Many musicians don’t care what folk music actually is and should be. Many others, however, know it all the more precisely, they just don’t agree on it. Somehow it will go to the heart, and if the factor tradition is added, then the tone can get rougher in a world that some people like to think is a perfect one. The folk music archive of the district of Upper Bavaria in Bruckmühl in the district of Rosenheim offers material for doubters.
This archive, according to an external folk music curator recently reported, will not be available again until the end of 2022 – even though a lot of new staff has only recently been installed there. Up until a year ago, the archive consisted mainly of Upper Bavaria’s long-standing folk music nurse Ernst Schusser, who was even allowed to retire a year later than he should have been allowed to. Schusser was quite a practitioner, traveled through the country with the accordion and sang songs with the people. Many musicians liked that, who didn’t care what Schusser pulled out of his hodgepodge for them, as long as it helped them. And after all, Schusser himself always found what he was looking for. But even he is no longer allowed to search, which some see as a kind of house ban, while others say that if nobody from outside can get into the archive, then neither can Schusser. For the time being, the collection of the National Association for Homeland Care remains for outsiders.
Because the district now wants to have its folk music archive in a modern one Center for Folk Music, Literature and Popular Music convert. “A realignment with all the trimmings, with new people, new ideas and rooms,” says Elisabeth Tworek, head of the department for culture, education, museums, home in the district. A plan as sensible as it is ambitious, especially since Upper Bavaria, apart from Munich, has so far had no literary memory. Nevertheless, not everyone likes the idea, especially in the conservative folk music scene. “A further development scares some people,” says Tworek coolly.
The transformation is not really harmonious. In September, the young folk music nurse, Bernhard Achhorner, threw it out after only nine months. “For personal reasons,” it says officially, but it would be no wonder if the icy headwind from the folk music scene had influenced his decision. The district quickly found a successor: Leo Meixner, former singer of the CubaBoarian, the one with CubaBoarisch 2.0 has since founded its own group. The 33-year-old music pedagogue, who lives in Bruckmühl and has his roots in traditional folk music, has been working in the archive for a long time and has also traveled a lot with Schusser. Unlike the Tyrolean Achhorn, he is well networked in Upper Bavaria’s folk music scene. “That makes it easier for me to get started now,” he says, assuring that he wants to take care of the traditional folk music and raves about how much it belongs to his life. That sounds as if he wanted to appease certain circles, but it will not change the fact that the concept of folk music in the center will become more international in the future and will also appeal to people who bring the music of their homeland with them. “Dahoam is überoi” is the name of a song by CubaBoarisch 2.0.
With CubaBoarisch 2.0, Leo Meixner (left) is out and about in two traditions.
(Photo: Arlet Ulfers)
Meixner becomes the second active musician in the new center next to Matthias Fischer, the man for popular music. The director of the center, the literary scholar and musician Katharina Baur, will be returning from her parental leave on December 1st, says Tworek, who is also expecting Verena Wittmann back soon. The director of the archive for folk music and regional literature had a serious car accident four months ago. It is incumbent on her to “professionalize” the enormous collection holdings (Tworek).
The young team has to listen to a lot of bad comments, says Tworek. However, some musicians are likely to get angry for very specific reasons. The district does not renew many project contracts that Schusser had concluded. “We want to cut back on work contracts and prefer to create decent working conditions,” says Tworek – also to prevent the emergence of a “pressure group” that tries to exert influence. But that must have happened a long time ago. District council president Josef Mederer informed the “dear friends of folk music” in a long letter about the realignment on Friday and assured that the archive will remain “a reliable contact point for questions about sheet music, folk music maintenance or field research”.