Schlager music

Schlager music (German: Schlager, Finnish: iskelmä, synonym of "hit-songs" or "hits"), also known in the United States as entertainer music or German hit mix, is a style of popular music prevalent in Central and Northern Europe, and Southeast Europe (in particular Germany,Austria, the Netherlands, Flanders, Republic of Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Switzerland, Turkey, Scandinavia and the Baltic States) and also (to a lesser extent) in France and Poland. In Portugal, it was adapted and became pimba music.

The style emerged in Europe after the Second World War, partly as a backlash against American rock and roll, and uses simple patterns of music. Typical schlager tracks are either sweet, highly sentimental ballads with a simple, catchy melody or light pop tunes. Lyrics typically center on love, relationships and feelings. The northern variant of schlager (notably in Finland) has taken elements from Nordic and Slavic folk songs, with lyrics tending towards melancholic and elegiac themes. Musically, schlager bears similarities to styles such as easy listening music.

Schlager (film)

Schlager (Hebrew: שלאגר‎), or The Hit, is an Israeli comic musical film of 1979. The script and lyrics writer and film director was Assi Dayan, the music was written by Svika Pick, and the stars were HaGashash HaHiver (the Trackers) trio. Comparing to other projects of Dayan, Pick, or the Trackers, this film did not sale well and did not take central place in the Israeli culture. However, one of its songs, "Shir Ha'frecha" ("The Bimbo Song"), performed by Ofra Haza, became Haza’s signature song.

Plot

Dr. Shooky Heftzibah’s dancing school is in large debts, and Heftzibah is looking for people he can convince to pay him large sums. He is reuniting with his long forgotten friend, the lazy garage owner and widower Ziggy Fuchsman, and promising him to find him a new wife, if Fuxman pays Heftzibah’s debts. However, Heftzibah’s debts are so large that he has to look for a rich new wife for his friend. Heftzibah reads obituaries and takes Fuxman to a shiva in order to seduce the new widow, while Heftzibah and Fuxman pretend to be friends of the desist. Their deception is exposed. However, the widow, Gilah, is starts to date Fuxman.