Music of Germany
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Forms of German-language music include Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW), Krautrock, Hamburger Schule, Volksmusik, trance, Schlager and multiple varieties of folk music. Classical composers include Richard Wagner and Johann Sebastian Bach, while Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was among many opera composers who created the field of German opera.
The beginning of what is now considered German music could be traced back to the 12th century compositions of mystic abbess Hildegard of Bingen, who wrote a variety of hymns and other kinds of Christian music.
Popular music
Disco
Many European artists recorded disco music; in Germany, Frank Farian formed a disco band by the name Boney M around 1975. They had a string of number one hits in a few European countries which continued into the early 1980s, with songs such as Daddy Cool, Brown Girl in the Ring and By the Rivers of Babylon. Still today, the trademark sound of Boney M is seen as emblematic for late 70's German disco music.
Electronic music and techno
Germany has the largest electronic music scene in the world. The band Kraftwerk was one of the first bands in the world to make music entirely on electronic equipment, and the band Tangerine Dream is often credited as being among the originators and primary influences of the "Berlin School" of electronic music, which would later influence trance music. Some other bands like Liaisons Dangereuses, Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft and Die Krupps created a style later called Electronic body music. Also well-known are Scooter. Recently a few electronica artists have become successful in the mainstream, such as Xavier Naidoo, Blümchen and MIA. Artists on the cutting edge of German-language techno include Ich + Ich and Klee.
Trance music is a style of electronic music that originated in Germany in the very late 1980's and early 1990's, upon German unification.
