Wilhelm Schultz, Rip

[Dan Worrall]

I just learned that Wilhelm Schultz passed away, and that his funeral is today. I realize that very few indeed in this forum follow boeremusiek, one of the great concertina cultures, but thought I would post this for those who do.

 

Wilhelm was 90 years of age. My wife and I had the great pleasure of meeting with him and his wife at their farm near Pretoria this past January, along with Kalie de Jager, Wia Cronje and Danie Labuschagne. Wilhelm had made a strong impact on boeremusiek with his history of it (Die Ontstaan en Ontwikkeling van Boeremusiek, or The Beginning and Evolution of Boer Music, 2001), which did much to document the dominant role of the Anglo-German concertina, as well as English and Duet concertinas, in their music from the 1850s to the present. He sent me a copy of that book back in 2008, when I was researching my own history of the Anglo-German concertina, and I referred to it often.

 

At his home, Wilhelm took us through his pride and joy - his garden, which was overflowing with grape arbors, corn, squash, beans and other vegetables, which even at his advanced age he took care of by himself. He also showed us his extensive collection of old 78 RPM Boeremusiek records and books on South African history, all carefully stored and curated. Danie Labuschagne (another big collector of those old recordings) and others in the Traditional Boeremusiek Club made extensive use of those records as they transferred them to digital media for futrure generations. I used a lot of this old audio material in my House Dance CDRom.

 

Here is a photo of Wilhelm in his garden; there are more photos of that visit on my website. http://angloconcertina.org/SouthAfricanconcertinasPt1.html

 

Rest in peace, Wilhelm.

Dan

[ben]

Thank you for posting this news, Dan. It is a great loss when someone who preserves music history and culture passes away..including Wilhelm Schulz. I have met some good friends and concertina players among the Boer Music Gild. There has been several excellent Boer concertina players who have passed away recently and others are facing health problems.