David Siebenhofer, from the Steiermark in southeast Austria,
came to prominence at the age of twelve, when he won the 2010 Styrian Accordion
Competition sponsored by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation. His performance the
Subener Ländler has since been seen online by tens of thousands of music lovers
around the world.
He has won numerous competitions; has played for festivals,
benefits, and radio broadcasts; has made a CD with the Quatro Pro
(“Bei dir bin i
daham“); and in 2015 won first prize in the youth division of the Styrian
Accordion Awards.
“Musik ist für mich mehr als ein Hobby,” says Daivd, who is
finishing up his studies at the Musikgymnasium Dreihackengass in Graz. “Ich will spielen, weil ich Freude daran
habe und es für mich eine Bereicherung ist, und nicht, weil ich damit Geld
verdienen muss.”
 On his website www.davidsiebenhofer.at, he adds, “Als Musiker versuche ich, jedem
Stück meine eigene Note beizugeben. Ich versuche jedes Mal die Melodie mit so
viel Gefühl und Energie zu spielen, dass es auf die Zuhörer übergreift. Und ich
versuche jedes Mal das Beste zu geben, weil nur wenn ich alles gebe, bin ich
selbst zufrieden.
Dabei ist es für mich am wichtigsten, Freude am
Musizieren zu haben. Sie gibt mir den Mut, auf die Bühne zu treten und die
Musik für mich sprechen zu lassen. Denn schon der erste Ton sagt mehr über
mich, als es ein Text jemals könnte.”
Today, with his band
“Mamabeda,” David seeks to integrate jazz, rock and pop music, using traditional
instruments and four-part vocal harmonies. In addition to his accordion
expertise, he is an accomplished pianist and has begun to write his own
musical works.
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Accordion music, mountain songs, regional food, and the dialects of
Bavaria and Tyrol are all part of the Schuhplattler experience. On this page we
present some photos and videos that show how much fun kids (and adults) are
having in the European Alps. If you know of others like these, please send them
along! |
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Die Fröhliche Wallfahrt (The Happy Pilgrimage) is
a 1956 German film that contains the wildest Schuhplattler performance we have
yet seen. The performers are the Ruhpoldinger
Trachtengruppe from the Salzburg area. The dance is based on the Holzhacker
Schuhplattler or Wood Cutter's Dance, with a little bench dance by young children. The film shows the perils of editing in the 1950's, for the editors failed to take account of wood chips on the floor when pasting
together the shots!
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Die Jungs WG: Ohne Eltern in den Schnee was a
2013 TV show on ZDF that followed five German teens on a trip to Seefeld, near
Innsbruck, Austria, where they lived on their own for a month “without parents.”
The boys were given various activities to help them learn about life in the
Austrian mountains, including the Schuhplattler, which appeared in episode 7. Most of them had never worn Lederhosen, let alone danced the Schuhplattler. |
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Emil and Helmut Jenne sang their own version of Bergvagabunde for this 1974
video. The song as sung by popular yodler Franzl Lang failed to
mention that kids often go hiking in the mountains with their parents, so in this version the
Jenne twins keep insisting that “Kinder sind immer dabei!”
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Bavarian German is contrasted with standard German in this entertaining video, produced by Easy Languages, a
non-profit video project http://easy-languages.org/blog/category/easy-german.
Each region of
Germany/Austria/South Tyrol
(northern Italy) has its own dialect, although most people can speak standard High German.
Chef Peter is a New York youngster whose cooking videos have been popular on YouTube. In this one, he goes back to his German roots to grill up a Bratwurst Oktoberfest meal.
Kids from the Blumenauer Schuhplattler perform
at Oktoberfest in 2015.
Notice how deftly the small boy deals with his shoe emergency.
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