Schandmaul is a German medieval folk rock band from the

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

area. As well as using modern instruments such as the bass and

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

, the band also utilizes instruments typically used in Medieval folk songs such as the bagpipes,

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vi ...

shawm The shawm () is a conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissance periods, after which it was gradually eclipsed by th ...

, to produce their trademark

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...

sound. Schandmaul was nominated two times for the

Echo Music Prize Echo Music Prize (stylised as ECHO, ) was an accolade by the , an association of recording companies of Germany to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The first ECHO Awards ceremony was held in 1992, and it was set up to hono ...

and has so far had six albums in the top ten German album charts and three top-ten albums in Austria. The name 'Schandmaul' translates roughly to 'evil tongue' and refers to their mascot of a grinning skeletal jester.

History

Schandmaul was founded in the summer of 1998 when six musicians from Munich and the surrounding area, then members of different bands, came together for a folk rock concert. They were dissatisfied with performing nothing but cover-versions and so decided to write a few songs of their own for the event. The very first song written by the newly formed band, ''Teufelsweib'' (lit. ''Devil-Woman''), already exhibited the sound that, cultivated and developed over the years, is considered typical for Schandmaul. The first concert took place in the bar 'Die Hexe' (lit. 'The Witch') in Gröbenzell. The self-deprecating name 'Schandmaul' was chosen to be used by the band at the event, inspired by a jester from a deck of cards. The jester is viewed as a fool, but this indignity gains him the privilege to speak his mind freely, and accordingly, the outdated swear word 'Schandmaul' refers to somebody who frequently says things considered rude or outrageous. The success of the concert spawned their desire to produce a CD, which was to be the self-produced album ''Wahre Helden'' (lit. ''True Heroes''). Their abundance of creative energy inspired more songs and a second album, titled ''Von Spitzbuben und anderen Halunken'' (lit. ''Of Rogues and Other Scoundrels''), was released in 2000. That same year, the band signed with concert promoter Extratours, who has been responsible for the band's live shows ever since. In 2001, record label 'F.A.M.E. recordings' took notice of the band, leading to the re-release of ''Von Spitzbuben und anderen Halunken''. Simultaneously, through numerous shows including big festivals like

M'era Luna The M'era Luna is a rock festival that encompasses a number of different styles such as metal, future pop, aggrotech, synthpop, gothic rock, dark wave, and ebm. It is held annually on the second weekend of every August, in Hildesheim, G ...

, the

Zillo Festival ''Zillo'' (or ''Zillostrierte'') was a German alternative music magazine, published monthly, originally edited by Rainer "Easy" Ettler. It was in circulation between 1989 and 2014. The headquarters of ''Zillo'' were in Lübeck. History The magaz ...

and

Wave-Gotik-Treffen The Wave-Gotik-Treffen (WGT; ) is an annual world festival for "dark" music and "dark culture" in Leipzig, Germany. 150+ bands and artists from various backgrounds ( gothic rock, gothic metal, EBM, industrial, noise, darkwave, neo-folk, ne ...

, the first big tour came about. The third CD, ''Narrenkönig'' (lit. ''King of the Jester's'') was recorded in a professional studio and was released in October 2002, reaching No. 70 on the charts. In September 2002, the band parted ways with bassist Hubsi Widman, who was replaced by Matthias Richter who debuted on 22 September 2002 in

Meschede Meschede () is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district Hochsauerlandkreis. Education One of the five branches of South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachh ...

. In 2003 the first live CD and DVD, ''Hexenkessel'' (lit. ''Witch's Cauldron'', also meaning the proverbial 'boiling pot') were released, recorded during a concert in the Munich club New Backstage, at which Michael Rhein from

In Extremo In Extremo (Latin for ''At the Edge''; abbreviated InEx or IE) is a German Medieval metal band originating from Berlin. The band's musical style combines metal with Medieval traditional songs, blending the sound of the standard rock/metal inst ...

made a cameo appearance as guest singer. ''Hexenkessel'' reached No. 52 in the charts. In early 2004, ''Wie Pech & Schwefel'' (lit. ''Like Pitch and Sulphur'', German idiom with a similar meaning to "as thick as thieves") appeared in the stores. This first studio album with Matthias Richter reached No. 13 in the charts. A tour with over 80 concerts and shows throughout German-speaking Europe followed. At the end of 2004, the band organized the first ever Funkenflug festival in Munich. The following year, the biggest project yet in the band's history was created: An acoustic tour, where the electric guitars were replaced by a string quartet and extra percussion, capped off by a huge concert in Munich's

Circus Krone Building Circus Krone Building refers to three circus buildings that have, and currently exist at the same location on the Marsstraße in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, Germany. These buildings consist of the original Circus Krone Building, its tempor ...

, accompanied by the Puchheimer Jugendkammerorchester (a 50 piece orchestra) and helped out by numerous musicians from other bands, such as Castus and Wim from

Corvus Corax The common raven (''Corvus corax'') is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. It is a raven known by many names at the subspecies level; there are at least e ...

on bag pipes and Oliver s. Tyr from

Faun The faun (, grc, φαῦνος, ''phaunos'', ) is a half-human and half-goat mythological creature appearing in Greek and Roman mythology. Originally fauns of Roman mythology were spirits (genii) of rustic places, lesser versions of their c ...

on the Celtic harp (who had recently teamed up with Birgit to create a folk project called ''Sava''). This huge show was recorded and released as both a CD and DVD under the name "Kunststück" (lit. Feat). The CD reached No. 12 in the album charts and the DVD made it to No. 3 in the video charts having sold 25,000 copies as of 2011. A single called "Bin Unterwegs" (lit. "(I) Am on the way") was also produced based on the live recording from Circus Krone. More shows followed, partially with the strings but including the rock set, and a cooperation-agreement with the Deutschen Zentrum für Musiktherapie (German Centre for Music Therapy) was created. In March 2006 another album appeared, titled ''Mit Leib und Seele'' (lit. ''Body and Soul''). This became the first Schandmaul album to reach the top ten of Germany's Media Control charts. Schandmaul's sixth album ''Anderswelt'' (lit. meaning "Other-world") appeared in April 2008. It reached a position of No. 8 in Media Control's album charts in its first week and remained in their Top 100 for fifteen weeks. This success has since been topped by their 2011 album, ''Traumtänzer''. Schandmaul live blau

In November 2008, Schandmaul celebrated their 10th anniversary with a widely promoted anniversary concert in Munich that was filmed and recorded for the live CD and DVD ''Sinnfonie'' (word play on the words Sinn, sense, and Sinfonie, symphony). In early 2009, Schandmaul were nominated for the German music award

ECHO In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

. A club tour that was originally planned for 2010 was cancelled and no concerts were played that year as the band wanted a break to write new material. This album, ''Traumtänzer'' (lit. dream dancer), was released on 28 January 2011 and was followed by a short spring tour and appearances at festivals in the summer of 2011. The album reached a position of No. 4 in the German Media Control album charts The eighth studio album '' Unendlich'' (lit. infinite) was released on 24 January 2014 by

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

. ''Unendlich'' peaked at position 2 in the German charts, making it the most successful Schandmaul album yet. It was nominated for the 2014 ECHO award. ''Unendlich'' was

certified Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

gold status in Germany for 100,000 sold copies. The album ''LeuchtFeuer'' (lit. light beacons or navigational light) was released on 16 September 2016. It entered the German album charts a week later and was immediately listed at position No. 1. It is Schandmaul's first album to reach the top position in the charts. The band was accompanied by

Tarja Turunen Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish. She is a soprano with a three and a half oct ...

on the track ''Zu zweit allein''. On the 2nd September 2020 they signed a record deal with

Napalm Records Napalm Records is an Austrian independent record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock. Originally, Napalm focused on black metal bands, such as Abigor and Summoning, and folk metal bands, such as Falkenbach and Vintersorg. The label l ...

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilations

EPs

DVDs

* ''Hexenkessel'' (2003) * ''Kunststück'' (2005), certified gold status in 2011 for 25,000 sold copies * ''Sinnbilder'' (2008) * ''Sinnfonie'' (2009)

Awards and nominations

, - , style="text-align:center;", 2000 , style="text-align:left;", Schandmaul , style="text-align:left;", German Folk Music Sponsorship Award (''Deutscher Folkförderpreis'') , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2007 , style="text-align:left;", Schandmaul's own project for the promotion of upcoming bands , style="text-align:left;", ''Pick Up'' Bavarian Rock Prize (''Bayerischer Rockpreis Pick Up'') , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2009 , style="text-align:left;", '' Anderswelt'' , style="text-align:left;",

, , - , style="text-align:center;", 2014 , style="text-align:left;", '' Unendlich'' , style="text-align:left;", ECHO ,

Members

File:Schandmaul-26.jpg, Thomas Lindner in 2014 File:20150829 Wuppertal Feuertal Schandmaul 0046.jpg, Anna Katharina Kränzlein in 2015 File:Schandmaul - Hammaburg Fest 2018 04.jpg, Saskia Forkert in 2018 File:20151204 Wuppertal Schandmaul Schandmaul 0131.jpg, Stefan Brunner in 2015 File:20150829 Wuppertal Feuertal Schandmaul 0022.jpg, Martin Christoph ''Ducky'' Duckstein in 2015 File:20150829 Wuppertal Feuertal Schandmaul 0053.jpg, Birgit Muggenthaler-Schmack in 2015 File:2015-08-29 Schandmaul (Feuertal 2015) 026.jpg, Matthias ''Hiasl'' Richter in 2015

Current members

* Thomas Lindner –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, acoustic guitar, accordion * Birgit Muggenthaler-Schmack –

flutes The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, ...

, vocals * Martin "Ducky" Duckstein –

, acoustic guitar, classical guitar, vocals * Stefan Brunner – drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, vocals * Matthias Richter – bass,

upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

(since 2002) * Saskia Forkert –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

, backing vocals (since 2018) The four male band members also play in the rock band Weto with

Regicide Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...

keyboarder Heiner Jaspers, while Birgit Muggenthaler-Schmack and Anna Kränzlein both cultivate their own side projects,

Sava The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...

and Anna Katharina respectively.

Former members

* Hubsi Widmann – bass, mandolin, hurdy-gurdy, vocals (1998–2002) * Anna Kränzlein – violin, hurdy-gurdy, vocals (1998–2017)

References

External links

Official Schandmaul website
{{Authority control German folk metal musical groups Medieval folk rock groups Universal Records artists