Alpunk (
Alpine punk) is a
genre of
punk rock from the
Alpine regions of
Germany,
Switzerland and
Austria. Alpunk fuses the chaotic,
energetic rhythms of punk music to the
accordion-based
folk music which the region is famous for.
Though there has been little popular fame, the Austrian band
Attwenger had had
some minor success with albums such as
most and
song.
The former features
drum beats
from a
drum
machine and
rapping
in the
Austrian dialect of German, while the
latter has much longer pieces of up to 15 minutes'
length.
Another group performing in a similar vein is
Extremschrammeln, who perform original
songs in both German and English over slightly more traditional
music. Big hits include
"Der Weg Ist Weit Nach
Floridsdorf" (
"It's a Long Way to Floridsdorf") and
"Fantastisch Elastisch" (
"Fantastic
Elastic").
The world famous comedian,
Alf Poier, has also dabbled in
AlPunk. He has had moderate success with classic songs such as
"Tui Tui Tat",
"Weil Der Mensch Zählt" and
"Flieger". However, Mr. Poier has also branched out into a
broader range of music including "Pseudo-Frictionless Owl Rock".
This involves dressing up in elaborate clothes and using birdcages
to capture the audiences' imagination. However some anti-Austrian
activists believe that this brand of Owl Rock encourages violence
among young people . Alf Poier however disagrees...and is quoted to
have saying "The people know, but they do not understand" .