Status: 19.08.2023, 11:52 a.m.
By: Katrin Hager
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On the guitar, Sepp Eibl (†) from Kreuth remains unforgotten. © Archive Thomas Plettenberg
As a musician, observer, promoter: folk music was his life – until the end. Now Sepp Eibl from Kreuth has died at the age of 89.
Kreuth – Folk music was his life: Sepp Eibl cultivated it holistically in the truest sense of the word – as a musician, as a promoter and as an observer with a wealth of knowledge. Now his strings have fallen silent: The musician, who had lived in Kreuth since 1975, passed away there on August 10, 2023 at the age of 89.
Although Sepp Eibl – born on March 21, 1934 – came from a family of musicians in Munich, his path was not so clearly marked out at first, although he was certainly influenced by the fact that he began playing the guitar at an early age and initially played with his father and grandfather – both popular zither players. But the young Sepp Eibl was first drawn to the visual arts: from 1956 he studied painting at the Academy in Munich and began to work as a draughtsman for various newspapers. From 1959 to 1972 he drew and wrote the lyrics for "Wiggerl", a little boy who humorously commented on the day's events on the front page of the Münchner Merkur every day. Not an easy task to find a witty punch line every day: "He often sat there drenched in sweat," recalls son Robert Eibl.
Blessed with many talents and plenty of zest for action
But the music didn't let go of him either. From 1960 he studied guitar at the Mozarteum. Blessed with many talents and plenty of zest for action, he began in 1969 as a freelancer for Bavarian Television, where he contributed his in-depth knowledge of folk music and his countless contacts: Until 1997 he created hundreds of film documentaries for the series "Under Our Sky".
As a guitarist, he has played with all the influential minds of folk music of his time - Sepp Winkler, Rudi Rehle, Schwab Franzi, Tobi Reiser and Florian Pedarnig, the Fischbachauer Dirndln, the Tölzer Sängerinnen, the Riederinger and Waakirchner Sänger or the Röpfl siblings, as a clarinetist also with the Kreuther Klarinettenmusi. For a long time he worked musically with Duke Max of Bavaria and he was also appreciated as an advisor among folk musicians.
He carried Bavarian folk music to all corners of the world
For the Goethe-Institut, Eibl and his ensemble took Bavarian music to all corners of the world – from Sapporo to Chicago, from Nigeria to Kazakhstan. The music afternoons that Sepp Eibl and friends regularly organized in the Ludwig-Thoma-Haus on the Tuften are also unforgettable – most recently this year in March, before an illness cost the 89-year-old a lot of energy. He did not let go of the music that was his life until the end: the guitarist was still preparing for a performance for Prince Ludwig of Bavaria in September.
Keeping folk music alive and passing on his passion for it was very important to Eibl. In 1979 he founded the Association for the Cultivation of Bavarian Folk Music. For his services he was awarded the Schwabing Art Prize in 1988 and the Poetentaler in 1997. In 2011, the Bavarian State Association for the Preservation of Local History experienced its controversial side at the "Day of Folk Music" in Wildbad Kreuth, where Eibl was to be awarded. It was difficult for the laureate to be persuaded to accept the award – he almost left the ceremony prematurely, which he perceived as a "pure folklore event". Folk music as a showpiece for a pedestal or a showcase? Not in Eibl's sense. With his tireless work, he stood for genuine tradition, honest customs and the highest quality. The Association for the Cultivation of Bavarian Folk Music, which is now chaired by his son Robert, himself a master violin maker, wants to continue in his spirit.
Sepp Eibl is buried in Munich. The funeral service will begin on Wednesday, August 23, 2023, at 10 a.m. in the funeral hall in the North Cemetery.