By Brian Hicks
It was heartening to see the Ukraine win the Eurovision Song Contest and the UK entry come in second. The German song came in at 25th and last place.
It is a pity that none of the big German names in Schlager music, such as Helene Fischer, Andrea Berg, Roland Kaiser or Howard Carpendale, have entered the contest.
Presumably their managers have advised against it. It would have brought some extra razzamatazz to the event and no doubt a few more victories for Germans.
So far, the UK has won five times and Germany twice.
A few of the lesser Schlager stars have appeared in Eurovision, including Nicole (winner in 1982), Nino de Angelo, Michelle, Mary Roos, Lena Valaitis and Guildo Horn.
Germany last won in 2010, for the second time, and has had two top 10 finishers in the last 10 Eurovision song contests. The UK last won in 1997, its fifth success. It came close this year, had it not been for Ukraine’s winning entry.
It is good to see that a Schlager music scene is developing in the UK.
A lively new album, Crash Course, from the Crash Helmuts, was released on May 13, the day before Eurovision. It is being distributed by leading UK Indie music company Wienerworld.
They contacted me as I am one of the few UK journalists to write about Schlager.
The Crash Helmuts comprise the brothers Norbert and Johann Helmut. With the lockdown restrictions of 2020/2021 well in place and, under pressure from family and friends, the Crash Helmuts, started penning their album of happy and up-tempo music to raise a smile.
When I first heard the album, I thought this band was doing well to sing Schlager songs in English so well, although a little German had slipped into one of the songs.
I searched the internet to find out more about them, but found nothing much. I emailed the PR man at Wienerworld for more information, including whether Norbert and Johann were Germans brought up in the UK or a German group wanting to get into the UK market.
I later managed to get hold of the managing director, Anthony Broza. He told me that Norbert and Johann were not their real names and that this album was a departure from their usual blues music. They do not want to confuse their existing fans by playing a different genre of music as they are a leading blues band.
Anthony offered to set up an interview with Norbert, or Norman as he called him, which I assumed was also an alias. Norman told me the idea for getting into Schlager music had come from a friend of the band, Monika, whose father is called Helmut.
They were in Kelheim, near Regensburg, at the time. Norman realised that he had many unused songs from his past that could provide new material.
His band play about 60 gigs a year in Germany and the album is already selling there through the Saturn electrical stores. The other albums are going mainly to the US, the Benelux and the UK.
At this stage, I asked Norman/Norbert if he was prepared to reveal his and Johann’s real names, as I still had no idea who the band might be. There was some hesitation.
He then said everyone will find out eventually, but that I would be the first journalist to know: “I am Norman Beaker and Johann is John Price.”
Norman is a blues guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and band leader and has been active since the early 1970s. His band usually has five performers, but has also recorded as a trio.
He was inducted into the American Heritage Society Blues Hall of Fame in San Diego five years ago.
If his new catchy Schlager songs succeed, he could well become a Schlager star as well as a blues star in the autumn of his career.
Email: bhicks@wokingham.today
