As of: February 15, 2024, 11:00 a.m
By: Christiane Mühlbauer
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Werner Schmidbauer (62) is celebrating his 45th stage anniversary this year.
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“Mia san oans” is the name of Werner Schmidbauer’s new album.
It is his first solo project in ten years, and on Sunday, February 25th, the songwriter is coming back to Tölz as part of his tour.
He has a special memory of the city.
Bad Tölz - He knows the Tölzer Kurhaus well - and he will never forget a concert there in 2011, as he reported in a telephone interview with Kurier editor Christiane Mühlbauer.
Mr. Schmidbauer, tens of thousands of people in Germany are currently demonstrating for the preservation of democracy. You have repeatedly addressed themes such as peace and international understanding in your songs for years, including now on the new album. How are you experiencing this time?
I find them very touching.
I now live in Kempten and was there myself at the two demonstrations in the city.
I also discuss it a lot with my friends.
We are living in a threatening time in which right-wing movements are regaining a foothold across Europe, and in America Trump hovers like a ghost on the horizon.
It's very good that people in Germany are now standing up and saying that they don't want something like that.
I hope this solidarity lasts for a long time.
You describe the title song of your new album “Mia san oans” as a “manifesto against the growing social and political division”. Do you see yourself as a political songwriter?
No, I wouldn't go that far if I compared myself to songwriters like Konstantin Wecker.
Nevertheless, the new album is more political than the previous ones.
However, it is also very personal because I also talk about what has happened in my personal life over the past few years.
That was a turbulent time... Your marriage fell apart and you now live with your new partner in Kempten. And then there was the pandemic.
Yes, I had to collect and digest all of these moments before I could put them into songs.
For a long time I had a writing inhibition.
As a songwriter, isn't it scary for you to suddenly not be able to write anymore?
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Not really.
I felt that I just had to take it as it is and then it would move on.
And so it was.
I was with my partner in Norway, in the town of Lillesand, I was sitting alone by the sea, looking at the archipelago.
Shortly before, I had learned that someone I really liked had died.
At the same time, my partner and I felt on this trip that our relationship was stable.
It's often the case in life that someone goes and someone comes.
In that moment by the sea the song called “Lillesand” was born.
For me every song is like a birth.
I can't sit down and force myself to write or compose something.
It comes when it wants to come.
And that was the end of the writer's block.
You are now 62 years old. How are you feeling about getting older?
Of course you become aware that the distance behind is getting shorter.
But I have to honestly say that the 40th and 50th birthdays have thrown me more off balance than the 60th. Maybe it's because so much has changed in my life in the last few years that I realize: I I'm far from finished here.
I know I'm getting older, but I have a full life and feel like I don't have much to lose.
That's a good feeling.
There is a beautiful saying that says that people my age are at the door to the youth of old age.
So I'm still in this young phase (smiles).
This is actually a cool time.
I became a grandfather three months ago.
That is beautiful!
I am healthy and do yoga every morning.
I really like my life right now!
I still have a lot to do.
And now you're back on tour. You have already been to Bad Tölz several times. Have you ever counted?
No, I didn't (smiles), but I think there were around 15 to 20 concerts.
I can still remember how we used to play in the old cinema on Flinthöhe.
But I will never forget a concert at the Kurhaus.
That was the day my mother died, in 2011.
What, and you didn't cancel the concert back then?
I had a performance in the Bavarian Forest the evening before, then I went home to Munich and spent the last hours at my mother's deathbed.
In the evening I was on stage in Tölz.
Yes, my thoughts were with my mother and it was hard.
But she would have wanted me to play.
In the days that followed, I canceled a few other concerts.
They are celebrating their 45th stage anniversary this year.
On the new album you thank your audience with the touching song “Dafür mein Dank”.
Yes, this is a song that is very important to me.
Some people have been with me from the beginning.
That's crazy.
I feel how my audience supports me.
I am very grateful for that.
But I also see an obligation for my generation to help young people.
We have experienced peace and prosperity in recent decades.
That is now in danger.
That's why we have to help the younger ones pull the cart out of the mud.
I want the world to remain livable for my grandchildren.
We will only be able to save our planet and ourselves if we finally understand that we as humanity are one.
Werner Schmidbauer's concert
will take place on Sunday, February 25th at 6:30 p.m. in the Tölzer Kurhaus (admission from 5:30 p.m.).
Tickets priced at 35 euros are available at all München-Ticket ticket offices.
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