Hubert von Goisern - S'NIX Tour

Hubert von Goisern in Krems

Starchat 4th August 2009 | Text: Olga Minski | Photo: J. Waltini

With the best will in the world you can't say "S'Nix" - nothingness. It's more "mit Haut und Haar" - completely. That's how it was when on 1st August Hubert von Goisern and his congenial and creative troupe lit up the people at the Ausportplatz in Krems. Completely.

There's no word for "showtime" (proceedings were kicked off with this number) in German ... and you don't need one on this evening either. Just ears and heart. Supported by Alexander Pohn on groovy drums, Helmut Schartlmüller driving on bass - no note too many - everything on the dot, then lingering melodically once more; David Lackner on celestial keyboard; Severin Trogbacher - passionate guitar; Marlene Schuen - vocals and violin; Elisabeth Schuen - also vocals and violin and Maria Moling - vocals and percussion - this trio of ladies enchanted not just optically and with harmonious backing vocals; the wonderful solos and instrumental enrichment from the three musicians were excellent in Regen, Juchitzer or Herschaun. Hubert von Goisern sang about, told stories of and yodelled on life and the last two years of touring. There's no translation for Hubert von Goisern - just ears and heart - completely.

And anyone who hasn't yet heard him and his band can buy themselves the live album Haut und Haar, come to one of his final concerts in this fantastic lineup, or hope no matter what for a repeat in 2011!

As far as yodels carry

Südkurier 5th August 2009 | Text: Harald Ruppert

Hubert von Goisern at Kulturufer

Hubert von Goisern is no longer what he once was. And so a few indignant ex-fans leave his concert at the Friedrichshafen Kulturufer. They wanted to hear the alpine rock with which Hubert von Goisern began his career and nothing else. But they forgot to take into account the boss on stage, because he's long since been a different guy.

What has been written about Bob Dylan for the past 40 long years applies to Hubert von Goisern too: he has changed time and time again. and if an old fan can't cope with that, well, they just go home again. Hubert von Goisern accepts that, because he is not to blame. Ultimately none of his changes were haphazard with which he stripped off previous identities in the manner of David Bowie. His metamorphoses were an evolution, in which one thing was always preserved: the relation to primitive Austrian folk music. First it was combined with rock - and in Friedrichshafen too the band later beat the living daylights out of folk music pogo in the spin cycle - and when that was exhausted it went looking for encounters with music cultures from across the entire world.

Hubert von Goisern knows no bounds, otherwise he wouldn't yodel. Because what is yodelling other than the filling of a sheer endless expanse, across all obstacles, with what you bring yourself - your voice? Yodelling is the sung question, of how far one's own assets can carry - the voice and the cultural roots that sound in this voice. Hubert von Goisern's astounding discovery: they carry you all around the world if you just let yourself look beyond the pinnacles of your homeland, search for parallels in other cultures and accept new things. The Alps are not a spiritual protective area for the yodel, but rather an area of resonance. And if it lets itself stretch out - all the better! So when Goisern yodels, and he does so extensively at the Kulturufer, it is not as tribute to any old fans who cling to what is familiar, but because his perception of yodelling goes out into the spiritual world. The voice of the yodeller becomes the sonic depth finder, without which one would not be aware of this boundlessness and thus the broad reverberation of Goisern's voice stirs up almost oceanic feelings.

With this attitude Hubert von Goisern takes the exact counterposition to the deceased right-wing populist Jörg Haider. He, like Hubert, came from Bad Goisern. Hubert basically wears down any concepts of the enemy that sharpened Haider as a caricature of the "we-feeling". And it happens in Hubert von Goisern's music neither through stubborn insistence on one's own beginnings, nor through haphazard changes in direction, but rather through just practised intermingling, constant meandering. And anyone who thinks that Hubert von Goisern has flakily watered down the sharp profile of his alpine rock is wrong. The pithy alpine rock was a trespass beyond borders and developed only after the former chemistry laboratory assistant's extensive stays abroad in South Africa, Canada and the Philippines.

Hubert von Goisern has always been a traveller, and for three hours at the Kulturufer he moves with four musicians (guitar, bass, drums, keyboard) and three singers through the cross sum of his travels so far, which have led him for example through Africa, Tibet and the Balkans. And thus the circle is squared when Goisern plays a kind of "Persian country dance" with his band that rocks like hell. When Goisern then pushes his accordion aside in the piece and pumps into the horn, the accent moves: it's no longer the Orient offering a hand to the Occident, but rather Austria to the Balkans. At the same time Goisern rocks like he hasn't in a long time. The capacity of his singers spans from bel canto to unsettling yelling. When keyboard, guitar and bass then weave still more sombre veils, dark chambers open that touch on a band like Portishead - and even here the singing is ultimately grounded in yodelling.

Hubert von Goisern is really no longer what he once was; he has become what he is. The audience in the sold out arena celebrates him for it.

Hubert von Goisern thrills 3000 at concert marathon

Kurier 3rd August 2009 | Text: S. Ramsauer-Hofer | Photo: Walter Brunner

"Anyone who doesn't want to doesn't need to sing along. It's no problem." Only a few take up the serious offer from the congenial Upper Austrian. Nearly every one of the almost 3000 fans at the Ausportplatz in Krems proved their vocal power at Hubert von Goisern's open air concert on Saturday evening.

The charismatic musician and his band played with heart and soul for three hours in the Wachau. Open, thoughtful, but with rock and soul as well, with a unique relation to folk music. New songs and old familiars were applauded alike, and when it came to the absolute super hits like Heast as nit even those with tickets for the seated area were now on their feet.

"We've really hit the mark with Hubert von Goisern's concert in Krems, in this ambience", said Wolfgang Übl, manager of Markant PR, responsible for the event organisation.

Krems mayoress Inge Rinke was likewise full of praise for the successful evening: "Hubert von Goisern is a magnificent artist."

The great storyteller

Minemusig 1st August 2009 | Text & Photo: Daniel Furxer

Hubert von Goisern delights a full Marktplatz in Rankweil at the Friday open air

Hubert von Goisern is one of the great storytellers of pop music. And like all storytellers, he travels around to present his stories in song and to take from foreign cultures along the way. The two year tour on the ship, down the Danube to the Black Sea and up the Rhine and Main to the North Sea has left its mark musically. The presentation of this world music, mixed with native yodelling and folk music makes him an exceptional Austrian musician. Hirtamadl is probably still his biggest hit, but his musical spectrum, the variety of his sound, is much, much greater. On this evening in the Rankweil Marktplatz Hubert von Goisern, who is at home on many instruments (accordion, trumpet, guitar) set new musical accents, reaching from traditional yodels to modern dancefloor.

During the quiet songs like Weit, weit weg and Regen he radiated both a melancholy and an intensity of life that was enough to give you goosebumps. He was supported by his band and three wonderful singing and yodelling ladies, whom are entitled to no less respect. The world storyteller Hubert von Goisern has a vision too: of uniting the people of Europe with music. Being able to listen and sing with him ("you don't have to sing along if you don't feel it") while he does this is amazing.

A juchitzer, a yodel, a "servus"

Freisinger Tagblatt 1st/2nd August 2009 | Text: Andreas Beschorner | Photo: Rainer Lehmann

At times peace and calm reigned across the Vöttinger Weiher, at times the audience was celebrating alpine rock: on Thursday evening Hubert von Goisern even managed to get 2500 fans yodelling together: "Holla-rei-duli-rei-duli-rei-duli-jo."

Freising - A juchitzer, a yodel, a "servus" and the call of "showtime" - Hubert von Goisern and his band made it clear from the start that nothing was safe musically-speaking. Admittedly it took a while until the musical peak conqueror from "Felix Austria" came onto the stage next to the Vöttinger Weiher: the usual evening traffic jams around Johannisstraße meant that the superstar of multicultural sound experiences was not able to go on stage punctually at 8pm.

Goisern can barely be musically pigeonholed. he jumps effortlessly here and there between funk and folk music, between what is called alpine rock and almost psychedelic tapestries of sound. And with Goisern what follows woven oriental sounds is even the slow blues version of Janis Joplin's classic Mercedes Benz.

Goisern lets things go slowly, almost cautiously in the first hour, moving the audience to dreaming as the sun sets, swinging into true yodelling elegies and showing that he's the master of many instruments, from flugelhorn to accordion. Only seldom does the rock poet from Austria show his rocky side in the first part of his concert.

Later things are different: Goisern and band, among them a snazzy trio of girls that sings, fiddles and swings inflatable guitars in amusing choreography, get more down to earth: by the time Goisern takes hold of the acoustic guitar and sings a folk song, or performs the hit Weit, weit weg in duet, the spell is broken.

From there to the end of the two and a half hour show Goisern takes from the rousing Hiatamadl treasure chest, presenting the mixture of rock and folk music that made him a star. The girlies right at the front would have liked to have shrieked along. The fans' squeaking had previously really "annoyed" the yodel poet during his quiet pieces. And arguably only Goisern can take the liberty of putting the shriekers in their place: "Give us some peace!"

World musician von Goisern: goosebumps without Musikantenstadl kitsch

Rhein Zeitung 31st July 2009 | Text: Michael Schaust

Alpine rock and folk: multi-talent from Austrian gives an impressive concert with his band in front of Engers castle

Elisabeth, Hubert and Marlene NEUWIED. Nothing seems to be holy to him, he sweeps across stage like a dervish and mixes styles that don't seem to want to fit together for any old Joe Bloggs interested in musical art: Hubert von Goisern presents his Austrian "world music" away from any thoughts of being pigeonholed. In front of the castle in Engers more than 1300 spectators experienced an almost 3 hour long, varied programme between alpine folk music and rock hard US rock.

There are, broadly speaking, two kinds of von Goisern fans: one loves the 56 year old musical multi-talent on account of his creativity and almost permanent furthering of his horizons, the other appreciates him Mainly for his rootedness in native traditional music. The latter only get their money's worth late on. Because the man whose real name is Hubert Achleitner first of all lets things really crack: there's pure rock 'n' roll just as there is also Krautrock made in the inner Salzkammergut, time and again spiced here and there with colourful alpine folklore.

"I wü leben", ("I wanna live") the globetrotter shouts into the microphone. The gentle folk music rebel can easily keep pace with Roger Chapman or Rod Stewart. With the Schönberger yodel he plunges - light years away from Musikantenstadl - into a psychedelic realm, for which keyboarder David Lackner is first and foremost responsible. It is as though Klaus Schulze met the group Can in the Dachstein mountains.

The piece Regen seems experimental too, written by the good Hubert in the desert landscape of Black Africa. The cool wet is rare there and the people there long for it, an as charming as witty conférencier explains. In Engers it remains - despite threatening clouds - dry.

The mountain rocker and his as young as they are excellent band have bone-dry blues in Janis Joplin style with a proper portion of swamp from New Orleans and freshly bubbling chill on hand. Severin Trogbacher is responsible for string magic and tempests, while the rhythm section, with Alex Pohn playing stylishly on the skins and Helmut Schartlmüller vehemently plucking the electric bass, provides the groove - no matter whether in hard or soft pitch.

In his programme von Goisern shows his understanding of world music. It is never closed, it continues ever further, as in the last two years, up the Danube and down the Rhine on the concert ship. With all the musical activities the art of the deft manner of speaking has lost none of its appeal. Whether it's country dances in speech song, or the alpine primal scream, yodelling - which has incidentally been practised for an eternity by the Samis in Lappland and guaranteed not to have been folk "proselytised" by Austrians - they all regain their dignity. The three young female musicians master the beautifully too. The striking girls also satisfy in violin-playing (Elisabeth and Marlene Schuen) or provide subtle percussive accents. And when Maria Moling duels with von Goisern on the jazz trumpet, the audience gets goosebumps and bit by bit gets roped into really yodelling along.

The long encore combines renewed traditional folk tunes with strange rock or odd, square dance-inspired country and western with lots of twang guitar. The catchy character of a number of pieces and parts in the songs sometimes scrapes within a whisker of schlager kitsch - but carries on past. And so there were quite rightly standing ovations for the terrific show.

Hammering beats in a medieval setting

Landshuter Zeitung 28th July 2009 | Text: Alexandra Beck | Photo: CV

Open air concert in the old town. Hubert von Goisern delights the audience with predominantly rocking songs

"Showtime" was announced by Hubert von Goisern at the start of his open air concert. With a predominantly rock-based programme, six musicians accompanying him and sophisticated light effects he managed on Sunday evening to make good on his promise. The perhaps not very warm, but at least dry summer night, the backdrop of the old town and about 2000 spectators, who went along, a little reservedly at first, but all the more enthusiastically later, all made the remaining contribution towards making the evening an atmospheric experience.

Not being held in the familiar, constantly developing musically characterises Hubert von Goisern's career. On Sunday evening his joy in change was to be seen optically too. Anyone expecting to see him after his ship tour on the Danube in a folksy batik shirt, or barefoot in lederhosen was to be disabused of the idea. He appeared on stage in white designer jeans and a tight-fitting pink cotton shirt, flanked by three pretty female musicians.

And even the first bars of the concert show the audience how things should be: there'll be rock this evening, crazy rock. Hammering beats and booming basses characterise nearly all the songs and give them the forcefulness that casts the audience under their spell. The fact that forcefulness doesn't mean monotony with von Goisern is shown with Auseinandertreiben: in a kind of speech song he tells of the failure of personal relationships while singer Elisabeth Schuen sings aria-like melancholy melodies in the background.

Music against prejudices

A high point of the concert is Siagst as, in which Hubert von Goisern describes how light and sun can brighten up gloomy thoughts. The trumpet solos that von Goisern blows into the night and the spotlights that bathe the stage in different shades of red, conjure up an almost surreal atmosphere.

There are no yodels to be heard in the first half of the concert. Von Goisern is very aware of what he expected of the fans of folk music in the audience as a result. "I can see some worried faces. But they'll be placated with a yodel." He says it, yodels briefly to the audience and only in the next moment to shout out a rocky "I wanna live" (Ich will leben) into the night and animate the initially somewhat hesitant audience into singing along.

Informing the audience that the common language of all peoples is music is a matter of concern for von Goisern. He tells them of encounters in eastern Europe on his tour, for which he travelled on a stage ship down the Danube to the Black Sea. People said that they were worried about the European Union because then they would have to share the little they had with richer nations. "At the beginning of the tour fear of each other seemed to be the common denominator," said von Goisern. Music can help to dismantle prejudices and to overcome fears. In the song Regen he describes how musicians in Burkina Faso ask for rain day after day with their songs.

No "Koa Hiatamadl"

Towards the end the folk music fans get their money's worth too. Together with singer and percussionist Maria Moling von Goisern performs a yodel. He himself discovered only at the age of 37 that you don't need a "vocal chord defect" for yodelling and began to yodel. Many wait in vain for Koa Hiatamadl. Only a short passage from it is played.

After many encores Hubert von Goisern lets the enthralled audience out into the night with Heast as nit. But not without thanking his audience "for singing, dancing, listening and yodelling".

Yodelled reggae, rocking bazaar

Südkurier 27th July 2009 | Text: uk

Hubert von Goisern is more successful than Manfred Mann: this may sound over-confident but was a reality at least at this year's Sommersinnfonie in Bad Dürrheim. The Austrian alpine rocker trumped the British music legend in ticket sales: 1600 tickets - 100 more than the top act last summer - were sold by the ticket offices this time. That's the highest in the festival's history too.

Borne up by such interest, the man, whose real name is Hubert Achleitner and who comes from the spa town of Bad Goisern, took the liberty of doing two things: coming on stage with a little nonchalant-Austrian tardiness and leaving again without having played his most famous song, the 1992 hit Koa Hiatamadl.

But the fans by no means held it against Hubert von Goisern and his band. Although rain started to fall towards the end of the concert, most people slipping on one of the 1800 waterproof ponchos that were at the ready, the superb atmosphere remained.

For Hubert von Goisern had more to offer than just the hits of his time with the legendary Alpinkatzen, although he didn't deny the audience a sing-along piece like Weit, weit weg for example. But the newer material (including that from his current album S'Nix) was just as satisfying.

Not least because the band with whom Hubert von Goisern has been touring for three years worked excellently: David Lackner on keyboards was reminiscent in his playing of greats such as Keith Emerson or Manfred Mann. The three female singers Maria Moling (vocals and percussion), Elisabeth Schuen (vocals and violin) and Marlene Schuen (vocals and violin) offered much more than just acoustic and optical decoration. The whole group was then solidly held together by Severin Trogbacher (guitar), Alex Pohn (drums) and Helmut Schartlmüller (bass).

And that was important, because the demands that Hubert von Goisern's compositions place on the musicians include: African, Caribbean, southeast European tunes, melodies and rhythms amalgamating with hard rock or classic soul: yodelled reggae, bazaar sounds on the electric guitar, and trumpet sounds à la Miles Davis becoming a tear-jerking duet - von Goisern, who has travelled far and wide and is well-versed in electronic music masters it all brilliantly and keeps the fans, who by the end are soaked with rain, warm inside.