The Five Merry Six

Austrian quintet plays second set at fest

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- They boast the most tongue-twisting name of all the entertainers on this year's Heritagefest bill.

Say it slowly now: Die Fuenf Lustigen Sechs.

It's Austrian for 'The Five Merry Six,' with an emphasis on "merry."

The Salzburg, Austria, quintet is playing its second second-weekend set with a mix of unaccompanied German and Austrian fast polkas, a series of instrumentally-challenging solos, a surprise rendition of a 1950s rock song and a little Teutonic slapstick. The group first came to the second weekend of Heritagefest two years ago.

The group consists of Hubert Steiner, Mannfred Rofner, Winfred Liederer, Hans Zehntener, Peter Lercre and Rupert Pierchner, all who hail from Salzburg. Each says they've been playing music for about 30 years.

The band formed from a brass band that Mannfred and Hans played in together. Originally, there were five members but one joined later, hence the name. They first played Heritagefest three years ago.

The members of Die Fuenf Lustigen Sechs claim to love all kinds of music and all types of bands. A couple of them even have smaller musical groups back home.

On stage, Die Fuenf Lustigen Sechs gives audiences fast, full-speed-ahead polka melodies for minutes straight and then breaks off into solos and schtick. Hubert serves as the leader by telling the audience about what's going to happen next and by serving as the straight man in some of the instrumental comedy the group puts on.

Mannfred impressed several people early on with his yodeling skills and a skilled solo on an alpenhorn. Winfred, acting as the drummer, soloed on a trap set and then on a set of pots he'd welded together and strapped to his chest and wore with a cymbal-adorned motorcycle helmet. Hans also treated the audience to a clarinet solo, where he and Hubert would take the instrument apart at regular intervals in the song, leaving Hans to play whatever Hubert didn't take. Hans made it all the way down to the reed before Hubert yanked him away from the microphone, thereby ending the song. Hans also played a solo on the panpipes and the flute he made from a beer bottle.

Peter stayed mostly on guitar and vocals and Rupert mainly stood behind one of the tent poles, squeezing many speedy riffs out of his accordion.

The group's 4:30 p.m. set in the Bayerwald tent started off with several high-speed Austrian polkas and went straight into 'Ein Prosit', which many know as a traditional Heritagefest toast.

The first part of the group's act was straight Oberkreiner--two trumpets, a tuba, an accordion and vocals. There was, as mentioned earlier, several examples of skilled Austrian yodeling.

Die Fuenf Lustigen Sechs got the New Ulm crowd involved with a melody starting with "Rosemunde", which many recognized as "The Beer Barrel Polka." The melody kept a constant pace for about 10 minutes until Winfred's drum solos kicked in.

"Winfred is a very good cook and when he works, he plays the drums," Hubert joked. "And now Winfred is going to solo doing a yodel."

Suddenly, Winfred broke into a version of Big Bill Haley's 'See You Later, Alligator' and took the band with him.

After the solos ended, Die Fuenf Lustigen Sechs kicked back into another non-stop high-speed polka set followed by a waltz and a couple ballads--for which Hans played a creaky violin--and then thanked the audience for its applause and reminded them that the group's CD is for sale at the booth in the Rosen tent.