A family affair the fifth time around

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- It was twenty years ago that Erwin Gabriel's family first stayed with the Seeboths.

And, 20 years later, that friendship continues.

Gabriel's band, the Musikverein Herborn-Seelbach, has returned to New Ulm to play Heritagefest five times since then, setting a record for the most return visits of any visiting band. Dick Seeboth, too, has been to Gabriel's town of Herborn to visit Erwin about four times.

Friday gave the two friends a reunion when Musikverein Herborn-Seelbach played its first sets at Heritagefest since 2000.

Formed in 1978 in the town of Seelbach, which is 60 miles north of Frankfurt, Musikverein Herborn-Seelbach encompasses players from all around the town of Herborn, as is the German method of a larger town governing the smaller towns around it.

Unlike some of the other imported talents that play old time German folk music, Gabriel's band is roughly 30 people who play brassy, big-band style tunes. Most of their show on Friday evening featured American classics by Glenn Miller and standards like 'Amazing Grace' as well as some of the repertoire that the band plays in Germany.

During one set Friday evening, the group's singer thrilled the audience with a rendition of Frank Sinatra's classic 'New York New York." Except he sang the more famous version, "New Ulm New Ulm" in a near-perfect American accent, which earned him some enthusiastic applause.

Musikverein Herborn-Seelbach also played "76 Trombones" and demonstrated Gabriel's son's talents on the xylophone. Its set Friday evening ended with a rendition of an old Marlene Dietrich song.

"It's a warm reception we get here," Erwin said, following the Friday evening performance. "We also played at Germanfest in Milwaukee. But every time we have the opportunity, we come back to New Ulm."

Returning to New Ulm for the fifth time has marked plenty of change for Gabriel's group. In 1984, when Musikverein Herborn-Seelbach first played Heritagefest, the Gabriels had only two small children. Today, they have three children, a daughter-in-law and a grandchild, all of whom play in the band. Many of the members of the band's 1984 incarnation are still playing but now have families and were unable to tour the U.S.

There's another change that's happened to the Gabriels. During the period after the show, Erwin was greeted by Heritagefest-goers who congratulated him almost entirely in German.

"That's the thing," he said. "Strange people come up to you. They have no problem remembering me, but I can't remember them."

This year's tour is a special one for the town of Herborn. Its mayor, Hans Benner, is traveling with the band to Post Falls, Idaho, for that town's 100th anniversary. Post Falls, Gabriel says, was founded by German immigrants from Herborn.