Folkländer (DEU)This year’s RUTH award goes to Leipzig’s legendary Folkländer. Founded in 1976, they took ‘rest periods’ but always came back together again. In their early days they were the core of the GDR folk scene - not only because of their down-to-earth interpretations of traditional German folksongs but on account of their many notable ‘firsts’. Folkländer were the first act to call for a ‘Werkstatt’ (workshop) of all East German folk musicians. They were the first to work with a German folk dance expert – which led to a folk dance craze turned movement which endures to the present. They were the first to launch a folk magazine (Leipziger Folksblatt) and the first to start a folk club. Many, many people played German folksongs but Folkländer were the thought leaders, always one step ahead of, and two steps more creative than any other German folk group. They had the wit, courage and vision to use their own heads. No other German folk group was ever as consistent, as original, as inventive or as downright obstinate. For all this and more, Bless Folkländer’s Pointed Little Head!

Photo Silvia Hauptmann