Attwenger
Encyclopedia
Attwenger is a musical duo from Linz
, Austria
. The group is made up of drummer Markus Binder and button accordion
player Hans-Peter Falkner; both members also sing.
Attwenger's music is an unusual combination of Upper Austria
n folk music and hip-hop, with lyrics sung (and rapped) in Upper Austrian dialect. Falkner often plays his accordion through effects pedals to give his instrument a distorted timbre similar to that of an electric guitar. Binder sometimes uses drum machine
s.
The duo has toured Europe, Zimbabwe
(1993), Siberia
, Pakistan
, Vietnam
, and Malaysia (1995). In 2003 they won an Amadeus Austrian Music Award, in the category "FM4 Alternative Act des Jahres" (alternative act of the year). Of the group, the noted BBC DJ John Peel
(1939-2004) said, "I have no idea what it's all about, but I like the general noise a great deal."
Attwenger worked together with Fred Frith
, the Boban Marković
Orkestar, and Austrian hip-hop group Texta.
Some of the word plays are English related, especially in the album titles:
song is, aside from its English meaning the Austrian dialect word for to say.
sun (spoken: soon) is Austrian dialect for Sonne, which in English again, means sun.
dog in Austrian dialect means day, and the German word for dog is Hund. The song on the album contains the line da dog der is a hund - the day is a dog. This has no meaning in English, but in Austria
the saying that "something is a Hund" relates to something being difficult, or not working out as expected.
An example for a word play
that can be translated into English, also characterizing the general message transmitted by Attwenger, can be found on dog: "A jeder mensch zöd, a jeder mensch zöd sei göd" - "Every man counts, every man counts his money".
Another one is part of the song "Gedscho" on sun, where the line "geht scho (wieder)" ("It's ok, I can still make it.") evolves into "geht scho wieder weida" ("Look, it continues").
style, with only slightly changed or adapted lyrics, spoken as rap
.
luft (Air) was the first step away from tradition, as for the first time they wrote their own lyrics, in the sense of Austrian poet Ernst Jandl
, some of the songs dealing with environmental and social issues. In the music the amount of distortion and feedback became painfully dominant, making luft maybe the most challenging album to listen to.
song was the next step in the development of Attwenger. Totally free of the noisiness and punky elements, the album contains three songs clocking in at around 15 minutes, which can be best compared to ethno or dub music
, and a six second word rap titled "Es gibt Wiederholungen" ("There are repeats"). For the first time plenty of electronic samples were used, and the lyrics were used rather as instrument than as carrier of message. The lyrics for each song consist only two or three sentences, whose words are only slightly varied (thus getting a different meaning), and repeated like mantras, sounding very similar to the accompanying mouth harp
.
sun and dog represent another change of style, on one hand, the band returns to shorter songs, more aggressively addressing political and social criticism in their lyrics. The punkish style of the early days has returned to a small extent, but also hip-hop and trip-hop-elements have found their way into the music. The two albums also show increasing amount of melody, with some of the songs actually sung, rather than spoken.
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. The group is made up of drummer Markus Binder and button accordion
Button accordion
A button accordion is a type of accordion on which the melody-side keyboard consists of a series of buttons rather than piano-style keys. There exists a wide variation in keyboard systems, tuning, action and construction of these instruments...
player Hans-Peter Falkner; both members also sing.
Attwenger's music is an unusual combination of Upper Austria
Upper Austria
Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...
n folk music and hip-hop, with lyrics sung (and rapped) in Upper Austrian dialect. Falkner often plays his accordion through effects pedals to give his instrument a distorted timbre similar to that of an electric guitar. Binder sometimes uses drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
s.
The duo has toured Europe, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
(1993), Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, and Malaysia (1995). In 2003 they won an Amadeus Austrian Music Award, in the category "FM4 Alternative Act des Jahres" (alternative act of the year). Of the group, the noted BBC DJ John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
(1939-2004) said, "I have no idea what it's all about, but I like the general noise a great deal."
Attwenger worked together with Fred Frith
Fred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
, the Boban Marković
Boban Markovic
Boban Marković is a Serbian Romani trumpet player and brass ensemble leader from Vladičin Han, frequently recognized as the greatest trumpet player to emerge from the Balkans...
Orkestar, and Austrian hip-hop group Texta.
Lyrics
The lyrics contain several word plays, most of them are impossible or hard to translate or explain to Non-Austrians (some even to Non-Upper Austrians)Some of the word plays are English related, especially in the album titles:
song is, aside from its English meaning the Austrian dialect word for to say.
sun (spoken: soon) is Austrian dialect for Sonne, which in English again, means sun.
dog in Austrian dialect means day, and the German word for dog is Hund. The song on the album contains the line da dog der is a hund - the day is a dog. This has no meaning in English, but in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
the saying that "something is a Hund" relates to something being difficult, or not working out as expected.
An example for a word play
Word play
Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...
that can be translated into English, also characterizing the general message transmitted by Attwenger, can be found on dog: "A jeder mensch zöd, a jeder mensch zöd sei göd" - "Every man counts, every man counts his money".
Another one is part of the song "Gedscho" on sun, where the line "geht scho (wieder)" ("It's ok, I can still make it.") evolves into "geht scho wieder weida" ("Look, it continues").
Musical style
The overall style changed continuously during their works, their first 2 albums, most and pflug were basically cover versions of traditional upper Austrian folk songs, played in punkPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
style, with only slightly changed or adapted lyrics, spoken as rap
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
.
luft (Air) was the first step away from tradition, as for the first time they wrote their own lyrics, in the sense of Austrian poet Ernst Jandl
Ernst Jandl
Ernst Jandl was an Austrian writer, poet, and translator.- Poetry :Influenced by Dada he started to write experimental poetry, first published in the journal "Neue Wege" in 1952....
, some of the songs dealing with environmental and social issues. In the music the amount of distortion and feedback became painfully dominant, making luft maybe the most challenging album to listen to.
song was the next step in the development of Attwenger. Totally free of the noisiness and punky elements, the album contains three songs clocking in at around 15 minutes, which can be best compared to ethno or dub music
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
, and a six second word rap titled "Es gibt Wiederholungen" ("There are repeats"). For the first time plenty of electronic samples were used, and the lyrics were used rather as instrument than as carrier of message. The lyrics for each song consist only two or three sentences, whose words are only slightly varied (thus getting a different meaning), and repeated like mantras, sounding very similar to the accompanying mouth harp
Mouth harp
Mouth harp may refer to:* Harmonica* Jew's harp...
.
sun and dog represent another change of style, on one hand, the band returns to shorter songs, more aggressively addressing political and social criticism in their lyrics. The punkish style of the early days has returned to a small extent, but also hip-hop and trip-hop-elements have found their way into the music. The two albums also show increasing amount of melody, with some of the songs actually sung, rather than spoken.
Discography
- Auf da Oim gengan die Kia (MC, 1990)
- most (1991)
- pflug (1992)
- ! Wirrwarr ! (CD-MINI, 1993)
- luft (1993)
- song (1997)
- sun (2002)
- dog (2005)
- dog2 remixes (2006)
- die Kia (CD, new release of 1990 MC, 2007)
- flux (2011)
External links
- Attwenger official site
- Attwengerfilm (from Attwenger official site)