Between the limelight and the lecture hall

Ralf Albers: FAU alumnus and founding member of the popular Folk rock band Fiddler’s Green reminisces about funny examination periods and spontaneous concerts

During the day he is a lecturer in Latin at our FAU, teaching students the fine points of an ancient language, and in the evening he rocks the stage across Europe with his Folk rock band Fiddler’s Green: FAU alumnus Ralf Albers is a man of contrasts. In the late 80s he studied German Language and Literature and Latin at FAU. At the same time he founded a band with fellow students, and they are still going strong today.

During his time at FAU, Albers met Peter Müller, who is also an FAU alumnus and one of the founding members of the band, while taking guitar lessons. “While strumming our chords we realized that we both also enjoyed playing songs and singing.” It didn’t take long until the two students founded Fiddler’s Green in 1990. They were surprised how quickly the band became successful. The young band won third place in the Newcomer competition in Erlangen in spite of only taking part for free entry and free drinks. The band might have started out in fun, but it soon became very successful: “In 1993, we already had two fully-booked concerts one after another in the Erlangen E-Werk venue, and the agency Concertbüro Franken began to take bookings for us outside the local region.”

Studying Middle High German during the days, playing the fiddle on the stage in the evening

His time studying at FAU was a very valuable time for Ralf Albers. Not only because he was studying his favorite subjects but also because it was while he was at university that he met Müller and they launched their band Fiddler’s Green. Music took a back seat for the two students during the intensive study times leading up to their final exams. There were still some funny moments, though: “In early summer 1994, we used the time traveling to an open air concert in Glauchau to study vowel gradation in Middle High German before performing on the stage in the afternoon. We then watched Rammstein perform later on, returned home late at night and got back to reading Heinrich von Morungen again in the morning.”

“FAU played a role in my future success through the fact that my studies involved examining all sorts of texts in great detail, which may then have benefited my own texts later on – hopefully.”

The stages may be much bigger nowadays, but Albers still has fond memories of his time studying in Erlangen. He clearly remembers his apartment, a typical student apartment with a courtyard that was the perfect place to get away from it all for a while, or long discussions with his former lecturer Wolfgang Srb at the Chair of Classical Philology (Latin) and concerts in the Erlangen E-Werk that were sold out in 1993, right at the beginning of the band’s career. Today, he particularly appreciates the friendly atmosphere and close ties at the University, which led to him keeping in touch with some of his old lecturers. In “2009, the opportunity arose for me to give courses myself.”

The best of both worlds

Today, Ralf Albers, whose idols are the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Peter Gabriel, Bruce Cockburn and Michael Hedges and who has been a singer for over 30 years, now also teaches at his Alma Mater. Since 2009, he has given a three-week long intensive Latin course each year in the winter semester at the Chair of Latin Philology of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period – a welcome change between tours with the band. It is the contrast between the two professions that he likes the most. He enjoys jumping between the “agile juvenility” as a band member on the stage and the “more professional approach” he takes as a lecturer in a lecture hall. “I enjoy being called “Mr. Albers” instead of “Albi from the Fiddlers” for a change.”

“A sampler from the Erlangen music scene in 1990 called Frankenbruch has a recording of the song Zwetschgerskern with Willi & Albi. I sing in the local Franconian dialect. And when I hear it today, I know why I decided not to do that again.”

The favorite stage at home

The performances in Franconia have become rarer, but there is one highlight that they look forward to every year: For more than 10 years now the band has organized its own festival “Shamrock Castle” in the courtyard of the Jägersburg near the city of Forchheim. The bands decide on the acts themselves, but they all share a love of Irish music. As the finale, Fiddlers’ Green themselves play as the headline act on their “favorite stage at home”. Ralf Albers was on tour throughout Germany with Fiddler’s Green and their current album The Green Machine until late 2024. The band is currently planning to tour through the concert halls and clubs in Germany to celebrate their 35th anniversary in 2025.