11th March 2003

Photos © Toni Glaser | Click to enlarge

The Stars and Stripes 28th October 1994

With both hands on her hips, Sabine Kapfinger slowly cut loose with a wordless message foreign to any language - but recognized by most people in the world. Kapfinger, her voice diving and whooping to the hum of a synthesizer, then switched gears by adding words as she matched the increasing tempo of an accordion. Together with the unified clapping of 3,300 people in the Offenbach (Germany) Stadthalle, Kapfinger and fellow musicians filled the auditorium with the sounds of new Austrian-German folk music.

The thread tying the instrumental music, clapping and mood was yodelling - a form of song popular among Alpine mountain people long ago. Now it's being revitalized with a new popularity by Hubert von Goisern and the Alpinkatzen, or the Alpine Cats, and other Austrian or German bands such as the Zillern Schürzenjäger. It's through a diverse formula combining rock, pop, blues, reggae, soul, funk and folk that master craftsman von Goisern, drummer Wolfgang Maier, guitarist Reinhard Stranzinger and keyboarder Stefan Engel have created a sound that pleases many.

Unfortunately for its legion of fans, the Austrian von Goisern and his band are calling an end to their careers as Alpinkatzen. The group will play its last concert in Munich, Germany, on Monday, von Goisern confirmed in a interview after the show. Von Goisern said he's going to "clear the table" and begin work on making films and new sounds. Looking back, the 41-year-old von Goisern said, it was "very, very hard"' to get radio airplay and tour promoters to set up concerts for new folk music back when he started the group in 1986.

Eventually, however, the Alpinkatzen's albums, coupled with extensive touring, led to widespread popularity amongst German and Austrians alike. Prior to this last Easter, the group even performed in the United States for a few dates in Austin, Texas and one in New York City.

The idea was to take folk music with its yodelling and accordion sounds, and mix them with more contemporary sounds like electric guitars and keyboards, the band leader explained.

"We make music that is indigenous to our landscape," he said. "Yodelling is just one part of our musical language." And, von Goisern pointed out, yodelling, is not just done by the people in the Alps, but also those in northern Scandinavia, the Artic Circle and central Africa.

Von Goisern's lyrics, all sung in German, address both the good and bad aspects of life. Politicians, for example, come in for a bit of criticism in his lyrics. "They are not creative ... they are organizers," said von Goisern. "They never wanted it in a critical way. I'm critical with my tradition.''

In some of the more tranquil songs, fans flashed their lighters and waved sparklers to show appreciation. In the fast-paced numbers, the Alpine Cats received thunderous applause as if the crowd was begging for an encore.

The five-member group - temporarily assisted by a second drummer because Maier had a cast on his right hand/wrist area - gave a 1.5 hour show with two encores, divided by an intermission, without losing the crowd. That's unusual considering the differences in ages, which ranged from youngsters to elderly grandparents.

"Not all days are good days. Today was a bad day for me," said von Goisern, who was battling the flu. It's depressing, he added, when "I have to hold back in order to survive." The thought of cancelling a performance is unthinkable, he said. "I can't do it. I did it once when I had a stomach ache that was so bad."

As sick as he was, no one would've guessed as he displayed great musicianship through playing acoustic/slide guitar, accordion, harmonica and horn as well as yodelling and singing. One highlight was an accompaniment which consisted solely of cow bells.

Interestingly, the only instruments von Goisern said he can't play are the violin and cello. And, when asked how many he can play, he replied, "I never counted them."

Jon Connor, Staff Writer

9th February 2003

Photos © Toni Glaser | Click to enlarge

Augsburger Allgemeine April 1994

Hubert von Goisern: folksiness with rock sounds

Photo: Stefan Puchner

(ton). Hubert von Goisern and his Original Alpinkatzen are no longer a secret tip. In the meantime the five musicians, whose varied spectrum surprises again and again, also fill big halls and since their hit Koa Hiatamadl, also appeal to classes who do not usually have anything to do with energetic rock music. So the concert in the Kongreßhalle was sold out months ago too.

Was the roughly 1400 fans of alpine folk and rock musical quality saw and heard was also worth the high ticket price actually nearly doubled since the last appearance in the Spectrum. A drop of bitterness in this otherwise fascinating evening however was the atmosphere-inhibiting seating in the Kongreßhalle, which really did not suit the dynamic rock, pop, landler, rap and yodel mixture, presented full of relish.

When Hubert von Goisern talked about poachers and other homeland ingredients, he also had the last laugh in the cool hall. Hubert, who apart from the squeezebox, knows how to play the guitar superbly, "alpine" Sabine, the celebrated yodel talent, Reinhard Stranzinger (guitars), Wolfgang Maier (drums) and Stefan Engel (keyboards) took more than two and a half hours to clarify their frontier-crossing variety. An impressive "alpine" avalanche of song completely swept the audience away from the first bar to the last. Iawaramoi (a Steirer), the Kuahmelcher, the coherent Kokain-Blues, a Schleiniger and the homeland Goisern were sung devoutly and fervently, and a good many folksy melodies which seamlessly turned into hard rock riffs.

Naturally many pieces from the new record Omunduntn were played, but the other near classics from the Austrian were not missing either. A successful appearance with lyrics - at times amusing, at times vicious - which with the encore, the obviously longingly expected by many, Hiatamadl, pulled many people up and forward - and the wonderful Heast as nit as well as a great a cappella number brought the concert to a victorious end.

Thanks Mary

Sternenzelt 1994

19th and 20th May 1994 - 8pm in Sternenzelt

When they played in the Teisendorf Postsall in 1992, the concert was well attended. Now when they appear anywhere, the Alpinkatzen events are already sold out before you even realise it. Hubert von Goisern und die Original Alpinkatzen made the career jump that probably all musicians dream of: right to the top. The meteors of outrageous folk music are not to be stopped. And all that without them having to sell themselves to the rock'n'roll circus. They still stay true to their "different" folk music, they have still not found it necessary to do a follow-up hit. Just that makes them so special and that is exactly why they they are playing in the Bad Reichenhall Sternenzelt twice. Hubert von Goisern and his Original Alpinkatzen fiddle up properly on 19th and 20th May 1994. The folk music event in the Sternenzelt.

OÖN 17th June 2001

Double platinum and a 5,000 voiced cheering for the Goiserer Mostdipf prize winner

Bad Goisern/ Bad Ischl: "Heast as nit, wia die Zeit vergeht"? (Can't you hear how the time flies?) the Goiserer asks the crowd of 5,000 who have gathered on the football pitch of his hometown to listen to "outrageous folk music". He, Hubert, probably knows best how the time flies. Only a year ago, his music was a minority programme that lured scarcely more than one hundred fans per concert away from the TV. Today, the Goiserer and his Hiatamadl are the absolute favourites of the Austrian music consortium - from small children to great-grandpa.

"Heast as nit, wia die Zeit vergeht?" Yes Hubert, we hear it. And we see it. Nine months ago at a home match in the old Goiserer Konsumgasthof-Saal that has meanwhile been razed to the ground and given way to a clothes market and an "up-to-date" function room, there still different Alpinkatzen romped about on the stage. A hungry, energetic, ambitious, improvisationally gifted, powerful Cat quintet heated up the Goiserers and showed them how alive and up-to-date their folk music is if you look after it. Today the Cats have lost a little of their power. Despite all efforts, they seem a bit fed-up and tired. It is a show that plays in front of us - without spontaneity, striving for perfection, cheap showmanship. Modest spotlight playing, artistic wafts of mist, musical routine - a number of things have changed from the days when the Konsumsaal still stood.

Good and professional

And yet: the Alpinkatzen are still good. Good and professional. The musicians give their best, Alpine Sabine does gymnastics about the stage more lasciviously than ever before, when she is not just artistically snapping between falsetto and chest voice. And Hubert visibly enjoys it, here, five stone throws away from his house casting his spell over the masses. "Hiatamadl, Hiatamadl, Hiatamadl" could be heard incessantly before his appearance, a multi-voiced school choir. So long until the star invited Hohtraxlecker Sprungschanznmusi as warm up group onto the stage for a joint Pischer.

How well Hubert goes down with his fans, four days earlier he felt the full force at the presentation of double platinum for sales of 100,000 of Aufgeigen statt Niederschiassen. Before the Goiserer introduced the journalist crowd into the Bad Ischl salt mine chosen for the presentation, he was spotted by a class of schoolchildren. The girls and boys wanted to make their idol happy with a serenade and sang faultlessly and certain of the lyrics - you guessed: Hiatamadl. What will probably stay longer in the pupils' memories - the trip to the salt mine, or the meeting with Hubert?

"Heast as nit, wia die Zeit vergeht?" In summer 1983 a Goiserer student called Hubert Achleitner earned his pocket money as a guide in the Ischl salt mine. Ten years later in the same place, Ariola Austria boss Dr Harald Büchel declared Achleitner's Hiatamadl to be a national hymn and presented the singer and his band with double platinum. With them: lovely people from Vienna and Munich who wanted to celebrate with "their Hubert". And so quite a few girls from the city wore lederhosen and more or less displayed thick bare calves. Soon Hubert will have to think about which Salzkammergut jewel he will put before the stylish ladies and gentlemen next time. For in the meantime, 145,000 discs have been sold and triple platinum is already waiting.

OÖN 17th March 1994

Gmunden: The assassination fails to appear. Hubert von Goisern's former accordion teacher had threatened the successful musician he would shoot him should he sing Kuahmelcher on stage. And how he sang it - this beautifully rejoicing yodel, which allegedly only twenty Goiserers can interpret correctly. "Please don't take the Kuahmelcher away from us too," pleaded the innkeeper of the Hütteneck-Alm. But the good woman rests assured: probably the most pleasant ambassador of the Salzkammergut has not taken their yodel away from the folk musicians, but through his sensitive interpretation (splendidly supported by "Alpine Sabine"), let a larger audience have a part of this wonderful tune.

The Goiserer dropped in at home once more before his big appearances in Paris and at a festival in Texas this week. And the sold out Gmunden Toscana hall experienced probably the best of Hubert there has ever been: obviously well recovered from the stress of success, full energy and noticeable delight about the first home concert in a long time. The Ausseer Schottische sounded as fresh as the time when Hubert was only an insider term for contemporary folk music. The routine that had crept into some concerts of past years had vanished. One suddenly had the feeling that he has got what it takes to be a star and must not burn out like a shooting star after a one day hit.

Only the miserable sound mixing, which many times made understanding the lyrics impossible, stopped it being a top concert. So those who have not yet listened to the current CD could only imagine what Hubert also has to say in his new songs. It only remains to be hoped that the "Zugin" teacher does not make his threat a reality ...

Mangfallbote 26th April 1994

The phenomenon Hubert von Goisern: "Let the juchitzer out"

Photo: Jacobi

A "rag bag and junk room" is the so-called culture with which the professional folklore-rock and pop musician appears, barefoot, unshaven and in sloppy clothes. What traditional costume executive Max Reitner had strongly castigated last week, now stood, in the truest sense of the word, "personified", in front of the audience in the twice sold out Rosenheim Stadthalle: Hubert von Goisern, unshaven, and his Alpinkatzen, "Alpine Sabine" barefoot, guitarist Reinhard Stranzinger with jacket and a feather on his alpine hat over scruffy jeans, keyboard player Stefan Engel with long hair and hat and drummer Wolfgang Maier with little braids.

But not only that would have displeased the customs official, he would probably also have wondered at the audience: from 5 to 75, with jeans or traditional dress, and the older fans clapped the loudest and at the encore stormed to the stage from their rows. Certainly Reitner would have wondered at what resounded from the loudspeakers: as a starter, a polka which rises to a hard rock, a four voice, sensitively performed folk song on parting and in between a mixture of rock, blues and folk music from Upper Austria - next to each other, at the same time or merged into one another and all in perfect harmony.

Omunduntn is the name of the tour of the now legendary Goiserer, who sets out to make rock with the diatonic accordion and the sounds of his homeland and in the meantime scores a success that almost frightens him. He is scarcely at home with his family any more, he regrets, and despite having already completed 20 concerts in almost daily succession - Rosenheim lay in the middle of the tour - he let himself be carried away by the audience again, who he had swept away beforehand.

The first song was clapped along to and that went through the whole concert, although Goisern kept the successful pieces for the encore. But the new songs also have the "power that above all the people from the mountains have", as he used to say, energy which he does put first in the music but also more and more in the lyrics. There is an anti-drug Kokain Blues and even a political song which the record company would rather not have had, von Goisern says. There is the talk about lying politicians and journalists and about the war in the former Yugoslavia: "Ob Serb oder Krawat, um an jeden is schad" ("Whether Serb or Croat, for each it is shame").

Maybe he would like to steer a bit against the image of alpine rocker, who is successful because he cowardly conforms [to the taste of the broad masses], - an image that the competition would so much like to attach to him, - unjustly so, as his almost overbearing creativity proved. It is really the "power" that is simply not braking and "ois van da Musi her kimmt" ("everything comes from music"), as the group sang in their farewell song. Here it does not matter from which music: the Ausseer Schottische becomes hard rock with screeching guitar, Haydn's national anthem a pastiche on national things ("Gott erhalte, Gott beschütze, unsern Kaiserm unsern Franz, Schubert, Klammer, Bekkenbauer, Gott beschütz den Vogerltanz ..." ("May God keep and protect our emperor our Franz, Schubert, Klammer, Bekkenbauer, may God save the birdy-dance") and a yodel demonstrates his affinity with the blues.

After initial hesitance, ever more powerful juchitzers to alpine rock also came from the audience: "Let them out - a juchitzer must really be let out," Hubert von Goisern gave the instruction and Sabine the perfect example. At the end, quite simply came "De Zeit hod Bestand, wo mia san beinand" ("The time that we spend together will endure").

In fact there remained with the audience something over and above the moment, becoming noticeable, something which music with deep native roots can be today - certainly more in any case than if the Original Unterkrainer appear at a homeland evening which no-one certainly in Oberkrain and in Bavaria likewise has never played or sung - shaven or unshaven. Pity that Mr Reitner could not experience it.

Karl Königbauer