Posted on 04/08/2018 7:35:47 AM PDT by SandRat
Up until a few years ago, you wouldn’t hear any German-language songs on the radio, unless it was a country/folk type of music station.
It was considered uncool to play German music on the air. Admittedly, there weren’t many non-folksy types of singers and bands around that sang in German, but I would assume that’s because there literally wasn’t a market for it (again, except for the folk sector).
A little over 15 years ago, a young, soulful singer from my hometown of Mannheim — Xavier Naidoo — appeared on the scene, and he would change that forever. He wouldn’t hide his love for our language any longer, and thankfully, his soulful music fell on open, wanting ears.
What he has accomplished, how hard he worked to make German-language music acceptable, respected and popular, with more than just one generation, was groundbreaking. Germany’s radio stations now play more German music than ever since the end of World War II when American GIs brought with them their records and songs with fast-paced beats, rhythms, and foreign-sounding lyrics that slowly replaced all the slow, boring, old-fashioned German music the country had been used to before the war.
It was Xavier Naidoo who paved the way for many current contemporary German artists like Andreas Bourani, Cro, Clueso, Max Herre, Rosenstolz, Peter Fox, or Tim Bendzko. At last it is “cool” again to play a German-language song on the radio, and it’s cool again to sing along in your car at the top of your lungs.
You see, language as the primary means of human communication forms a large part of social practice. It is shaped by speakers’ idiosyncratic experiences and by long-lasting cultural traits. In everyday communication, both of these components, the individual and the cultural, evoke stereotypes and social ratings.
This statement cannot be proven any more impressively than through observation of people who have left their home country to live abroad.
It seems that people who live in a foreign country, even if they truly consider it their new home, tend to cling to their old traditions, routines and language more than they did when they still lived in their native country. I witness it every day in myself and the majority of Germans living in the U.S. that I’ve met thus far.
We get giddy like small children when a random store starts selling a certain German product we haven’t seen in a long time, even if we usually wouldn’t buy that product back in Germany.
We celebrate our German dishes and proudly bring a regional or national specialty to any cookout we’ve been invited to. Most of us hold dear our German traditions and holidays — for example celebrating Christmas Eve instead of, or in addition to, Christmas morning. And if you’ve ever asked a German about the driving skills of somebody who went through driving school in Germany (which takes several months) and the importance of a German driving license (which is a one-time cost of $1,000 and more), you know that we take pride in almost anything German.
But the language is what ties it all together, and we’ll talk some more about that in my next Kaffeeklatsch, so stay tuned!
Kaffeeklatsch is written by Kat Hanson, a native of Germany and military spouse of eleven years. Kat has lived in Sierra Vista since 2014 with her active duty Army husband and two children. She has previously lived in Monterey, California, Fort Stewart, Georgia, and her native Germany. She is the Marketing Team Manager of the Herald Review's Advertising Department. For questions and comments, please email kat.hanson@myheraldreview.com or call 520-515 4633.
Started me to surfing youtube... there is some good stuff out there if you look for it.
The stuff that is packaged for radio here is pretty unsatisfying and really always has been. I’ve always had to look for good music, but its out there.
Kaempfert's dozens of hits in the 60's include:
Oh, and does Wayne Newton's "Danke schoen" count? :) :) :)
Nomi's cover of Lesley Gore's 1964 hit "You Don't Own Me" has been featured on the nationally broadcast The Rush Limbaugh Show as the "Gay Update Theme".
Appropriately he died of AIDS.
Tiny Tim after huffing Bactine.
I’ve been listening to the music of Faun, a German folk rock band. “Von den Elben” is my favorite album of theirs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN60xXj10Fo
I will advise that the members consider themselves to be pagans, in case this puts you off.
FAUN is a German band doing medieval(ish) music like a German Clannad.
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