By Anand Holla
About 60km from Munich, in the South of Bavaria and near the border of Austria, lies a small village by the name of Harthausen. Here, more than a century ago, sometime in 1907, Franz-Xaver Hinterstocker founded Harthauser Musi (Musi being a Bavarian short form for music) — an enterprising traditional brass and marching band.
The popular ensemble survived both World Wars, and in fact, during WWII, it played for the military. “Following the chaos surrounding the aftermath of WWII, the band was renamed as Stadtkapelle Bad Aibling — after the small town of Bad Aibling where Harthausen was located — and the musicians were making new music,” Michael Josef Marx, one of the leading members of Harthauster Musi, tells Community.
Soon after the band got busy playing concerts and entertaining tourists visiting the spas of Bad Aibling, a new wave of bands playing popular modern music caught on. Marx says, “That was more or less the temporary end of the “Stadtkapelle” as it lacked new musicians.” Temporary, he says, because destiny had already plotted its comeback.
In 2002, the band ceased to exist as all its musicians chose to join other brass bands in the district. However, two years later, some former musicians of the Stadtkapelle began jamming again, and soon, reunited. “It’s been 10 years now since we have playing again under our old name — Harthauser Musi,” Marx says.
What was once a traditional brass band had metamorphosed into a feisty party band boasting of an international repertoire. The much sought-after Bavarian band have performed at Oktoberfests around the world so regularly that they are often referred to an international Oktoberfest band. The nine-piece ensemble is all set to storm Doha end of this month.
As part of Oktoberfest celebrations at InterContinental Doha The City, Harthauser Musi will perform at the Al Jawhara Ballroom — October 29 to 31 — as you get to treat yourselves to traditional German food served at live cooking stations. Be prepared to groove to a rich, booming sound featuring clarinets, trumpets, bugles, guitars, drums, and accordions.
“We will be playing our Doha gigs wearing traditional Bavarian clothes, you know Lederhosen (leather breaches) and Dirndl (women’s dress),” says Marx, “To give the audience a great time, we will play a good mix of traditional Bavarian brass music, international evergreen hits, rock and pop classics and the typical hits from the Munich Oktoberfest.”
Embracing such an all-encompassing repertoire has been a smooth, continuous process for the band. “In 2006, the ‘re-founders’ decided that they won’t be successful playing just the traditional brass music. So they started rehearsing the first pieces for a big band sound,” explains Marx.
“While we now sound like a purposeful party band, nobody back then was clear as to which direction we were heading. So it’s only thanks to a continuous evolution of our sound and style that our repertoire can now easily incorporate even rock classics of ACDC and Status Quo,” he says.
Their inspiration is drawn from the simple principle of playing everything that “makes both, us and the audience, have fun.” Marx says, “As a brass band, we, of course, play traditional brass music from Bavaria, Austria, Bohemia and Moravia. As for modern music, our favourites are mostly classics that everyone knows. This way, our music has something for everyone, and the children and the young will enjoy it as much as their parents and their grandparents.”
Although Harthauser Musi has a ball from March to November, making the most of any occasion once every few weeks in any city in Bavaria, Oktoberfest is undoubtedly most special.
Marx says, “There is a lot of tradition behind Oktoberfest, celebratory music and of course, the traditional dress, all of which make it fun.”
Oktoberfest, the world’s largest funfair is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The 16-day festival that sees more than six million people from around the world attending the event every year, has been an integral part of Bavarian culture ever since it kicked off in 1810. Modelled on this, various cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations.
“Oktoberfest events abroad are amazing. The challenge for us is to try and fulfil the expectations of an international audience that has never been to the Oktoberfest in Munich. That also means all the clichés have to be served,” he says, “And you must really be smart with your repertoire because the audience wants to listen to typical Bavarian music on one hand, but would also like to sing along to some popular tracks on the other. That’s why we play quite a lot of English songs when we tour abroad.”
That said, Harthauser Musi is constantly looking to up its game. This means they also pick cues from the “party hits” at the Oktoberfest in Munich as those numbers usually are not just crowd pleasers, but also set the tone for the season’s hits.
“Moreover, it is as important for us to learn about new cultures and countries when we perform abroad. We want to not only showcase our culture and tradition, but we are also very interested in the cities we tour. We visit markets, museums, listen to street musicians, talk to people and absorb everything that will find a way back into our music,” Marx says.
Soaking such experiences perhaps, makes a lot more sense as all nine members of the band are not exactly professional musicians, but semi-professionals who work as anything from farmers or gardeners to craftsmen and engineers.
“Our jobs are as diverse as we are,” Marx points out, “Our female singer is an engineer for an infrastructure group that plans highways and country roads, while our guitarist is a specialist on plastics. Our bass player is still studying, and I, myself, make a living as an HR consultant. We combine our annual leaves at our workplaces to travel and perform, and also ensure that we meet all the expectations of our employers, too.”
Making time for music then is often a struggle, especially because the band members also have to spend time with their families and children.
“Our families encourage us immensely. Since all of us have made music since our childhood, all our relationships happened when we already were musicians. That’s why our partners fully accept music in our lives.”
In the last few years, Harthauser Musi has played 60-80 shows every year, at folk-festivals in big tents across Germany and even abroad. They have played at several Oktoberfests all over the world; from South Africa to Italy.
“Strangely, we have never got to play at the original Oktoberfest in Munich. To perform there is one of our big goals for the future,” Marx says.
For the group, the secret to reaching new levels of progress and accomplishment is that one word that every artiste swears by. “Practice, practice, and more practice,” says Marx, “We can’t stress this enough. From private lessons of individual musicians to the endless hours of joint rehearsals, we do everything we can to practice more.”
During winter, they jam about twice a week, and the busy summer season, during which they play around 80 gigs, gets them to play twice or thrice a week anyway.
“One of the greatest upsides and an important part of our success is that we are all friends,” says Marx, “For many years, we have played music together and everyone supports anyone who’s having a bad day. Since we all know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, we can complement each other very well. And that spirit shines through in our music, too.”
