Shlager (German Schlager, literally "a hit") is a style of popular music that is prevalent in northern Europe, in particular Germany and Scandinavia, but also to a lesser extent in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. It is characterised by sweet, overly sentimental ballads, usually sung by a female vocalist, usually with a simple and memorable melody.
During the Second World War, the Nazi German Government tightly controlled the creation of music but despite this, the genre managed to do very well.
The style is frequently represented at the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been popular since the 1950s. While at one time music of this style was also fairly popular in the UK and USA, due to the constant change of fashion in popular culture, in the last 30 years Shlager fallen out of favour. Shlager is considered to be musically very old fashioned and overly simple. Because of this it is now rarely heard in those countries.
Schlager musicians:
- Nie genug
- Helen Sjöholm
