Germany - Aachen to Köln

 Germany is the country I spent most of my youth in.  The traditional folk or Volksmusik has a rather bad reputation in this country as the term has been hijacked by popular TV programmes playing very commercialised and cheesy songs by people in dirndls and lederhosen to a happy-clappy audience.  In primary schools similar songs are taught from the Romantic era about carefree apprentices, who walk from town to town through woods filled with birdsong.   However the 70's folk revival in other countries also had an effect in Germany, with many singers and bands finding more serious material in the archives, including anti-war songs, songs mocking the clergy and songs in the various regional dialects.  Those musicians prefer to use the English term folk rather than be tarnished by Volksmusik.

Germany of course has been innovative in many other music styles in modern times, such as Krautrock, German New Wave and the electronic sounds of the likes of Kraftwerk.  With the more recent arrival of many immigrants there is now a strong global influence on much of the German music scene.  So as usual we will hop around a multitude of styles as we travel around Germany and hopefully I can help dispel some of the stereotypes surrounding the country.

We will first cover the west and south of the country and after a sojourn around a few other Central European countries visit the east and north on our way back up towards Scandinavia.  First up after crossing the border from the Netherlands we arrive in the federal state of Nordrhein-Westphalen (North Rhine-Westphalia) and the cathedral city of Aachen, where part of the hip-hop band Antilopen Gang come from (the other half is from Düsseldorf).  Their lyrics are often political with a healthy dose of satire.  Here's a song from their 2017 album Anarchie und Alltag (Anarchy and every day life) called Pizza: "Oh I firmly belief, that pizza can save us.  Every revolutionary needs just a pizza and a gun."

Soul singer Ayo, aka Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin, was born in 1980 in Frechen near Cologne to a Nigerian father and a Sinti-German mother.  She had a pretty tough childhood as her mother was was suffering from a heroin addiction and spent time in prison, leaving her in social care for some time.  Music helped her over her trauma and she was encouraged to record by her father.  She was influenced by artists from his large vinyl collection including Pink Floyd, Fela Kuti and Bob Marley.  Her latest album, Royal was released last year, and this is a song from the album called Beautiful:

Next stop is Cologne (or Köln), another cathedral city.  Now I lived in Cologne for a few months, when I was studying at the university there.  I lived in a small hovel, with no bathroom and no private toilet, and outside was the busiest stretch of railway in Germany between the station Köln Süd and the goods station with a train passing every 90 seconds, plus extra noise from the manoeuvring of trains at night, a busy road and the flight path for the airport.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep much during my time there, mostly exploring the pubs drinking the local Kölsch beer, which comes in 0.2l glasses, making it very difficult to keep track on how much you actually drink.  

From the same part of the city, South Cologne, the poor part where the tourists don't go and many different cultures live alongside each other, originated the global sounds group Schäl Sick Brass Band.  Between 1995 and 2013 they combined jazz with influences from Iran, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and North Africa.  Until 1999 their lead singer was the Iranian Maryam Ankhondy, whilst during their later period she was replaced by Bulgarian Ivanka Ivanova.  Here's a piece from their 2000 album Maza Meze called Chawakam:

Also from Cologne were folk / hip-hop band Lecker Sachen (Tasty things), who played their unique blend of Celtic influenced folk and lyrics rapped in German between 1997 to 2006.  Here is one of their quieter numbers from a live session called Ich Nehm' Dich Mit (I take you with me):

Guitarist Ottmar Liebert was born in Cologne in 1959 and his music is heavily influenced by Spanish sounds.  He calls his genre Nouveau Flamenco, although he has been criticised by purist as none of his works follow the traditional palo forms of flamenco.  Here's a tune called Santa Fe, which features on his 2001 Best of Album, Barcelona Nights:

Young rock band AnnenMayKantereit was formed by 3 school friends in Cologne in 2011, the band name being a composite of the founding members surnames. They are distinguished by the rough voice of their lead singer.  Here is a song from their 2018 album Schlagschatten called Ich Geh Heut Nicht Mehr Tanzen (I won't go out dancing today).  The video was obviously recorded in a small Italian village somewhere.

Finally from Cologne I have to give one of Germany's biggest music acts a mention, rock band BAP.  They have been rocking since 1976 and apparently are still active.  I saw them live once back in 1986 at the biggest live music festival ever to have been staged on German soil, the Anti-WAAhnsinns-Festival at the site of a then planned nuclear reprocessing plant in northern Bavaria.  The festival and protests had an effect in that the plant was never built.  Well over 100,000 attended the festival on a field with very basic facilities.  

BAP sing in their local dialect and here is one of their most famous songs called Verdamp Lang Her (Bloody long ago) from a live gig in 2001:

As the state of Nordrhein-Westphalen is the most populous area of Germany, it also has the most music acts and I am going to have to finish off the region next time.  As usual you follow my virtual travels on my tripline map.