Germany - Rheinland-Pfalz & Hessen

 Next we are heading south to Rheinland-Pfalz or Rhineland-Palatinate and our first stop is Bad Kreuznach where harpist and experimental musician Rüdiger Oppermann was born in 1954.  He specialises in the Celtic harp or more specifically a custom made clàrsach with gold plated bronze strings with a special mechanism that allows him to bend notes.  His style is best described as New Age with various global influences such as Celtic or South Asian notes and some free jazz.  Here's a tune from his 1998 album Fragile Balance called Riding a Horse With 5 Legs:

Folk trio Reinig, Braun & Böhm come from Landau in the heart of the Palatinate region and sing traditional songs in their local dialect.  As the spring has sprung here's a wee song from their 2004 album Johreszeide (Seasons) called E Neies Friehjohr Kummt ins Land (A new spring is coming over the land) with some typical landscapes in the background:

Next we are heading to Frankenthal where we meet singer/songwriter Willi Brausch.  He terms himself as a cultural and wine ambassador for the Palatinate region.  He lists his influences as Creedens Clearwater Revival, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and The Beatles, but sings mostly self-penned songs in his local dialect these days.  Whenever I play in public (which isn't very often) I usually quip that I see Bob Dylan as a musical idol of mine.  As there's a ripple of applause comes from the audience I add: "Like Dylan I can't sing or play the guitar either..."  Anyway, here is a song by Brausch from his 2017 album Bunde Hunde (meaning multi-coloured dogs referring to a German phrase which literally translates 'well-known like a multi-coloured dog').  The song is called Bring Misch Häm (Take me home), an ode to his home region where the girls are pretty and the wine is sweet:

There's a saying in Germany that the people of the state of Hesse(n) don't sing and my research seems to confirm that, as I couldn't find much.  Maybe they are too busy shovelling money in the financial quarter of Frankfurt.  The only act I know of is another band I saw at the anti-nuclear festival I have mentioned in the last previous posts, rock band Die Rodgau Monotones from a place called Rodgau just east of Frankfurt.  They started off in 1977 and mix in some of their dialect in their lyrics.  Their song from the early days Die Hesse Komme (The Hessians are coming) has essentially overtaken the official state anthem and replaced it in the mind of most people.  Here is an early live version of it, together with 80's mullets and all:

That's it for today, next we are heading into Bayern (Bavaria), the land of lederhosen, dirndl, beer and white sausages...  In the meantime you can follow my virtual road trip on my tripline map.