ACFNY SUPPORTED | CONCERT & CONVERSATION | ATTWENGER
For the first time ever, the Austrian cult favorite duo known as Attwenger will be performing at select locations throughout the United States. Following their showcase at Austin’s South By Southwest Festival, they will add a few concerts in New Orleans, LA, followed by a series of performances in New York, including this event at Deutsches Haus at NYU, which will also feature a conversation with the two artists.
TOUR DATES:
March 13. – 15. 2012 Showcase at SXSW, Austin, TX
March 16. – 18. 2012 Concerts in New Orleans, LA (venues tba)
March 22. 2012 DROM New York, 9:30 PM
March 23. 2012 Deutsches Haus at NYU, 7:00 PM
LINE UP:
Markus Binder (drums, vocals, jew’s harp)
Hand-Peter Falkner (button accordion, vocals)
After this evening’s concert, Attwenger musicians Markus Binder and Hans-Peter Falkner will sit down with Michael Kleff and Deutsches Haus director Martin Rauchbauer to talk about contemporary folk music in the German-speaking world.
Michael Kleff is an award-winning radio producer, radio host, journalist, and author who lives in Bonn, Germany, and New York City. His varied professional pursuits focus on world music and politics.
The music of Attwenger, who are sometimes referred to as the anti-folk music-duo, is an unusual combination of Austrian Folk music and electronic music with lyrics sung (and rapped) in a rural Austrian dialect. The name Attwenger comes from an old four-lined stanza, that was played in regional broadcast and later appropriated by Markus Binder and Hans-Peter Falkner. For 21 years, Attwenger has been a project in constant flux. Markus Binder plays drums, Hans-Peter Falkner the accordion (electric squeeze-box). Both sing and use contemporary electronics in their music. Attwenger is considered one of the most innovative bands in Austria fusing Austrian Folk music with elements of electronic, punk, rock, blues, break-core, drum ‘n’ bass and hip-hop music. (Photo by Gerald von Foris)
From their beginnings, when their music adhered to a bare-bones drum and accordeon doctrine, up to the integration of hip hop accoutrements in the 1990s and aggressive electro grooves in the aughts, their albums have celebrated the duo’s cultivated propensity for escapism – without ever losing their dialect or the connection to their roots.
The lyrics for the most part are committed to social criticism. It is mainly due to Attwenger that dialect-poetry has found its way back into the local musical landscape and also to the younger generation. Musically Attwenger has also opened new paths. Folk music and polkas combined with heavy punk-appeal and electronic beats are completely new territory.
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VENUE
Deutsches Haus at NYU
42 Washington Mews
New York, NY 10003
(212) 998-8660
dhynu.org
Admission is free. For tickets, please e-mail deutscheshaus.rsvp@nyu.edu