Round The World

[Samantha]

Klaus: "Waschleinensystem" because all the notes were on one line giving only the duration, the note itselve was indicated by a number.

 

Nils

Now that sounds like the beginnings of a promising tab system for anglo. Assuming that note lengths are shown using "traditional" notation, then it is only one more step to reading traditionally notated music ...

Samantha

[klaus guhl]

For those of us who don't have easy access to that book, can you tell us what types of concertina these folks were playing? And did the tradition survive the Nazi era and the war?

 

It´s a long story and I will write more. First I try to send a photo from the book showing a Chemnitzer Konzertina from 1850.

There were small concertina factories in Thüringen, Hamburg and Berlin, also in Munich and Augsburg. (Klingenthal and Carlsfeld)

 

The unemployed workers played cheap secondhand instruments, that´s all what the author said.

Yes, faschists stopped the movement, I will tell more later.

[craig]

i take it the song "poppa piccolino" (from the anglo international album) could not be plausibly viewed as evidence of an indigenous italian concertina tradition?

[Theodore Kloba]

"Waschleinensystem" because all the notes were on one line giving only the duration, the note itselve was indicated by a number.

This shorthand notation is still in use by many US players (including myself if I need to quickly communicate a tune to a friend who reads it), although engraved/printed music usually has the melody written in traditional notation with the button numbers above each note. It's extremely rare to see the full notation written out for the bass.

Now that sounds like the beginnings of a promising tab system for anglo. Assuming that note lengths are shown using "traditional" notation, then it is only one more step to reading traditionally notated music ...

I have usually seen it (and use it) in a form with traditional note styles for duration.

There's one example on Die Konzertina in Franken here.

[klaus guhl]

German history:

C.F. Uhlig from Chemnitz built his first concertina in 1834. H. Band developed it 1840 and called it Bandoneon. Both instruments act like a kind of twins and started a very succesful movement, specially in the more unpolitcal parts of the working class. The succes depends on the societies and groups. There have been 16.000 players in about 500 groups in 1911.

Together with flutes, violins, trumpets, drums, clarinetts and others they played marches, walzes and popular opera melodies. (Btw: Soldiers Joy is from "Zar und Zimmermann") Pure bandoneon & concertina orchesters were rare to find. They play unisono, playing in several voices was to difficult, ("neckbreaking work for players and painful for the conductor" some said)

 

NaziTime:

In the 20th the communists tried to bring bandoneon organisation on their side. But the majority of organized player tended to the liberal parts of the working class and came in conflicts at 1933 with the nazis. Several clubs were forbidden some stopped the work on their own. Then the war begann and all the orchesters ended.

 

So it was a double problem. First: The conflict with the communist, which wanted to dominate the orchesters and sometimes they had been succesful and the conflict with the nazis, who are hunting the communist in the orchesters and infiltered the orchesters too. Between those two stones the musicans had no chance

[Daniel Hersh]

Thanks, Klaus. Did any of the old players try to bring the concertina back after the war? And are there many people playing German music on German concertinas now?

 

Daniel

 

German history:

C.F. Uhlig from Chemnitz built his first concertina in 1834. H. Band developed it 1840 and called it Bandoneon. Both instruments act like a kind of twins and started a very succesful movement, specially in the more unpolitcal parts of the working class. The succes depends on the societies and groups. There have been 16.000 players in about 500 groups in 1911.

Together with flutes, violins, trumpets, drums, clarinetts and others they played marches, walzes and popular opera melodies. (Btw: Soldiers Joy is from "Zar und Zimmermann") Pure bandoneon & concertina orchesters were rare to find. They play unisono, playing in several voices was to difficult, ("neckbreaking work for players and painful for the conductor" some said)

 

NaziTime:

In the 20th the communists tried to bring bandoneon organisation on their side. But the majority of organized player tended to the liberal parts of the working class and came in conflicts at 1933 with the nazis. Several clubs were forbidden some stopped the work on their own. Then the war begann and all the orchesters ended.

 

So it was a double problem. First: The conflict with the communist, which wanted to dominate the orchesters and sometimes they had been succesful and the conflict with the nazis, who are hunting the communist in the orchesters and infiltered the orchesters too. Between those two stones the musicans had no chance

[klaus guhl]

Thanks, Klaus. Did any of the old players try to bring the concertina back after the war? And are there many people playing German music on German concertinas now?

 

Daniel

 

I don´t know what the surving players did after the war. There is still a tradtion in Franken, but they play Chemnitzer as far as I know. http://www.kbochemnitz.de/ or http://web.uni-bamberg.de/ppp/ethnomusikol...tina/K-Menu.htm even if you can not read german it will be nice to see the photos.

 

I only know less one handful of players and they are playing their personal style. But there are some experts in Bielefeld they might know much more than I do. Look here http://www.concertina.de/

 

The scene seems to be dried out. Only few people playing the concertina and the prefer the different styles of global world.

[Daniel Hersh]

Thanks again, Klaus. I appreciate the links--I had seen some of these before but hadn't looked at them closely enough. (By the way, I believe that these are mostly Karlsfelder concertinas or bandoneons rather than Chemnitzer concertinas.) I especially enjoyed hearing the sound files at http://web.uni-bamberg.de/ppp/ethnomusikol...na/K-Archiv.htm .

 

I recently acquired an old German-made Chemnitzer and am learning to play it. This gives me a better understanding of the context in which it was built and the music for which it was intended--and hearing some of those players helps me appreciate what can be done with a large German concertina.

 

Daniel

 

Thanks, Klaus. Did any of the old players try to bring the concertina back after the war? And are there many people playing German music on German concertinas now?

 

Daniel

 

I don´t know what the surving players did after the war. There is still a tradtion in Franken, but they play Chemnitzer as far as I know. http://www.kbochemnitz.de/ or http://web.uni-bamberg.de/ppp/ethnomusikol...tina/K-Menu.htm even if you can not read german it will be nice to see the photos.

 

I only know less one handful of players and they are playing their personal style. But there are some experts in Bielefeld they might know much more than I do. Look here http://www.concertina.de/

 

The scene seems to be dried out. Only few people playing the concertina and the prefer the different styles of global world.

Edited March 18, 2006 by Daniel Hersh

[Theodore Kloba]

(By the way, I believe that these are mostly Karlsfelder concertinas or bandoneons rather than Chemnitzer concertinas.) I especially enjoyed hearing the sound files at http://web.uni-bamberg.de/ppp/ethnomusikol...na/K-Archiv.htm

Daniel, I have a CD of the project (Die Konzertina in Franken), which I ordered online a few years ago from Steffi Zachmeiers Frankenseiten. Yes, their concertinas are Karlsfelder layout. I also have a copy of the CD "Erinnerungen" from Siegfied Jugel, one of the performers on that site.

 

Not from Germany, but I just bought this CD from Lithuania. It features bandonion (bandonija) players in the regions from where my father's family came (Šilalės and Tauragė). I have a few songs from other folklore collections, but this is the first I've found with so much bandonion featured.

Edited March 18, 2006 by Theodore Kloba

[Daniel Hersh]

Thanks for the info, Ted. I saw the Konzertina in Franken CD listed on their site, but the 23 (!) free mp3's were enough to satisfy my interest. Since you mentioned Siegfried Jugel, you might be interesting in knowing if you don't already that he recently died...

 

Re the Lithuanian CD, does one of those groups really have six bandoneon players playing at once?

 

Daniel

 

(By the way, I believe that these are mostly Karlsfelder concertinas or bandoneons rather than Chemnitzer concertinas.) I especially enjoyed hearing the sound files at http://web.uni-bamberg.de/ppp/ethnomusikol...na/K-Archiv.htm

Daniel, I have a CD of the project (Die Konzertina in Franken), which I ordered online a few years ago from Steffi Zachmeiers Frankenseiten. Yes, their concertinas are Karlsfelder layout. I also have a copy of the CD "Erinnerungen" from Siegfied Jugel, one of the performers on that site.

 

Not from Germany, but I just bought this CD from Lithuania. It features bandonion (bandonija) players in the regions from where my father's family came (Šilalės and Tauragė). I have a few songs from other folklore collections, but this is the first I've found with so much bandonion featured.

[m3838]

This CD

"CD from Lithuania."

has very interesing lable at the upper right corner. Resembles swastika. Calm me down and tell me it's not intentional resemblance. I have heard about modern tendencies in Lithuania and hope this CD is not issued by the Nazi simpathizers.

Thanks.

[Theodore Kloba]

Since you mentioned Siegfried Jugel, you might be interesting in knowing if you don't already that he recently died...

Yes, I had heard that.

Re the Lithuanian CD, does one of those groups really have six bandoneon players playing at once?

It would appear so!

This CD

"CD from Lithuania."

has very interesing lable at the upper right corner. Resembles swastika. Calm me down and tell me it's not intentional resemblance. I have heard about modern tendencies in Lithuania and hope this CD is not issued by the Nazi simpathizers.

Well, the symbol we know by the Sanskrit name "swastika" is millenia older than the Nazis. It was widely used as a decorative element in Indo-European cultures including those in Lithuania long before Hitler stole it (along with the word "Aryan".)

 

I have one other CD from this label, Juosta Records. "Juosta" is a woven sash worn around the waist; when I noticed the logo, I thought it was just meant to be reminiscent of the traditional weaving patterns. From the Wikipedia article: "The ubiquity of the swastika symbol is easily explained by it being a very simple symbol that will arise independently in any basketweaving society. The swastika is a repeating design, created by the edges of the reeds in a square basket-weave."

 

It also seems that many in Lithuanian folk culture circles are quite proud of their pagan heritage (as the last in Europe to be Christianized) and use the ancient symbols to express this sentiment.

Edited March 19, 2006 by Theodore Kloba

[m3838]

I see.

So it's not four Ls (like Lithuania, Love, Lion,...), it is real swastika.

I think your explanation is correct, but I also think that putting such logos on things in real world, pretending to be out of the context of it's recent history, is very stupid at best. Hopefully, there are smarter people out there, able to counter act such silliness, and let's hope Lithuania has larger percentage of them, seems like the time is ripe.

There is a good russian saying: Don't teaze the geese.