Ougenweide -

Ougenweide was a German folk-rock band that debuted with a 1973 album on Zebra, followed by seven albums and a live double-LP through 1981 on Polydor.

Members: Minne Graw (vocals, piano), Olaf Casalich (percussion, vocals), Wolfgang von Henko (guitar, mandolin), Jürgen Isenbart (percussion), Frank Wulff (winds, strings), Stefan Wulff (bass, keyboards)

Background

Ougenweide took shape in Hamburg in 1970 when multi-instrumentalist Frank Wulff teamed with three musicians from the recently dissolved soul band the Fabs: singer Brigitte Blunck, drummer Jürgen Isenbart, and guitarist Michael Steinbeck. Wulff worked for the Fabs as a junior roadie and technician and exchanged new records with Steinbeck. The new group initially played English-language folk songs and material by Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull.

Olaf Casalich came from the late-1960s lineup of Tomorrow’s Gift, where he played drums. Casalich trained as a carpenter and studied Middle High German at school in Waltershof. He proposed that the group set a medieval German lyric to music. In 1971, Stefan Wulff played bass and Wolfgang von Henko played guitar as the group worked through a schoolbook of medieval texts. The musicians adopted Ougenweide from a Middle High German word in a poem attributed to Neidhart von Reuental. Ougenweide made the first public appearance at a local school festival in Hamburg.

Casalich introduced the group to Achim Reichel, the former Rattles frontman and leader of A.R. & Machines. Reichel first heard Ougenweide at the Wulff family home in Hamburg, where the repertoire still mixed German texts with English-language folk. He urged the group to concentrate on German material. Reichel then presented Ougenweide to record companies. In 1973, he secured Polydor approval for a self-titled first album.

Discography:

Ougenweide (1973)
All die weil ich mag (1974)
Eulenspiegel (1976)
Ohrenschmaus (1976)
Ungezwungen (live, 1977)
Fryheit (1978)
Ousflug (1979)
Ja-Markt (1980)
Noch aber ist April (1981)

Sources

Bear Family Records — Ougenweide / All die weil ich mag reissue notes. This is the strongest detailed account I found. The essay draws on Frank Wulff recollections and traces the group through the Fabs, Wulff and Steinbeck record exchanges, the early English-language repertoire, Casalich joining rehearsals, his Middle High German studies, and his proposal to set an old German text. It also explains the Neidhart source for the name. (Bear Family Records)
Bear Family Records — 2006 dealer sheet for the Ougenweide reissues. This places the medieval-text schoolbook episode in 1971 and names Frank Wulff, Stefan Wulff, Olaf Casalich, Wolfgang von Henko, Jürgen Isenbart, and Brigitte Blunck in the group at that point. It places the adoption of the Ougenweide name immediately afterward and connects the early concerts with Reichel and Polydor. (Bear Family Records)
Achim Reichel interview with Lothar Jahn/Minnesang. Reichel gives the useful firsthand chain: Casalich told him about the group; Reichel heard them at the Wulff home; the repertoire still contained German and English-language folk; he pushed them toward German material; he then approached record companies and succeeded with Polydor. (Minnesang)
Bear Family — Tomorrow’s Gift history. This confirms Casalich in the late-1960s lineup of Tomorrow’s Gift and states that he left the group for Ougenweide. (Bear Family Records)
Hamburger Volkshochschule / University of Hamburg archive — profile of Olaf Casalich-Bauer. This identifies Casalich as a trained carpenter and dates the Ougenweide formation to 1970.
Achim Reichel official biography. This establishes the relevant Reichel context: the Rattles, Wonderland, and his move into A.R. & Machines in 1971. (Achim Reichel)