Time to lighten things up a bit, if only for a day. First, a palate cleanser, before we get to the main event.
This, and a slew of other similar videos, proves that not all music everywhere has been infected with the deadly American music virus. What else it proves is open for debate.
Now for the event. Drumroll, please:
If you watch without smiling, leave and do not come back. I meant it.
Just you see if you can find anything better. Nah. Don’t bother, because you won’t. Raise your hand is you saw the gnomes. Strapping horns to oneself is…er…well, it’s still better than rap, hip hop, that sophisticated (demonic) noise they pump into the lobbies of top hotels and bars, pop, or most rock.
I am not the only one who thinks we have witnessed greatness. The picture which heads the post is taken from Horst Konrader’s grand Brasil tour, which concluded this July. The tour may have been named Lass es richtig hupen!, which is Let it Honk! Or maybe it was Everything in the Key of C!
Careful observers will have noted that the equipment used in the Brazil tour were considerably more sophisticated than in the older video above. Those original horns would never have stood the test of time. All those miles. All those toots.
On Konrader’s personal site, he has a link to a remix of the original toot video. Just watch the unbridled enthusiasm!
And you have to admit all that tooting keeps Konrader in great shape! Here is he on a recent Dutch TV show. A familiar melody!
His is not a one-trick band, though. He also does cow bells.
Konrader has imitators. French imitators, of course. Whereas Konrader prefers volksmusik, Michel Lauziére tends towards the classics.
Enough! I’m taking the weekend off to recover.
Thanks, Matt!
Great! Life is wonderful!
Spasszeit! Danke schön, Herr Briggs!
Last night PBS had a female “classical” guitarist, Sharon Isbin. All is not lost. (Though I did keep waiting for the flamingo dancers!)
> If you watch without smiling, leave and do not come back. I meant it.
Oh, I see. To you, “smiling” means, “jaw agape + incredulous pained grimace after watching 20 seconds while frantically reaching for the mouse to turn it OFF, OFF, OFF !!!!”
And the whole fiasco was lip- (or rather horn- or accordion-) synced! Complete with horn reverb !???? “Beach Blanket Bingo” was a masterpiece compared to these travesties. A) the girls were much cuter. B) Even the reverb was better.
I’m sorry. Americans do ‘wholesome’ schlock waaaay better than the Germans ever can. We’re not so frenetically serious about it, for starters.
Moral: if there’s such a thing as a German-themed cruise ship, DON’T go on it.
Rated PG-13 for “pained grimace — watch/listen for 13 seconds or less only.”
Some things can not be un-seen.
The Bavarian was hard to follow, so I just let it flow. Die zwei Mädl war’n schön! Rollerskating Bavarian accordion players? Is there no end to Bavarian invention? One hears also the characteristic Bavarian jodel. The second clip seemed Austrian to me, since the High Tyrol is in Austria. Now we understand why Prussians and Saxons think of Bavarians and Austrians as hicks.
Then there’s Franzl Lang: https://youtu.be/67rc96joOz8
Come on now. The Bavarians are nice people. I spent some time in Augsburg and they have some really nice castles around there.
http://www.neuschwanstein.de/englisch/tourist/index.htm
I smiled. I grinned. I assume I can stay?
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Hmm… Thanks for the videos. Without being bothered, and without attempting one-upmanship, let’s see more music not infected with “the deadly American [21st-c. U.S.] music virus”:
When I post links, the automatic system labels it as “spam”, so I’ll post just some names:
Hungarian folk music – Dudanóták by Arany Zoltán
?????????? ??????? ?????? ????????? – 2. ???
Sacrée Bordée – Plaisir de mer
Inti Illimani Histórico, en Bélgica , Ramis
The ????… stands for a Solo concert of accordion player Ljubisa Pavkovic.
I’m booking these guys for my funeral.