Arthur Dittlmann

He is a '68er - at least musically speaking. Because in 1968 (when he was 10), Arthur Dittlmann got his first guitar (a “Hopf” touring guitar) and his first guitar lessons: in a side room of the legendary Nibelungenhalle in Passau, which back then smelled less of roast pork and politicians' sweat than of cigarettes and the intrusive aftershave of Mr. Feser, the guitar teacher. The learning success was limited, if only because Mr. Feser had no intention of teaching him the secrets of beat music - he probably didn't have a clue about it either. And because of the Beatles and all the other bands, little Arthur really wanted to learn the guitar - although he had imagined it would be a bit easier. His next guitar teacher, Max Kierner, in Mühldorf am Inn, wasn't interested in “Beat” either - he raved about Django Reinhardt, whom he considered to be the best guitarist in the world. And Kierner was probably right! However, he was unable to explain exactly what Django Reinhardt was doing. He relied on classical guitar. Sor, Tarrega and the like, all well and good, but in the meantime Arthur Dittlmann had caught the blues virus.

This developed into a stormy passion for Muddy Waters and Co... “How do they make it sound so great on those crackling records, Mr. Kierner?” He shrugged his shoulders and spoke of mysterious “diminished chords”. Immediately afterwards, he cleverly switched to Django Reinhardt...
So: self-study of blues, rock and all the exciting music that was playing on “Musicbox” (Ö3) and “Club 16” (BR) at the time. Fortunately, there were other blues aficionados at the school: Dietz Forisch and Pit Holzapfel... Together they listened to the cassettes of their heroes, and eventually forged Bavarian lyrics that went perfectly with the blues songs of B.B. King, Elmore James or the Rolling Stones. Then it started: the formation of a Bavarian rock band, the world-famous “Schnabufugl” (at least in the Mühldorf area), toured between Neumarkt Sankt Veit, Waldkraiburg and the Mühldorf Schützenhaus... and had great fun.

All this in the 70s and 80s. In addition to his work at BR (Bavarian Broadcasting), Dittlmann is always busy with music, either in the quiet chamber with audio software and as many tracks as his heart desires or in co-production with Schorsch Hampel (various joint radio features, including one about Felix Hoerburger) and joint musical projects as “Permanente Bluesmaschin”, also published on the Focus label. He also enjoys playing an Irish-Bavarian-blues mix with Peter Byrne and other friends in the Dorfen area, and recently he has also been bluesing with Dietz Forisch, an old companion from his days in Mühldorf.