Die Schafers' Dynamic Yet Traditional Pastoral Sound

By Robert S. Born
CSMR Southwestern US Correspondent

NEW BRAUNFELS, TEXAS -- The musical quartet, Die Shafer was formed in the far Southwestern Bretten area of Baden Wurttemberg, Germany in 1990 and generated a renewed spirit for "folksy" schlager music or volksmuzik.

Die Schafer

They sing about nature, their heritage and the life of sheep herders who live in a pastoral setting.

Employing melodious harmonies, they have become quite popular and won the prestigious Grand Prix der Volksmuzik competition in 2007.


When the group began, they dressed in the traditional sheep herders garb and continue to do so, making them something of a standout act.

The four members of the group include Bianca App, Carla Scheithe, Michael Kastel, and Uwe Erhardt.

 Carla plays the accordion and harmonica and Uwe plays guitar, as does Michael as well for certain songs. The group has a motto, "Never Change a Winning Team".

They released a new CD "Die Schoensten Schafer Lieder" (the best Schafer songs)in September, 2011. This CD is a combination of their most popular successful songs and one promo single, "Wenn ein Schafer Hochzeit Macht" (When a Schafer celebrates marriage).

The CD includes songs from their past and present: "Die Schafer aud Bretten"(The Shepherd from Bretton) and "Das Santa Maria der Hirten"(The Santa Maria of the Hirten, with Hirten meaning the same as Schafer.) Some of the songs recorded in the past were reproduced for today such as "Wenn Ein Schafer Barfuss Tanzi" (When a Shepherd Dances Barefoot) and "Ich will gern Schafer sein", (I love being a Shepherd.)

Appearing in 2011 on Florian Silberreisen's
Schlager TV show

Their more current efforts are "Schon Als Kind Wolit Ich Ein Schafer sein" (Since I Was a Child, I Wanted to be a Shepherd) and the Spring 2012 single, ""Barfuss Unter Palmen" (Barefoot under Palm Trees) complete the cycle.

Altogether there are 14 beautiful melodies included in the new CD  which showcase Die Schafer at their very best.


The Schafers made an appearance in the United States, just a bit North of Chicago, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin's German Fest in 2005. In 2011, the group along with Angela Wiedl were major performers on the Panama Canal Dream Cruise.

The group reports that they will not be able to perform in their native Bretten this year at "Bretten-Life", due to a heavy tour schedule and they report that they are terribly disappointed as they were looking forward to being at the market place for the festival. However, they are looking forward to seeing many of their fans at other concerts throughout Germany and Austria this year. 

Here the Schafers perform one of their bigger hits, Wenn Ein Schafer Barfuss Tanzi (When A Shepherd dances Barefoot):





And here they perform Ich wollt immer schon ein Schäfer sein  (I always want to be a shepherd):

Schlager/Pop Party Boy: Axel Fischer

By Tom Faber
CSMR Editor

CHICAGO, USA -- Axel Fischer's ties to schlager music are tenuous at best in that he is a creature of the mainstream German pop culture. But he has made an appearance on Florian Silbereisen's (Helene Fischer's longtime boyfriend) schlager/volksmuzik ARD Sommerfest program and his website touts him as having schlager influences.

Axel Fischer plays to packed houses throughout Europe

Born in 1981 in Schleswig-Holstein, the Northernmost province of Germany which abuts the Danish border, Fischer got his start as an 11 year old in the boy band, Boy's Voice, which turned out two reasonably successful pop CDs.

He first came to prominence on the popular TV soap opera, Abschlussklasse 2006   (The Class of 2006), in 2005, where he played the leader of a high school rock band.

Cashing in on his newfound celebrity status, Fischer released his first single, Mädchen, mach Dich frei (Girls make you free) in late 2005. It was briefly used as the theme song for his TV show and rose to #36 on the German pop charts.

Fischer,  in conjunction with the group New Times, charted with a few subsequent singles. But his big breakthrough came in 2008 with his cover of Traum Von Amsterdam, (Dream From Amsterdam) which had been a hit in Germany for the female duo, Cora in 1985 (their English language version of the song also was a best seller in France in 2005).

Fischer's upbeat party dance version of the song along with its engaging music video shot it into the German pop charts where it stayed for 31 weeks. Traum Von Amsterdam won a number of music awards as did its accompanying video and Axel Fischer was named 2008 "Newcomer of the Year" by German music industry groups.

Since then, Fischer has toured extensively across Central Europe and into France and Italy, performing as much as 200 times a year and often selling out 50,000 seat venues.

In 2010 he won the German Hit Parade Award for best cover with the song, Heimweh (Homesickness)

He is currently in the studio working on a new CD and on March 13th he released a new single, 1000 Herzen (1000 Hearts).


Here is his quite engaging video, Axel Fischer's breakthrough 2008 smash hit, Traum Von Amsterdam(Dream from Amsterdam):




Here is a video of Fischer's Du Trägst keine Liebe in dir (You're without a heart)  which charted at #60 in 2009:



(CSMR UK Correspondent, Peter Wilde, contributed to this article from Middlesex, England)

The Fingerl Flitzer's Lively Bavarian Virtuosity

By Robert S. Born
CSMR Southwestern US Correspondent


NEW BRAUNFELS, TEXAS -- Eight years ago, Heidi Vogl saw her daughter Kathrin and her friends Regina Obermeier and Stefanie Hutter playing their button box accordions and merrily singing and laughing.

The Fingerl Flitzer 
Kathrin Vogl, Regina Obermaier and Steffi Hutter

She was impressed by their incredible talent and musical joie de vivre and suggested they start a band. And Fingerl Flitzer was born.

With Heidi Vogl as music teacher, the three girls have since expanded their range of musical instrumentation. Kathrin plays the guitar, saxophone, and percussion, Regina plays the clarinet, guitar, keyboard and the hackbrett (dulcimer) and Steffi plays violin and the harp. And they all perform vocals to complement their "fast fingered," agile, quick-tempoed musicality.

From those humble beginnings in the Black Forest region of Bavaria, the Fingerl Flitzer have become a significant schlager/volksmuzik presence with 3 CDs and a Christmas-themed single under their belt.

Additionally they have competed in numerous musical competitions, garnering the 3rd place prize in the 2008 Alpen Grand Prix, a 2nd in the Musikenstadl television competition and capturing first place honors in a number of radio sponsored contests.

One of Fingerl Flitzer's songs, Maenner ohne Bauch, (Men without an appetite), was used as the theme song for the ReiGro TV show, "When Pop Comes."

The girls are a regular presence on German television with periodic appearances on the three major German TV outlets, ZDF, Sat1 and RTL. They appear at many local folk music festivals and will be on Radio-AWN in August, 2012 at the 200th anniversary of Gaubodenvolksfest, an Oktoberfest-style celebration, in Straubing, Bavaria. On September 29, 2012, they will appear at the restaurant , Zum Alten Wirt (The Old Host's Place) in Krailling, Prackenbach.

 From my experience here in one of the oldest German-American settlements in the American Southwest, the vibrant talent of Fingerl Flicker would be readily welcomed at any one of our many German Heritage Fests or Oktoberfest celebrations.

Here, performed at the Musikenstadl is Fingerl Flitzer's 2009 release  A Musi die von Herzen Kommt (Music which comes from the heart):



Here the Fingerl Flitzer perform their lively Happy Lieder im Waidler Sound (Happy Songs in the Waidler Sound):



For more general information on Fingerl Fritzel as well as CD and download information, go to their website: http://www.fingerlflitzer.homepage.t-online.de/


(Connie Focht Born and Sabine Guessmann Vanpool contributed to this article from New Braunfels, Texas)

Oberkrainer Madels/Polka Punce Break Up

By Stefan Wrana
CSMR Austrian Correspondent


KLAGENFURT am WORTHERSEE, AUSTRIA --After 11 years together, the Slovenian all girl group, Oberkrainer Polka Madels (known in Slovenian as Polka Punce), have broken up under less than amicable circumstances.

The Oberkrainer Madels/Polka Punce
 in happier times

Eva Solinc, the trumpet player, whose mother Vera, owns the rights to the name Polka Punce left the group, last month to study at a teachers' college.

She has also signed on to perform with a little-known group called "Vesela Stajerka" (The Happy Styrians)

Teja Lampret, who played the guitar left to join an Austrian party-band called "Salzburg Sound."

The former clarinet and saxaphone player, Ana Verhovsek, has left to teach music.

Oberkrainer members Barbara Leber and Monika Osojnik have announced plans to form a new group called "Kvintet Slovenskih Deklet",  ("The Slovenian Polka Girl Quintet"). They have been advertising on their Facebook page and elsewhere for a new trumpet player, clarinet player and guitarist.

Leber and Osojnik say  they will use the name,"Oberkrainer Polka Mädels" in Austria, , where it apparently is not covered by the Solinc family's trademark rights.

The breakup comes as something of a surprise because as late as mid-January, the group's spokesman was announcing plans for a 2013 trip to perform in the United States and production of a new CD.

Beginning as a group of very young girls in 2001, over their 11 year run the Oberkrainer Madels/Polka Punce attained wide popularity in their native Slovenia, parts of Austria, in much of the Balkan region and in a number of other Slavic countries.

With a distinctive sound which combined elements of volksmuzik, polka and pop, they released three reasonably successful CDs and toured extensively, even going as far away as a folk music festival in Communist China.

Solninc, Leber and Verhovsek had been together since the group's inception in 2001. Lampret and Osojnik joined later.

As of this writing, the Oberkrainer Madel/Polka Punce website was still on-line with no mention of the fact that the group no longer exists.

Here are the Oberkrainer Madels - Polka Punce in a live performance from last year: