Photo: © Elli Christl

After leaving the band, Hubert took classical guitar lessons. When he came to the conclusion that this was too quiet for him, he bought himself an electric guitar with his own money. However, practising was difficult as his loud playing upset the guests in the spa town, who were looking for a little more peace and quiet than Hubert's guitar allowed. His grandfather introduced him to the accordion when Hubert returned from his travels later in life. At first he refused to have anything to do with the instrument, but picked it up one night and began to play. Hubert has taught himself most of the instruments you see him play, with the exception of a few lessons on the guitar, trumpet and clarinet. His travels throughout the world have also been an opportunity to come into contact with more diverse instruments.

As Hubert von Goisern entered his twenties, he decided that he had finally had enough of answering to authority in Austria; his homeland simply became too confining for him. He emigrated to South Africa with his girlfriend and worked there as a chemistry laboratory technician. After three and a half years, the racial segregation became too much for Hubert although he had tried himself to fight it by organising sports events where blacks and whites could meet.

He returned home, but once back in Austria, he met a Canadian girl who had eyes only for him. They married and he moved to Toronto with her. He also took her surname, Sullivan, for the sake of simplicity.

It was at the age of 30 that Hubert made a conscious decision that he wanted to be a musician. If he could not manage to make a living from it by the time he was 40, then he would give up and try something else. His wife was not especially happy about this and his parents finally had to abandon their hopes for their son becoming a doctor. Hubert studied music in Toronto for two years, including lessons in flamenco guitar. After his marriage ended, Hubert went travelling again, this time ending up in the Philippines. Here he lived with head hunters for a while and took the opportunity to learn to play the nose-flute. He taught the Filipinos Austrian folk songs while they sang him theirs and it was here that he realised that perhaps he could find a way to his own native musical traditions.

In 1984, Hubert returned to Austria, studied electroacoustics as well as experimental music at the Musikhochschule in Vienna. He also worked as a freelance musician and composer and two years later he met fellow musician Wolfgang Staribacher in the Rote Engel music club. They performed together and a year later, the instrumental Solide Alm was written. Together they formed the Alpinkatzen. It was also at this time that Hubert took his stage name, Hubert von Goisern, because quite simply, his partner was Wolfgang from Vienna and he was Hubert from Goisern. After playing in various bars and clubs, a manager of a record company finally discovered the duo and offered them a contract.

Although success did not seem to be forthcoming, and although Wolfgang and Hubert occasionally played before audiences of no more than five people, they made their first album - Alpine Lawine. Unfortunately it was not a great success. Work began on a second album and the pair also took part in the Watzmann tour, during which they performed a song from the forthcoming album: Koa Hiatamadl.

After disagreements Hubert von Goisern and Wolfgang Staribacher went their separate ways. Hubert wanted to continue with the Alpinkatzen project and was now looking for a new band. His sound engineer Wolfgang Spannberger was responsible for introducing him to both keyboard player Stefan Engel and drummer Wolfgang Maier. Guitarist Reinhard Stranzinger introduced himself after his own music project began to face problems. All they needed now was a female singer.

Knowing he was looking for a singer, Hubert's neighbour, gave him a tape of her niece performing with the Walchsee Seerosen Trio. The niece was Sabine Kapfinger and thus the Alpinkatzen band was complete. She joined Hubert von Goisern, as a studio singer at first, then on stage at the age of 18. Sabine brought with her an important element of traditional Austrian folk music: yodelling. Hubert learned this art from Sabine, by listening to her on his Walkman and practising on a motorway bridge where nobody could hear him.

The second album, Aufgeigen stått niederschiassen, was released in 1992. This album contained some of Hubert's most well-known songs: Heast as Nit; Weit, Weit Weg and Koa Hiatamadl. The radio stations picked up on this last song and played it continuously - and suddenly Hubert von Goisern and the Alpinkatzen were in the charts.

Although Koa Hiatamadl was the breakthrough for the Alpinkatzen, it was a mixed blessing. To Hubert's displeasure, the radio stations rarely played any other track. Even six years after he left the Alpinkatzen, when Hubert made his comeback in November 2000, all the interviewers wanted to know if he would be playing Koa Hiatamadl live again. The answer came: a resolute 'no'.

Demand increased to see Hubert and the band live on stage. Rather than an audience of fifty, they were now playing to five thousand people at a time. Hubert had managed it with perfect timing: he received a gold disc for Aufgeigen stått niederschiassen on the day before his 40th birthday. He invited the press and the record company officials to the top of Dachstein - a 3004m high mountain in Austria for the presentation. The climb was not easy - a metre of fresh snow had fallen on the two metres of old snow.

In February 1994, the next album followed – Omunduntn, which was awarded platinum barely a month later. The album was also accompanied by Das Video. This documented the band's travels to France for Les Eurofolies Festival and to America to play in Austin. Although few in the audience may have been able to follow many of the lyrics, the music went down a storm. From standing ovations and encores in Texas the band moved on to play a club in New York before flying back home.

There was no time for rest though. Hubert and the band continued the Omunduntn tour around Germany, Austria and Switzerland. However, the news soon broke that this would be the last tour. On the 1st November 1994, Hubert von Goisern and the Alpinkatzen would play their last concert. One of the last appearances at Circus Krone in Munich was recorded for posterity by the husband and wife team, Joseph Vilsmaier and Dana Vavrova. The resulting film was Wia die Zeit Vergeht (How The Time Flies). This was presented at the Munich Film Festival on the 1st July 1995. The same year, the live CD from the Omunduntn tour was release, entitled Wia die Zeit Vergeht. The two CD set, filled with all the greatest hits, was preceded by a final single Weit, Weit Weg.

Although an era had ended for Hubert von Goisern, he was by no means at a loose end, designing two fashion collections with tailor and friend, Klaus Höller, manufactured by the fashion house Meindl. He even made his acting debut in the TV film Hölleisengretl in 1994 playing Matthias, the cruel husband of hunchbacked Gretl (Martina Gedeck).

Joseph Vilsmaier originally wanted Hubert von Goisern to play the main part of Elias in his next film, Schlafes Bruder (Brother of Sleep), however, the restraints of the final tour meant that Hubert could not accept the part. He instead wrote the soundtrack with Norbert J. Schneider, also spending two nights at the organ in Salzburg's cathedral with Harald Fellner. Hubert also composed music for two films by his friend, Julian Pölsler: Die Fernsehsaga - Ein steirische Fernsehgeschichte (The Television Saga - A Styrian History of Television) and Sehnsüchte oder Es ist alles unheimlich leicht (Desires or Everything Is Incredibly Easy). In 1996 he also collaborated with the young musicians from the Leoganger KinderKultur programme to produce the soundtrack to the children’s film Ein Rucksack voller Lügen (A Rucksack Full of Lies).

Hubert von Goisern had his first contact with Tseten Zöchbauer, the head of Save Tibet, in 1995. The following March, Tseten asked Hubert to support a tour of Tibetan artists from The Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), around Austria. Hubert accepted the offer on the condition that he could also present the tour. His interest in Tibet and its people heightened and he asked Tseten, who had not been to her homeland since she was two years old, to accompany him on a journey to Tibet.

The pair spent about six weeks in Tibet and Hubert was unfortunately realising that all the tales of oppression in Tibet were true: there was no freedom. On their return to Austria, Tseten and Hubert gave a moving interview on ORF, describing what they had seen. However music has always been Hubert’s most natural form of expression and the idea was already growing, to breathe life into Tibetan folk songs.

Hubert set off on another journey - this time to Dharamsala. He met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, to ask for permission to work with the old Tibetan songs and was pleased to be told that he and the exiled Tibetan musicians should do whatever they want with the music. After some initial recordings were made in India in his mobile recording studio, Hubert invited four of the artists - Pasang Lhamo, Sherab Wangmo, Jamjang Chönden and Sonam Püntsok - back to Salzburg. The resulting recordings became the CD Inexil.

It was during the production of Wia die Zeit Vergeht that Hubert met Jane Goodall, the British chimpanzee research scientist. Their mutual friend, publisher Michael Neugebauer introduced them one evening in Bad Goisern. Hubert was entranced by Jane's stories of Africa and the pair talked for hours. She invited him to the National Park Gombe in Tanzania. In early 1996, Hubert made his first journey to East Africa. He developed the idea of making a documentary about Jane's work and after another journey to Africa, BR and ORF expressed an interest in making the documentary of which Hubert dreamed. Von Goisern nach Gombe was the result and the soundtrack to the film was released as the Gombe album.

Then in summer 1999, Hubert von Goisern once more felt the desire to compose. He started in October of the same year and composed into the winter. Hubert made a clean break from the Alpinkatzen and chose a new band with whom he went into the studio in the summer of 2000. Finally, after waiting for six years, on 6th November 2000 the fans were able to buy Fön - Hubert's highly successful comeback album. A tour was planned for spring 2001 and many venues quickly sold out.

The Fön tour began on 3rd March in Linz after two warm-up concerts. Just two days later, Hubert von Goisern released another album - Trad. This CD fulfilled Hubert's dream to release a collection of Austrian folk songs. Among the tracks from Fön, the band also played a selection from Trad on the tour.

In May 2001, Hubert was awarded the Amadeus Austrian Music Award for Best National Artist Rock/Pop. In his acceptance speech, he criticised the Austrian music industry and radio stations for not supporting Austrian artists. Many newspapers reported what he had said the next day and there was more coverage when it turned out that ORF had cut his speech in their broadcast.

After a highly successful set of tour dates throughout 2001, Hubert von Goisern was invited to play in Egypt and West Africa. With some new band members in tow, Hubert travelled to Egypt, where he played to an audience of 15,000 in Assiut. He shared the stage with Egypt's most popular pop star, Mohamed Mounir and played a duet with him - the start of a deep friendship.

After Egypt, Hubert and the band spent three weeks touring West Africa, where they played concerts and met with local musicians. A TV team accompanied the band, making a documentary about the adventure. This film was later released on the Grenzenlos DVD. Back home again Hubert von Goisern and his band spent the summer on tour and also made an appearance at KöniXXtreffen - Virgin Germany’s 20th anniversary celebrations in Munich. The band’s concert in Neumarkt was also filmed and released on the Iwasig DVD.
The first single from Hubert in eight years was released on 1st July 2002 - Poika. Recording and mixing was completed on the new CD, his first to be released after a tour rather than before it. Iwasig was released to great acclaim on 16th September.

Shortly before his fiftieth birthday on 17th November 2002 - an occasion marked by both television and press - Hubert von Goisern went to Cairo once more to meet with Mohamed Mounir to make arrangements for more cultural exchanges in 2003. After a winter club tour through Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, Hubert once more gathered his musicians around him to begin work on Trad II. They shunned the usual studio in the city, instead taking all their equipment to an abandoned mountain hotel at 2100m above sea level on the Krippenstein mountain.

February 2003 saw Hubert von Goisern's third nomination for an Amadeus Award, having meanwhile won in 2002 with Trad: Best National Male Artist for Iwasig. However, Hubert did not attend the event, in protest at the continued neglect of Austrian artists by their own country's media.

Hubert von Goisern and his band went on tour once more, including a concert in Sarajevo and a return trip to Cape Verde, where they played at the Gamboa Festival to an audience of around 90,000 people. The concert was broadcast live on national TV.

The tour in summer 2003 also had something else very special for music lovers: Mohamed Mounir and his band joined Hubert and his musicians for three weeks on the road. The joint concerts included separate showcases for both artists as well as two spectacular joint sets, each night ending with Madad, Mohamed Mounir's song for peace. This impressive example of cultural exchange was met with open minds and open hearts by both fans and journalists, with many glowing reviews appearing in newspapers across the German-speaking area.

In October, Hubert invited colleagues and journalists up to Krippenstein in order to present the finished Trad II CD. After the Süddeutsche Zeitung named Hubert "Best Artist", 2003 came to an end with the broadcast of Hubert von Goisern Trad II, a film of eight songs from Trad II, woven together with Hubert travelling around his homeland of the Salzkammergut.

The first quarter of 2004 bode well for the rest of the year: Hubert's hometown of Bad Goisern honoured him with an Ehrenbürgerschaft, making him a freeman of Bad Goisern. The next honour to be bestowed was a stamp: Hubert von Goisern graced a special edition 55 cent stamp. An initial run of 10,000 sold out in five days and a second run, with a slightly different design followed. The Trad II tour was also a great success, playing to full concert halls, and continued to the winter.

In January 2005, Hubert von Goisern took his band to Mali to play at the Festival au Désert. They also performed with local balaphon virtuoso Kele Tigi in the Akwaba club in Bamako. A camera team accompanied the musicians on their trip, resulting in the 45 minute film, Warten auf Timbuktu (Waiting for Timbuctu).

Although he announced that he would not tour for a couple of years, Hubert von Goisern kept himself busy with music. In May, he presented his sound installation in the Dachstein ice caves and in the summer of 2005 he composed the new club anthem for the Red Bull Salzburg football team.

On 7th October 2005 Ausland came onto the market. The doublepack release consisted of a live CD from the 2004 TRAD tour, as well as a DVD of Warten auf Timbuktu. In November, the film was shown as part of the Bergfilmfestival in Salzburg. That month the Cologne group BAP also celebrated their 30th anniversary and invited other musicians and singers to join them on a double album of re-recordings of their greatest hits. Hubert von Goisern sang and played a duet with Wolfgang Niedecken on Rita mir zwei, which became a rousing clash between the dialects of Austria and Cologne.

After his popular song Heast as nit was played at an FPÖ rally in the Tyrol in April 2006, Hubert von Goisern published an open letter to HC Strache, leader of the party, requesting that his songs not be used at further FPÖ events. "I stand for an open, tolerant society, for the destruction of fear of the unknown and new, and not for the fomentation thereof," he wrote, "I stand for looking changes in the eye and looking forward, not for the attempt to stop time, or to even turn it back; that is the content of Heast as nit..."

A new release came onto the market on 14th July 2007. The double CD Derweil is a collection of 34 of the best songs from Hubert's career so far, chosen by Hubert himself. All his musical developments were represented and as a special treat, several new mixes and one previously unreleased song with Mohamed Mounir were to be found on the album.

In the autumn of 2005, Hubert von Goisern presented his grandest project yet: the Linz Europe Tour 2007-2009. From summer 2007 he would be travelling along the waterways of Europe for three years on a specially adapted cargo ship, complete with a stage. In the first year of the project Hubert von Goisern explored the east and on his journey to the Black Sea delta took on board musicians, who played with him, rehearsed and gave concerts in more than 20 ports. In 2008, Hubert and his band will visit the West: via Passau and Regensburg to Rotterdam. The home harbour of this expedition ship is Linz. Here the final 'Back Home' celebration of the expedition will take place in summer 2009. A festival in the form of a large-scale concert event lasting several days and bringing together the artists of the Linz Europe Tour will be held to mark this occasion in the European Capital of Culture.

On 23rd May 2008 Hubert von Goisern will release his long-awaited new studio CD: S'Nix.

Sarah Marchant
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