One of the things I love about Germany, though I notice it more in Munich than in Berlin, is schlager music. Schlager is this corny but festive music style that encompasses old traditional music as well as current schlager which is more techno or dance oriented or influenced. Now I'm only writing my impressions of it, so I could be wrong - I'm not pretending to really know anything about it. But it essentially seems to be 'party music'. It's what fills the beerhalls at Oktoberfest, and what you find in bars like the one I was in last night. And when some songs come on, everyone starts singing with em and suddenly the whole bar is boisterously singing. One song that brought that reaction last night was "Komm hol das Lasso raus" which I think means something like 'get your lasso out'. A check on YouTube brought up a homemade video of German soldiers dancing to it. To me, it seems like a perfect expression of how pervasive and joyful schlager is in German culture. (The cowboys and indians dance that goes with it only makes it even funnier to me). Still its not the songs as much as the group experience, which I can only wish you could experience for yourself. I always like to say that when Americans drink, they fight; but when Germans drink, they sing. There's just no way not to smile.
1 comment:
thx for the info Jon - I was looking for a vid on that song/dance. and I agree w/your post - oktoberfest is corny fun
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