Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
VOLKSMUSIK
No other musical genre is as closely associated with Bavaria as
Volksmusik
(folk music). Every
village has its own proud brass band or choir, and the state government puts serious euros into
preserving this traditional music. More than 600,000 Bavarians, mostly lay musicians, belong to
some 11,000 music groups, most of them in the Alpine regions. The basic musical form is the ¾-
time
Landler
, which is also a dance involving plenty of hopping and stomping; men sometimes
slap themselves on their knees in what is called
Platteln
. Typical instruments are the accordion
and the zither and some songs end in a yodel. Popular performers of traditional
Volksmusik
are
the Rehm Buam, Sepp Eibl and Ruperti Blech.
In the 1970s and '80s, small stages in Munich such as the Fraunhofer pub gave birth to a new
style of
Volksmusik
. Performers infused the folklore concept with a political edge, freed it from
conservative ideology and merged it with folk music from countries as diverse as Ireland and
Ghana. Among the pioneers was the Biermösl Blosn, a band known for its satirical and provocat-
ive songs. Also keep an ear out for the Fraunhofer Saitenmusik, a chamber folk music ensemble
that plays traditional tunes on acoustic instruments and which used to be the Fraunhofer pub's
house band.
Since the '90s the scene has gone even further and now champions wacky cross-overs of Bav-
arian folk with pop, rock, punk, hip-hop and techno in what has been dubbed 'Alpine New
Wave'. Look for the folk rockers Hundsbuam, or the jazzy Munich trio Die Interpreten. Rudi
Zapf uses the hammered dulcimer to take you on a musical journey around the world. The wildest
band of them all, according to our sources, is the hardcore folk-punk band Attwenger.
Painting & Sculpture
EARLY WORKS
Frescos and manuscript illumination were early art forms popular between the 9th and
13th centuries. The oldest frescos in Bavaria are in the crypt of the Benedictine Abbey of
St Mang in Füssen. Stained glass emerged around 1100; the 'Prophet's Windows' in
Augsburg's cathedral are the earliest example in Central Europe.
GOTHIC
Portraiture and altar painting hit the artistic stage around 1300 AD. Top dog here was Jan
Polack, whose work can be admired in such churches as Munich's Schloss Blutenburg.
A major Gothic sculptor was Erasmus Grasser, whose masterpieces include the St Peter
altar in St Peterskirche in Munich and the
Morris Dancers
in the Munich Stadtmuseum.
Another is Veit Stoss, a Franconian who imbued his sculptures with dramatic realism. In
