Schlager music
Schlager (German: [ˈʃlaːɡɐ], "hit(s)")[2] is a style of European popular music generally defined by catchy instrumental accompaniments to vocal pieces of pop music with simple, easygoing, and often sentimental lyrics.
"Schlager" redirects here. For the "Schläger" duelling sword, see Academic fencing.
Schlager tracks are typically light pop tunes or sweet, sentimental ballads with simple, catchy melodies. Their lyrics typically center on love, relationships, and feelings. The northern variant of schlager (notably in Finland) has taken elements from Finnic, Nordic, Slavic, and Eastern European folk songs, with lyrics tending toward melancholic and elegiac themes. Musically, schlager bears similarities to styles such as easy listening.
The style has been frequently represented at the Eurovision Song Contest and has been popular since the contest began in 1956,[2] though it is gradually being replaced by other pop music styles.
Etymology[edit]
Schlager is a loanword from German (from schlagen, "to hit"). It also came into some other languages (such as Bulgarian, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, Czech, Finnish, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Serbian, Turkish, Russian,[3] Hebrew, and Romanian,[4] for example), where it retained its meaning of a "(musical) hit".
