DALL·E 2024 02 28 18.28.12 A watercolor painting of a small traditional publishing workshop focused on crafting music books by hand. The scene includes activities like bookbind

About us – Verlag der Spielleute

For over three decades, the Spielleute Verlag has been publishing books and recordings dedicated specifically to bagpipes and drone music. Textbooks and collections of sheet music for drone instruments such as bagpipes, nyckelharpa and hurdy-gurdy have always been the focus of our work. In recent years, we have expanded our expertise and dedicated ourselves to the other traditional music in Europe in order to honor the diversity of European culture.

Welcome to the Spielleute publishing house

Publishing house of the minstrels

eid welcome to the publishing house of the minstrels! Our history is marked by passion for traditional music and the desire to share this passion with you. The Spielleute publishing house was founded in 1988 with the clear aim of promoting drone music .

In April 2022, Jonas Böttcher succeeded the publisher and continues our mission. Our assortment still includes the significant titles from our publishing catalog, which we proudly present. In doing so, the publisher expands its focus from drone music to European traditional music.

Drone music has experienced an amazing renaissance in recent decades. Thanks to continuous development and musical perfection, drone instruments are now serious musical instruments that can be heard in the concert halls of Europe. We are proud to have played a part in reviving and promoting this music.

“Tradition is not the worship of ashes,
but the passing on of fire.”

freely adapted from Jean Jaurès

Our product range includes music and song books, instructional and non-fiction books, dance instructions and CD productions. Our goal has always been to help authors, musicians, and ensembles make their publications available to a wide audience. We believe that music in all its facets serves to connect people and preserve cultural treasures.

We invite you to explore our full range of books and recordings for bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, accordion, nyckelharpa and many other instruments. Immerse yourself in the fascinating world of drone music and historical sounds with the minstrels’ publishing house.

Company history

The history of the Spielleute publishing house is closely linked to the music group “Spielleut” and their passion for traditional music. In the 1970s, musicians such as Gert Dannemann, Hartwig Büsemeyer, Dieter Rurländer and Willi Schühle met at “Forum 3” in Stuttgart. It was there that the idea of reviving German folk music was born, even though it was not particularly popular at the time.

A decisive moment was when Erich Schmeckenbecher and Thomas Friz performed four German songs that were recorded on tape. This was the beginning of the history of the group “Zupfgeigenhansel.” They began to play German folk songs and discovered the hurdy-gurdy, a central instrument in their music.

slider spielleute Nr 1 Begruessung 20180508
Graphic from 2018

The minstrels were inspired by recordings of other groups and collected pieces from Renaissance literature. They first appeared as “Sturmsack” in 1977. Verlag der Spielleute was founded in 1988, originally to publish books by Martina Sirtl. The publishing house later developed into an important institution that preserved traditional music and literature and made it accessible to a wider audience.

The Spielleute publishing house closed its doors at the end of 2015 due to falling demand for books and CDs as well as the availability of online sheet music and music downloads. The shareholders decided to close the publishing house. However, Michael Hofmann, who later took over the publishing house, ensured the availability of existing titles through his company bagpipe.de and even considered reprints and new editions.

Today, the Spielleute publishing house continues the passion and commitment to traditional music and contributes to keeping our valuable cultural heritage alive.

Vision of the future

With this second-generation takeover, Verlag der Spielleute is striving to become the leading source for textbooks and sheet music collections of European traditional music in the German-speaking world. Our aim is to provide you with a seamless and comprehensive introduction to folk music.