Popular German (Austrian, Swiss) singers / vocal music

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I'm learning German, and would like to explore some popular German-language singers. I love the great French chansonniers of the 30s-60s, such as Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet, George Brassens, Jacques Brel, et al., and would enjoy a similar style. (I do not like rock). So far, all I have is one Marlene Dietrich CD, which I enjoy a great deal. I also have a few Swiss yodelling CDs, which are also a great deal of fun (there are German, French, and Italian yodels). Can anyone recommend some CDs I should look into? Thanks.

[Hollywood]

My favorite Austrian band is EAV (Erste Allgemeine Versicherung). You can read about them here in english: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erste_Allgemeine_Verunsicherung

There songs are fun and entertaining especially when you understand german and know what they are singing about.

[M forever]

I also have a few Swiss yodelling CDs

Yodelling CDs are basically all you need. Now you just need the Lederhosen and the hat with the pig hair brush and when you can do this
[mp3=200,20,0,center]http://tinyurl.com/2ystmr[/mp3]
then you are ready to go.

[uffeviking]

pig hair brush

You should know better, but you being a Berliner, I forgive you! Michael, it's a Gamsbart, translated for Prussians and other foreigners: The hair from the upper neck portion of a chamois. 

[uffeviking]

Here is a small version:

[M forever]

Wrong. It can be made from the hairs of a number of different animals. Badgers, boars, all sorts of hairy things. The original Gamshaar ones are extremely expensive, especially the longer ones.

[uffeviking]

You are wrong! A Gamsbart is made of Gams, Gemsen, Chamois hair.

The others are Badgerbart, Boarbart and other barts! 

[M forever]

Why are you pressing this totally idiotic discussion on me? I know what the word means. Guess what, I do actually still speak German. All I said is that the things they have on these silly hats can be made from the hair of a number of different animals.
Don't you feel a little silly trying to split hairs with me about my own language? Or are you just trying to provoke me? If you want to split hairs about the different types of hairs used for these, go back to my post and see that I didn't say Gamsbart. I just said that the ones made from Gamshaar are very expensive. There is a difference between Gamsbart and Gamshaar. If you knew more German than just a few isolated words, you would have understood that. Now please don't bother me with this nonsense anymore.

[pjme]

There are many ...
here are a few famous ones :

The Comedian harmonists ( a very famous male sextet)

Hildegarde Knef
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (December 28, 1925 - February 1, 2002) was a German actress, singer and writer. She was billed in some English language films as Hildegard(e) Neff. Arguably, her most influential roles included that of Susanne Wallner in Wolfgang Staudte's film Die Mörder sind unter uns (The Murderers Are Among Us) (the first film released after the Second World War in East Germany and produced by the Soviet filmmaking enterprise DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme) as well as her role as Marina in Die Sünderin (The Sinner) in which she performed the first nude scene in German filmmaking in 1950. The incident in the latter film sparked one of the largest scandals in German filmmaking history and drew the criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. She was the first and only German to have a successful Broadway show (Silk Stockings written by Cole Porter). She was sometimes compared to that other great German actress, Marlene Dietrich, in that they both were, or portrayed as, the liberated, self-confident woman. Hildegard Knef was one of the most important actresses of post-war Germany.


Lotte Lenya : Brecht/Weill
Lotte Lenya (October 18, 1898 – November 27, 1981), was a Tony Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated singer and actress, born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer, in Vienna, Austria. She is best known for her performance as Jenny in Kurt Weill's and Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, and some other Brecht-Weill plays. Her role as Vivien Leigh's earthy friend Contessa Magda Terribili-Gonzales in the screen version of Tennessee Williams' The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) brought Lenya an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress. Her portrayal of the villainous Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love brought her additional fame. Her name is known by many from a mention in the Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin versions of the song "Mack the Knife".

You can also explore :

Barbara Sukowa ( actress/singer)
Hanna Schygulla (mit Orchester Peer Raben "Lili Marleen"/Peer Raben "Thema Willie Part 1" 7" Single on PHILIPS 6005 120 FROM 1981)

In very different ways ..you could listen to these eternal glories of the German Schlager

Catharina Valente ( °1931 Italo-German comedienne)- a kind of doris Day...
Former Discoqueen (of Roma origin) Marianne Rosenberg
Katja Ebstein, Juliane Werding, Ireen Sheer....Danish/German Wencke Myhre , Claudia Jung and many many more

Just Google German amazon for "Deutsche oldies" and youi'll find many CD's with recordings dating back to the 1920-1930 aera.

[uffeviking]

Michael: Frohe Weihnachten und Alles Gute im Neuen Jahr! 

[M forever]

You won't find anything exactly like the French chansonniers in Germany, although some singers adapted some of the French stuff, but it makes more sense to listen to that in the original. The parallel phenomenon in Germany is called "Liedermacher" and that kind of style is a little plainer, but also mostly concentrated on the lyrics which can be rather intelligent and more or less witty, too. A very popular Liedermacher with interesting and sometimes somewhat funny (at least according to some), sometimes reflective texts is Reinhard Mey. This kind of singer is also rather easy to understand because the singing style is more text recitation with plain melodies and light accompaniment.

Apart from the Comedian Harmonists" (there is also a movie about that group with the same title which is pretty good and which was a very big success in Germany), you should also check out Max Raabe und das Palast Orchester. They play music of the 20s and 30s. Some of that stuff probably comes fairly close to the French chansonniers (or maybe not, it's really hard to compare), some of it is "salon music" and what was seen as Jazz in Germany in the 20s and 30s.

You said you don't like rock, but you should still check out Herbert Grönemeyer even though he is usually classified as rock. Or maybe something between Liedermacher and rock. Hard to classify really. But I guess you could say its a pretty unique style of rock you only find in Germany, and he has great and really funny, but sometimes also "deep" texts. He is immensely popular in Germany and about as "typical German" in many respects as it gets. His music brings across the feel and rhythm of what its like to live in the bigger German cities very well.
Some of his most popular songs are "Männer", "Flugzeuge im Bauch", "Was soll das" (that one is totally funny, it is basically about a guy who just recently broke up with his girlfriend and finds that the rebound guy has already moved in and put his stuff everywhere), and "Bochum" which is also the title of the album which made him famous. Grönemeyer was also seen on the big screen as Schumann in "Spring Symphony" and in "Das Boot".

Very popular is also the band BAP which is commonly classified as "Kölschrock" which means Cologne-style rock. But they may be very hard for you to understand because they sing in the local Cologne dialect.

If you feel a little more adventurous, you can also check out Rammstein which is an internationally very well known hard or dance metal band. They have some cool and nastily intelligent texts.

In the 80s, there was a style of music which was called "Neue Deutsche Welle" which was characterized by some really quirky and crazy texts and music (and singers). You may have heard of "Da Da Da", but there were actually a lot of different groups, some of that is real fun stuff, in a total mindless way.

And, of course, Nena ("99 Luftballons").

[pjme]

See also the website of MILVA , an Italian singer with a mighty red mane and a husky voice....

http://www.milvalarossa.it/eng/cdnews_i.html#



She has made CD's with French and German songs - not bad at all.

[M forever]

Oops, I forgot to mention Lale Andersen. She is probably one of the most famous German singers of chansons, because of the internationally very well known "Lili Marleen" and "Ein Schiff wird kommen" (in fact the cover version of a Greek song, but who cares).


I guess it would also make sense to mention Ute Lemper. She is a singer and actress and sings chansons, cabaret songs, musical, all sorts of styles, and she is also well known as an interpreter of Weill. She also made versions of Piaf and Dietrich songs. And appeared in a number of German and international movies.

Catharina Valente ( °1931 Italo-German comedienne)- a kind of doris Day...

Doris Day? My mother would be shocked by that comparison! 

[Drasko]

You could try cabaret songs from 20s early 30s. This Ute Lemper disc is very nice (just be sure to get exactly this one, as there is version of the same album in english) and maybe a selection of Bertolt Brecht's songs.


http://www.amazon.com/Ute-Lemper-Berlin-Cabaret-Songs/dp/B0000042FA


http://www.amazon.de/Lieder-Balladen-Lemper/dp/B000I8OFG4

[pjme]

OK, Ok M, I know....I'll mention Cornelia Froboess ( Conny...) only for very sentimental and totaly nostalgic reasons



She really was a major teenager star in the 1950-1960 ies . Now she's a respected actress in Munich.

[M forever]

"Pack die Badehose ein..."

[Hollywood]

Ah yes, the Comedian Harmonists are also a favorite of mine. Another Austrian singer I like is Falco. Who can forget his "Rock Me Amadeus"?

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Thanks for all the recommendations. Is anyone familiar with a Swiss singer named Mani Matter? He is mentioned in my German textbook as an example of a singer of Swiss German. (Yes, I know the dialect is a long way from Hochdeutsch.)

[M forever]

If you are just learning German, don't mess with Swiss German. You won't be able to understand it anyway - at all. Not one word. It will just confuse you.

[Sergeant Rock]

Can anyone recommend some CDs I should look into? Thanks.

This one is the best of course 



Seriously, this is great stuff, hardcore Bavarian dance music. But there's very little singing so probably doesn't meet your requirements.

My favorite group is Hubert von Goisern und die Alpinkatzen. He's Austrian. His music with the Alpinkatzen is considered Neuen Volksmusik, a combination of Alpine folk music and rock. He plays the accordian and his backup singer, Sabine, yodels. But there are electric guitars, two drummers and synths in the band too. Like the singers and bands M mentioned, Hubert too writes very witty, intelligent lyrics, many politically pointed. I recommend this live 2-CD set: it has all the hits and many of his best songs:



To give you a taste of his music, you might want to watch a few vids. "Weit, weit weg" is an affecting ballad, a song of love and loss, with Sabine duetting with Hubert:

"The days are shorter now
and leaves are falling from the trees
and on the pasture, there's already snow...
You're now so far, far away,
so far, far away from me..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSpQ-_vWCgw&feature=related


"Koa Hiatamadl" is his most famous song, and enormously popular in Austria. It's about a man who likes women with a little meat on her bones and who deplores the fashionably thin. Sabine is at her most coy and seductive, her yodeling impressive. Watch the entire vid! She explodes in coloratura-like fireworks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBZ5Bk8D4nQ&feature=related

Sarge