FEDERSPIEL

FEDERSPIEL

The group Federspiel was founded at Krems an der Donau, Austria, in 2004, since the founding members are all natives of the Krems region. Decisive momentum and impetus came from Rudi Pietsch, whose focus was right from the start on original folk music, rehearsing with the group compositions that had been specifically arranged for these musicians and their instrumentation.

In this way all members of the group became very familiar with many facets and interpretations of Austrian folk music soon extending their focus also to the whole cultural region of the old monarchy and subsequently including compositions of the former Austrian-Hungarian crown lands. This is precisely why the musical language of Federspiel, apart from those very well known polkas, marches and waltz also comprises the Czardas so typical of Hungary and Slovakia.

The musical signature of Federspiel is strongly influenced above all by the origin and the personal background of each single musician, meaning that all these (music-) biographical elements are inevitably leaving their mark on the group. Hence, the music of Federspiel includes original compositions with pop elements as well as arrangements of traditional Mexican music or compositions featuring the zither as a solo instrument.
So it’s no surprise that there are no specific terms at hand to describe a certain category or a genre and that conventional terminological specifications such as “folk music”, “world music”, “traditional” music are all missing the point. The best way to describe the musical style of the ensemble is by way of its name: Federspiel.

2011: Winner of the "Austrian World Music Audience Award"

So far the group made their appearance inter alia at the “Wellenklängefestival” at Lunz am See, at the Gläserne Saal des Wiener Musikvereins (Glass Hall of the Vienna Music Society), at the Vienna City Festival, at the Xong Festival, at the Fraunhofer Folk Music Days, at the Mozartsaal des Wiener Konzerthauses (Mozartsaal of the Vienna Concert Hall), Festival "Carinthischer Sommer" as well as in TV recordings by the ORF, the Bayerischer Rundfunk and Servus TV. In 2010 the group released their first CD entitled “Federspiel”, June 2012: second Album "unerhört bumm".
2012: Tours to Lithuania, England (City of London Festival), Germany, Italy