Germany - Schleswig-Holstein

 We conclude our virtual trip around Germany in the state of Schleswig-Holstein in the far north of Germany, a flat and mostly rural landscape framed by both the North Sea to the west and the Baltic Sea to the east.  I cycled around the state as a 16 year old and haven't been there much since, so any photos I may have taken then have long been lost in the historical archives.  Our first stop is the small town of Rendsburg, where 'folk'n'roll band Speellüüd have been playing music for the last 43 years.  They started off as a traditional folk band singing in Low German, but after some changes in personnel, they more recently concentrated on covers of old rock songs translated into Low German, a regression methinks.  They only seem to have released 3 albums of their original stuff, which are no longer easily available.  Here is a drinking song from their 2000 album Wesseljohrn called Toveel Drinkt Wie Nie (We never drink too much):

There was a strong Viking influence in Schleswig-Holstein, being almost part of Scandinavia, which is evidenced in the archaeological site of Haithabu near the village of Hedeby.  This and the fictional modern village of Torfmoorholm is were many of the songs of folk rock band Torfrock are about.  They were founded around 1976 and initially played covers of rock songs in Low German, but soon added humorous songs about Rollo the Viking chieftain and his motley crew of hard drinking, fighting and pillaging Vikings as well as modern characters of turf cutters, fishermen, steamroller operators and others in modern Northern Germany.  They sing their songs in a bit of a modern pseudo-Low German dialect, rather than pure Low German.  One of their biggest hits was Volle Granate, Renate, which is about a feisty red-haired Viking woman, who participates on a journey to America and distracting some of the crew.  It features on their 1991 compilation album Torfrock oder Watt and this is a later live version:

Singer-songwriter Knut Kiesewetter (1941-2016) was actually born in Sczcecin in modern day Poland, but was then Stettin in then Germany.  After the war his family fled to Hamburg, but he later settled in Garding in North Frisia, where he bought himself a thatched farmhouse, his Fresenhof.  He started his musical career aged 15 and by the age of 18 played at the Indra Club in Hamburg alongside the Beatles.  During his long career he played genres ranging from rock, soul jazz, blues and gospel, but he became most famous for his folk recordings sung in Low German.  His biggest hit was a love song to his chosen home, the Fresenhof, which featured on his 1976 album Leeder vun mien Fresenhof:

Our final destination in Germany is the small town of Breklum in North Frisia, where singer-songwriter Fiede Kay (1941-2005) was born.  Very much of the same generation as Knut Kiesewetter, the 2 of them often collaborated.  He also sang traditional songs and own compositions in Low German and in Frisian.  He moved 3 km from his birthplace to open a pub in Bredstedt, and the square in front of the pub has subsequently been named in his honour.  Here is a traditional song off his 2014 post-mortem collection Fiede Kay Singt, Vol.4 called Dat du mien Levste büst (That you are my dearest).  It is about two clandestine lovers meeting in the night, while her parents are asleep.

That concludes our virtual tour of Germany, next up we're heading to Denmark, the Faroe Islands and the rest of Scandinavia.  In the meantime you can follow my ramblings on my Tripline map.