TTT: Dreifach Kölle Alaaf!

It is time for another #ThreeTuneTuesday. For those not familiar with it, here's an explanation.

About 91 Weeks ago @ablaze started this incredible movement:

Every Tuesday I'm going to share 3 songs which I like to listen to and I invite your feedback in the comments below. Or why not have a blast of your own Three Tune Tuesday and mention me in the post and I'll come and find the post and hopefully upvote it. It'll be a sweet way for us all to discover new music.

Alaaf!

It is Karneval in Germany. In Cologne they are greeting each other with Alaaf during this time. In most other regions they say Helau. And a few regions have their own different greetings and rituals. But you should be ok with Alaaf for Cologne and Helau for (most of) the rest of Germany.

I grew up in the middle of Germany but my father was from the "Ruhrpott" or simple "Pott" as we call it sometimes. He was a big fan of the Cologne Karneval.

But what is this all about? Without copying or rewriting a long Wikipedia article, here is the gist (I hope).

The most western part (east of the river Rhine) of Germany was once occupied by the Romans (Colonia is the Roman name for Cologne) and brought with them in later days the catholic religion.

In the catholic calendar the forty days before Easter celebration are fasting period. That included no meat. The latin words "carne" (meat) and "vale" (goodbye) put together make up the celebration of Carnevale which became the German Karneval.

This then developed into the "festivals" including dressing up and Sitzungsabend (session evening). Somewhere along the line the jesters jumped on the train and making fun of politics and society became a big part of it. As I said, people went nuts.

One of the big traditions is "Schunkeln". That is when the audience in the room (usually seated) is wobbling along with the music. Either sideways or back and forth while grabing hold of their seat neighbors.

Of course, there are also those who do not like Karneval. Even in Cologne. They got together to celebrate the Stunksitzung. Sitzung meaning session again and "Stunk" is slang for "spat" and/or "scold".

These people then celebrate in the style of Karneval making fun about the Karneval. Of course it did not take long for them to almost make fun of themselves. After all they were making fun of the people who during that time made fun of everyone else. Et voila the circle of sarcastic laughter is completed.

Here is "Köbes Underground" (The band of Stunksitzung) making fun of "schunkeln" by delivering a song to which the audience immediately starts that movement. "Schunkeln ist Scheisse!" - "Schunkeln is shit!"

We have bands in Germany that completely dedicate themselves to the tradition of Karneval. One of them is "Bläck Fööss" (Black Feet).

Their classic "Mer losse de Dom in Kölle" (We'll leave the dome be/stay put in Cologne) is based on an old German idiom "Die Kirche im Dorf lassen" (To leave the church be/stay put in the village). It is said to someone who is exaggerating too much or taking something to far. Then you can say to that person "Lass die Kirche mal im Dorf" (Let the church be/remain/stay put in the village!) to tell him to dial it down.

Because of the regional aspect of Karneval the songs and jokes are in a strong dialect. And yet the main line is nation wide recognized. I use it every now and then if I actually want to tell someone not to exaggerate but want to lighten the mood. Then I simply start singing the first chorus line.

This also gives you an idea of how a traditional "Karnevalssitzung" looks like.

Another well known Karneval band is "De Höhner" or simply "Höhner" (The Chicken) or (Chicken). One of their most famous songs is "Viva Colonia" which contains the as the first chorus line "Da sind wir dabei, das ist prima. Viva Colonia".

"Da sind wir dabei" means "We are in" as in "We join in" with a positive attitude.

"Das ist prima" means "That is great" or in context "We like that very much"

Outside of Cologne it is used in daily live in a more sarcastic way. If you have to join/do something without a choice and want to express your dislike sarcastically, just start singing that line. It's all in the method of delivery. 😉

But if you are in Cologne, that song is only to be used in a sincere way to genuinely express joy of being part of something. So if you ever are in Germany, be careful how you use the sentence "Da sind wir dabei, das ist prima!"

If you listened to that song to the end, the last few notes are called a "Karnevalstusch" or simply "Tusch". It is the Karneval equivalent to the drum role a comedian gets when their jokes are very funny. (For the musicians among us, it's a quart). If the joke is extremely funny the comedian gets three Tusch in a row.

Besides the music there is also the "Büttenrede" (carnival speech). This is where the jesters come in and deliver their jokes. Some of them do it as a speech, most of them in rhythmic rhymes. And a few deliver a combination of jokes and little songs.

One of my fondest childhood memories is watching the Karnevalssitzung on TV with my father every year (and later also the Stunksitzung with my mother) including all the songs and jokes.

For all the German speaking readers I want to give you the Colonia Duett, my most vivid memory from those days, as a bonus. And for @tengolotodo and all the others speaking German as a second language I want to spoiler: They do a little bit of English in this one, too.

Hans Zimmermann (the right person) died in 1994 and last December Hans Süper (the left one) passed away. But in my mind they will always be alive as the first comedy duo I ever experienced and was looking forward to every year when my father announced the start of a new Karnevalssitzung.

Thank you for reading and keep schunkeling 🤘

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_{The embedded videos and songs are not mine, nor do I own any rights to them. They are embedded from youtube and serve an illustrative purpose for this article}

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