Schlager? Huh?

[KeyboardByBiggs]

Often when I'm checking out new Styles and such, I often see "Schlager" referred to.

As a US kind of guy, I don't really know what it means, but I'd really like to fully understand the meaning and flavor of this.

Would ya'll kindly fill me in and make me an expert on this term?

[Gunnar Jonny]

Schlager most often refer to German popular music. Also quite similiar to popular Scandinavian music style, that often is a mix of country and local folk music.
Easy to dance to, easy to sing together, and alwyas a kind of 'happy music' but not always as easy to play at is sounds like.

Here is what to find at Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlager_music

.

[Gandalf43]

I agree with Gunnar 

After I've had at least 4 pints or 2 bottles of red wine or half a bottle of Bushmills ....
I can bear German Schlager cause I am half dead anyway. And that is a very friendly
explanation.

Cheers
Udo

PS. To all Schlager lovers : I apologise

[KeyboardByBiggs]

Good info, thank you!

[pmedina]

Reading the Wiki explanation, and the post of gunnard johny, I stay still without know what is SCHLAGER.
Regards to all.

[Gunnar Jonny]

Reading the Wiki explanation, and the post of gunnard johny, I stay still without know what is SCHLAGER.
Regards to all.

SCHLAGER is german language, translated in english it wil be the same as POPULAR or a HIT, in other words, a poular style of music for the regions using that word.
Take a look and maybe listen here:
https://www.last.fm/tag/schlager

Edit / added:
Here are a lot at YouTube:
https://www.google.no/search?q=youtube german schlager&oq=youtube german schlager&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l2j69i64.6741j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[SeaGtGruff]

So it's "German pop music"?

[panos]

Schlager music (German: [ˈʃlaːɡɐ], "hits")[2] is a style of popular music which is generally a catchy instrumental accompaniment to vocal pieces of pop music with easy to understand, happy-go-lucky and often sentimental lyrics. It is prevalent in Central and Northern Europe, and Southeast Europe, (in particular Germany,[2] Austria, Albania, Bulgaria, Finland, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Poland, Hungary, Switzerland, Turkey, Scandinavia and the Baltic States) and also (to a lesser extent) in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Britain. In the United States it is also known as 'entertainer music' or 'German hit mix'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlager_music

Many Schlager preset styles on my psr and many many more on Yamaha musicsoft.
I think they just love it there.I imagine the workers in the factory to listen to it while producing the keyboards.

[Dromeus]

So it's "German pop music"?

No, I think this would be misleading. Although the boundaries between pop music and Schlager are flowing. As always it is very difficult to define boundaries between genres.

A Schlager has simple musical structures and German lyrics, that are trivial and addresses feelings of harmony, joy and happiness. Until the sixties Schlager was also synonymous to a "Hit", a commercial successful song.

There is a very good article in German Wikipedia https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlager (not sure if an online translator would provide a good translation), which tracks down the origin of the term "Schlager" to Johann Strauss' An der schönen blauen Donau (the Danube Waltz).

Maybe an example is better than a thousand words. I choose Wencke Myhre, a Norwegian singer. She was very successful, not only in the German Schlager market (she also represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968). The song "Er steht im Tor" (1969) is about a girl that is in love with a goal keeper. Throughout the whole season she is always at the football ground behind his goal, so she is near to her sweetheart. I told you the lyrics are silly  .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPjQhGycd6Q

Those were the days... By the way the goal keeper in this TV production was the Serbian Petar Radenkovic, who was a very popular and succesful goalie in the German premier league at that time.

[Keyboardister]

In addition to what everyone said, it's worth mentioning that the Schlager styles are mostly based on Schlager (German) hit songs by artists such as Andrea Berg, Helene Fischer, Fantasy ,Beatrice Egli etc.

[DrakeM]

Well, a few of them sound like US Country music. I have taken some of the riffs played in the PHR1 & 2 slots and used them in my custom made country styles as well. 

[Gandalf43]

Hi friends,
I think it is known that I love US and UK music and German Schlager is not my thing.

Though we have a few musicians over here who are worth listening and
if you like give it a try.


Udo Lindenberg - Hinterm Horizont
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JIgEKzs9CI

Herbert Grönemeyer - Männer Live 2003
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IZsxfo8ITw

Peter Maffay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-hNP-CkZYE

Wolfgang Niedecken
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVoHdmGaJwg

Cheers
Udo

[Ryszard Bieszczad]

Definition of a hit in the Polish edition of Wikipedia:
"A hit, hit or hit (this last term comes from English, where it means the same thing and literally translates as a hit) - a popular song or song at a certain time. The term usually refers to light music, but often its meaning extends for classical music and other art, for example, "movie hits" or "movies." Musical hits usually have a catchy melody and are repeatedly broadcast by radio stations, and achieve high sales, although there are timeless hits, whose popularity seems to not go away, this is basically a periodic phenomenon.

The popularity of hits usually disappears with time, and they themselves are forgotten. Then the song may appear on the market in a new version and arrangement, what we call a cover. The hits from past years are often released on composite albums, covering certain time intervals, e.g. "hits of the seventies". Typically, such publications define the musical style of a given period.

The bestseller is the equivalent of a hit on the book market. "

Regards
Erbis

[voodoo]

Hi friends,
I think it is known that I love US and UK music and German Schlager is not my thing.

Though we have a few musicians over here who are worth listening and
if you like give it a try.

Hi Udo,

the songs you listed are definitively no schlager, but they are rock/pop numbers. Using German lyrics is not the same as schlager.

Uli

[Gandalf43]

Hi Uli,

my fault !! that's what I wanted to say ......there are other German music apart
for Schlager

Thank you 

Udo

[Dromeus]

that's what I wanted to say ......there are other German music apart for Schlager

Indeed. Bach, Händel, Beethoven... Frumpy, Triumvirat, Birthcontrol... Till Brönner, De-Phazz, Jazzkantine, Organ Explosion... Nils Frahm... 
It's all about taste, isn't it   

[RF]

Often when I'm checking out new Styles and such, I often see "Schlager" referred to.

As a US kind of guy, I don't really know what it means, but I'd really like to fully understand the meaning and flavor of this.

Would ya'll kindly fill me in and make me an expert on this term?

Yamaha keyboards are very popular in German and Dutch speaking countries, where the word "Schlager" means a kind of easy listening pop in German or Dutch language.
The initial meaning of "Schlager" is that, what the English word "hit" in general means, a big success. In the first half of the 20th century, it wasn't unusual in Germany, to call a item, that will be frequently sold a "Schlager", later the word will be associated with Easy Listening music only.
Songs were so frequently called "Schlager" that the word became usual for most of German pop music.
Funny thing is, songs like the Country song "Heartaches By The Number", "City Of New Orleans" or "Let Your Love Flow" or the Pop song "Mendocino" or "Help Yourself" or Elton John's "Nikita" or so, got the label "Schlager" when sung in German or Dutch.
Feel free to explore the Schlager styles, some of them may work with international songs.