.

Brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wi ...

and Alpine musical instruments, such as

Alphorn The alphorn or alpenhorn or alpine horn is a labrophone, consisting of a straight several-meter-long wooden natural horn of conical bore, with a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece. Traditionally the Alphorn was made of one single piece, or two par ...

Zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat ...

s, acoustic guitars,

violas ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

, and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

s are frequently featured, although most commercial productions nowadays employ drum machines and synthesizers. Yodeling is also common.

History

From the early 1960s onwards, Volkstümliche Musik was conceived for commercial reasons as a counterweight to youth-oriented rock and pop music. The adjective ''volkstümlich'' refers to the borrowing of German

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, rangin ...

elements, connecting them to virtually all kinds of light dance and popular music of the 19th and early 20th centuries, from

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

swing music Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands ...

. The large popularity of this music genre led to the development of ''volkstümliche''

record charts A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include r ...

and various radio and television broadcasts with popular presenters like

Carolin Reiber Carolin Reiber (born 2 November 1940) is a German television presenter. Biography Reiber works in Germany as television presenter on German broadcaster ARD and Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR). Television magazines as ''Jetzt red' i'', ''Unser Land ...

Maria Hellwig Maria Hellwig (22 February 1920 – 26 November 2010) was a German yodeler, popular performer of volkstümliche Musik (Alpine folk music), and television presenter. Life Maria Neumaier was born in 1920 to Heinrich Neumaier, an electrician, a ...

. ''Volkstümliche Musik'' was influenced by Flower Power songs as well as by popular classical pieces during the 1970s and has been increasingly mingled with schlager music, promoted by successful singers like Heino serving as a model for performers like

Die Flippers Die Flippers (The Flippers) were a German Schlager group formed in 1964. They were one of the most successful Schlager groups of all time, and have been constantly recording and releasing new music since their self-titled debut album was relea ...

Andy Borg Adolf Andreas Speyer (born 02 November 1960 in Floridsdorf, Vienna), best known by his stage name Andy Borg, is an Austrian Schlager singer and TV presenter. He lives in the Passau area and has been recording music since his debut album ''Adios ...

Kristina Bach Kristina Bach (*born Kerstin Bräuer on 07 April 1962 in Mettmann, North Rhine Westphalia, West Germany (BRD)) is a German " Schlager" , full Opern singer, lyricist, and music producer (Director). K. Bach is noted for her 3 ½- octave (f=1:8) vo ...

. Its diffusion was further boosted by comprehensive TV broadcasting with some of the most popular programmes including '' Musikantenstadl'' (since 1981), ''

Grand Prix der Volksmusik The Grand Prix der Volksmusik (English: Grand Prix of Folk Music) was an annual regional song contest for folk music, held from 1986 until 2010. The countries taking part were Germany, Austria, Switzerland and, from 2000, South Tyrol. History The c ...

'' (1986–2010) and ''Lustige Musikanten'' with Marianne & Michael. Beside Volkstümliche Musik, these telecasts also feature

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

and even

samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havi ...

music.

Reception

Modelled on immensely popular ''Musikantenstadl'', since the early 1990s Volkstümliche Musik features strongly in numerous peak-time television broadcasts on German, Austrian and Swiss public TV networks including ARD, ZDF, ORF and Schweizer Fernsehen as well as several regional TV networks and local radio stations. Commercial broadcasters nowadays tend to stay clear of it because it is not very popular with the commercially desirable younger

target group A target audience is the intended audience or readership of a publication, advertisement, or other message catered specifically to said intended audience. In marketing and advertising, it is a particular group of consumer within the predetermined ...

s up to 49 years of age, however, there are several cable and

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

television stations focusing on the genre. Not unlike schlager, Volkstümliche Musik is often belittled by younger or more sophisticated audiences as a massively commercialized product created for the lower strata of society, conveying

idyll An idyll (, ; from Greek , ''eidullion'', "short poem"; occasionally spelt ''idyl'' in American English) is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocritus' short pastoral poems, the ''Idylls'' (Εἰδύλλια). ...

ic, reactionary, irrational ideas. Those holding these views sometimes sarcastically deride the expression "volkstümliche Musik" (folksy/folk-like music) by replacing the "-tümlich"(-like)-suffix by "-dümmlich", meaning roughly "featherbrained", turning it into "folk-featherbrained Music", e.g. dim-witted, daft or dopey. Sociological surveys confirm a predominant conservative attitude among the target population, who often feel that Volkstümliche Musik performances provide a means of stress alleviation and escapism. In this perception, Volkstümliche Musik differs somewhat from its ancestor, the traditional folk (''Volksmusik''), which continues to be performed by many local groups and orchestras in different areas. The Volkstümliche Musik market is the largest section of the music business in German-speaking areas. Due to the advanced age of the main target group,

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...

has not been prevalent so far.

United Kingdom

Though the term is mainly unknown in the United Kingdom, volkstümliche Musik has attracted a fanbase there including BBC Radio Manchester commentator, Ian Cheeseman. A number of British singers have also been attracted to this style of music, even featuring on '' Musikantenstadl'', such as

Ross Antony Ross Anthony Catterall (born 9 July 1974), known by his stage name Ross Antony, is a British singer, entertainer and presenter based in Germany. He rose to fame as a member of the R&B/pop group Bro'Sis. Since the group disbanded in 2006, Antony ...

Tony Christie Anthony Fitzgerald (born 25 April 1943), known professionally as Tony Christie, is an English musician, singer and actor. He is best known for his recording of "(Is This the Way To) Amarillo", a double UK chart success. Career 1960s to 1970 ...

and Roger Whittaker.

References

External links