TOUR 2011
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah MarchantHubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah MarchantHubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 31st July 2011
Photo: © Sarah MarchantFestival weekend: Rain and sun shape events
[...] In the south of Germany festival visitors were delighted by sunshine though. On 30th and 31st July several thousand people came to the fourth open air at Kaltenberg organised by Blanko Musik, curated by Hubert von Goisern. He himself played on both days and had also invited along Ganes, Claudia Koreck, Haindling, Klaus Doldinger and BAP. The fact that many of musicians played time and again with the other acts contributed to the special flair of the event. Most of the artists were then on stage once more for a long jam session in the grand finale.
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah MarchantHubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah MarchantHubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah Marchant
Hubert von Goisern and Friends: Live in Kaltenberg - 30th July 2011
Photo: © Sarah MarchantClear the arena for Bavaria, Cologne and Austria
Von Goisern, Haindling, BAP and Co.
Kaltenberg. The jousters have staged their battles and departed for a year, so then comes Kaltenberg festival time. The arena no longer has to serve as a battleground, but is with increasing regularity an open air venue - this year after a couple of years away, it's time for Hubert von Goisern and a few of his many friends again. The weather behaved itself; the clouds that had thrown out proper ballast on the morning of the first of the two festival days stayed closed from the start of the beginning of the event and celebrations could go ahead, something that the spectators in the not quite sold-out Kaltenberg Arena did to the full.
There was absolutely no headliner to be found in the programme, instead lots of class formations provided for high spirits. First and foremost that was Hubert von Goisern, who introduced everybody, his friends from half Europe, and whose charisma could have melted icebergs on the first evening. There was singing and stories were listened to, the musical flair was simply wonderful. For his show on the second day, the Austrian had also invited saxophonist Klaus Doldinger, who has long been giving the world wonderful jazz interpretations. But there was also Haindling, the Bavarian group around Hans-Jürgen Buchner, who had the audience on their side from the first moment.
Those shuffling in the sand of the arena eagerly confirmed, Bayern, jawoi, des samma mir, (Bavarians, yes, that's us), enjoyed Deppen, listened to stories from Dax and Biber, tried clapping a zwiefacher. In particular it was reaching deep into their repertoire, the review of almost 30 years of Haindling that caused great excitement. All the familiar refrains, the droll stories, told with few words, they were sung along to, chanted.
And BAP – can the Cologne rockers with frontman Wolfgang Niedecken stand against the Bavarian-alpine supremacy? You bet, after all clearly not only Bavarian visitors had made their way to Kaltenberg and in the end what Niedecken has to say with his BAP does not differ considerably from Goisern and Haindling. As embellishment there was even Zdob si Zdub, the music group from Moldova, who have previously twice taken part very successfully in the Eurovision Song Contest and who with their mixture of folk and hard rock and the instrumentation from big drum to trombone fit so well with the musicians in the Kaltenberg Arena. Responsible more for the celestial sounds were Ganes, the water spirits, who can bewitch every listener with their flowing voices. And of course Claudia Koreck, the Bavarian whizz kid, who landed a huge hit with Fliang a few years ago and who in particular on stage surrounded by her band, is a real experience.
Hubert von Goisern & Friends at the Kaltenberg Arena
On Saturday HvG invited his musical friends to Kaltenberg to celebrate the first day of his two-day festival. Together with the Moldovan ethno-punks Zdob si Zdub, the Ladin water spirits Ganes and Haindling and their "Bavarian-Afro elephantine grooves" Hubert von Goisern and his band gave their best on the arena stage.
On the second day of the festival the audience had the pleasure of appearances by not just Bavarian singer-songwriter Claudia Koreck and the Cologne rockers BAP, but also jazz legend Klaus Doldinger and of course Hubert and his band: Alex, Helmut and Severin. The musicians of this collaborative musical weekend then celebrated a grand finale with host Hubert von Goisern in front of a thrilled audience.
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Weißenburg - 24th July 2011
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Weißenburg - 24th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Weißenburg - 24th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Weißenburg - 24th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Weißenburg - 24th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Weißenburg - 24th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Weißenburg - 24th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Weißenburg - 24th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Weißenburg - 24th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Weißenburg - 24th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Weißenburg - 24th July 2011
Photo: © Elli ChristlSlimmed down alpine rock
Hubert von Goisern as dazzling finale at the Wülzburgfest
Weissenburg. Much of it sounded familiar somehow, and yet new. It wasn't the multi-instrumental alpine bombastic rock and certainly not the world music of previous times, but music reduced to its core, often rooted in country dances and zwiefachers with which Hubert von Goisern entertained the audience at his third guest appearance at Wülzburg. Many of the songs were unknown, because they are as yet unreleased - the new and twelfth album from the "Goiserer" won't be released until next month.
Thus listening rather than dancing was prescribed for the more than 1600 spectators in the seated Wülzburg inner courtyard with songs such as Indianer, I kenn oan, Es is wias is and Heidi halt mi. The unmistakeable thing about the tasters from the new album Entweder und Oder was that Hubert von Goisern is slimming down his songs after his musically diverse river project, furnishing them instead with a bold sound and haunting lyrics. The band is also new and slimmed down, consisting of just him, Alex Pohn (drums), Helmut Schartlmüller (bass) and Severin Trogbacher (guitar).
However what has remained from the Alpinkatzen days (the first appearance made by Goisern at Wülzburg was almost 20 years ago) is the familiar musical elemental force, which is perhaps connected with the rebelliousness of the musician who was born in 1952 in Bad Goisern with the name Hubert Achleitner and who learned to play the trumpet at the age of twelve in one of the local brass bands. Nowadays he is a virtuoso on many instruments (from the Filipino nose flute to the Jews' harp) and in Weißenburg even elicited sounds reminiscent of Klaus Doldinger from his "enemy number one", the clarinet.
The lyrics of the new songs swing between very hard and fragile and gentle, but always reflect the basic longing of people - represented best in Leben or Suach da an andern. With Weit, weit weg Hubert von Goisern also made a link to his first big success album at Wülzburg, but the comparison to Hiatamadl and Co. doesn't really work. Without a doubt Hubert von Goisern has outgrown this time, has grown up: ambitious and clear in both his musical expression and artistic level, which he could likely lift to new heights with the new album - at least that is what is promised by the tasters given in the Wülzburg inner courtyard.
Luckily Hubert von Goisern has broken his self-imposed promise not to play his biggest hit again, because it had deteriorated into a party hit. So the audience at Wülzburg did not just have the pleasure of Hiatamadl in a round of encores, but also his other sing-along hits such as Iawaramoi and Heast as net. Summing up the two hour Wülzburg show, at which sound and stage lights more than satisfied: a new old Hubert von Goisern is back.
Rocking with the squeezebox .....
No rain for Hubert von Goisern in Maxlrain
The king of alpine rock called and they came in bright droves. There were almost two thousands fans of Hubert von Goisern in Maxlrain at the open air concert. The audience was moved at short noticed to a nearby space due to the soaked castle field. Thus, the spectators found their seats with dry feet. Nothing wet fell from the sky this evening either. A red dragon shines in front of the black backdrop at the start of the powerful show with Hubert von Goisern at the accordion and his three young musicians Alex Pohn on drums, Helmut Schartlmüller on bass and Severin Trogbacher on the guitar.
He calls himself and the three guys in the band Über Upper Austrians. "I think my hut's on fire, hello!", Hubert Achleitner, who took his stage name von Goisern from his hometown, warmed up his listeners for what was to come. The quartet has done without female accompaniment such as earlier with the Alpinkatzen, later his female instrumentalists and most recently background singers.
"Every Indian can make themselves invisible" reveals Goisern and tells of how in his early years he spent seven years in Vienna fare-dodging on the bus and from Indian things moved on musically with dominant drums, in rhythmic rock groove from the guitar and with the master on the harmonica. You could physically feel the heavy beat. Shame that the heavy rock was sometimes overdriven. It unfortunately drowned out the lyrics that are really worth listening to. Georgia on my mind, so unforgettably sung by Ray Charles, has been changed by the musician from the Salzkammergut to Goisern, i steh auf di, and he mixes old familiar songs with lots of new material from the as yet unreleased twelfth studio album, which will be out in the autumn. Jews' harp, bells, clarinet, guitar, harmonica and accordion, the alpine world musician is a professional on every instrument. He sang the blues about the sludge in the snow and slalom and with passion in his rousing song I wui leben. He recommended to his audience: "Let go and celebrate". At this concert fine country dances, yodels, soul, African melodies, jazz and samba mixed with Goisern's traditional native music in quite incomparable ways. 58-year-old Goisern translated the famous Janis Joplin Song Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz into "Geh Hergott, i bitt di ums ewige Lebn". He spoke about the famine in Africa and western ignorance. He danced across the stage with his accordion, completely submerged in the rhythm. His hair hanging in his sweaty face. Artistic stage fog was illuminated in the changing colours from the purple, crimson, lurid green and deep blue to shining white of the light show. After the universally known Hirtamadl the spectators had by no means had enough of alpine rock, even when Wie die Zeit vergeht provided the atmospheric finale. Yes, they are just addicted to Goisern and his music.
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Maxlrain - 22nd July 2011
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Maxlrain - 22nd July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Maxlrain - 22nd July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Maxlrain - 22nd July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Maxlrain - 22nd July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Maxlrain - 22nd July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Maxlrain - 22nd July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Maxlrain - 22nd July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Maxlrain - 22nd July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Maxlrain - 22nd July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Maxlrain - 22nd July 2011
Photo: © Elli ChristlThe Über Upper Austrian
Hubert von Goisern gave his all at the Sternenfestival in Knetzgau. The 58-year-old played serene, rousing and rustic music. His fans thanked him. For the final cracking encores, his biggest hits, they leapt from their seats.
Knetzgau. There's something in the air. The stage, as a red sea of light signals it. The master's shirt is also blood red. His hair hangs in his face and nearly reaches his squeezebox. He stands with his back to the audience, bowed over his favourite piece. Caressing, ardent, eyes closed, Hubert von Goisern pulls the accordion open and squeezes it shut with deliberate movements. Very slowly. Again and again.
Until applause erupts. The master turns round, goes to the microphone: "Hello everybody". And so Hubert von Goisern, the "Über Upper Austrian" more than über punctually opens his concert at the Sternenfestival in Knetzgau before the sold-out tent. The 58-year-old goes about things in a reduced manner, to rock nonstop over the next two hours.
Comfortable start
The audience sits back at the start too. Some of the fans are wearing leather shorts, both young and old sit on the chairs, 1500 of them. As though the new songs are to be listened to as comfortably as at home, to decide whether they like the unknown. For the twelfth album from the musician is not yet released, but Goisern had the songs with him by the dozen.
As if it's part of the master Goisern's plan, he allows his audience time. Plays a song and then happily tells fitting stories in between. Stories about how he went through the capital as invisible as "Indians" for seven years. Or he effuses in his own style about his homeland "Goisern" in the Austrian Salzkammergut. Or rather: Bad Goisern. That's where he comes from, Hubert, Hubert Achleitner, who later named himself after his place of birth. Goisern must be a depressive nest: the musician talks about the Goisern "tie knots". "We learn those in the first class" - it's so bad there that people hang themselves with their ties.
Outside stand the onlookers
And while inside the master gives free reign to his dark humour, outside a few real fans stand at the barrier, cooling their heels.
"Hubert is the best we have in Austria", says Ingrid Thieler, one of the onlookers. She's made herself comfortable at the barrier with a glass of sparkling wine. The lady comes from the Innviertel in Austrian and now lives in Haßfurt. When "Hubert" plays, she is sure to be there. Even though she can only hear him this evening - she knows that he looks "simply wonderful". "And the great thing is that I understand him", she laughs.
It is difficult as a non-Austrian to understand the deep alpine dialect. But fans like Gabi and Ferdinand Schramm from Gleisenau, neighbours at the fence to Ingrid Thieler, have nonetheless seen Goisern five times: "It's simply his way", says Gabi Schramm.
Inside the tent things are meanwhile getting even sweatier. The musician's red shirt needs to be changed, but Goisern prefers to change instruments instead: Jews' harp, bells, clarinet and guitar replace the "squeezebox". At the end nobody remains on their chair, the stage is densely populated. Everyone stands. The alpine world music master above them. Lets loose his Hiatamadl. The onlookers outside drink a toast. Until the master calls "goodbye".
A hemp rope can mean a longer life
A captivating concert: Hubert von Goisern brings alpine rock to Knetzgau
Knetzgau. Three musicians Alex Pohn (drums), Helmut Schartlmüller (bass) and Severin Trogbacher (guitar) and the singer Hubert von Goisern enter the stage. Excited anticipatory applause erupts before the first note breaks. Mayor Stefan Paulus is delighted: we're sold out today.
Von Goisern is actually a world star, whizz kid, philanthropist, life mentor, but above all a talented musician, who has created his own style in the Mount Olympus of entertainment. They start with very quiet sounds, it becomes a wild storm of notes, a summary at the beginning of a - for many unforgettable - 150 minutes in the Sternenzelt in Knetzgau.
Breaking convention he tells stories of his life experiences between the songs, giving the audience subtle pearls of wisdom with a wink. His hometown of Goisern is a climatic hotspot for suicide, he says that one should look for a beautiful tree in an even more beautiful place for the final act of desperation and must without a doubt use a hemp rope. "Then at the end you can cut off a spliff and smoke it and maybe you'll change your mind!"
After a stately first part full of blues, completely fresh Goisern lyrics and music, the aura of a gigantic sitting room develops in the tent - just with 1500 chairs and on them 1500 blissful listeners.
The new Goisern is calmer, more thoughtful and nonetheless unerring. The quiet guitar tunes - sometimes underscored with clarinet by the boss himself - are a soft carpet of sound for the new stories, which won't be available on CD until after the tour though, explains Goisern. "Otherwise you'll have all learned the lyrics off by heart and be wanting to sing along!" Thus, they can play their music in perfect peace on stage, teases the Styrian rogue.
But he can do things differently too and he brings in the songs that everyone wants to hear. Of course they sing along to Weit, weit weg, enthusiastic applause erupting after the guitar solo from Severin - goosebumps is the keyword. For the furioso finale come the firecrackers Hiatnmadl and Die Zeit vergeht, the Styrian accordion rages in a battle of wills with the electric guitar. And the master of alpine homeland rock blues invites everyone to come forward to the stage, , despite the instructions from security: "Come forward and muscle together, don't be shy of one another!"
The invitation is accepted with delight, the great Goisern family festival gets sweaty and breathes new life into the end. After two and a half hours of the best entertainment they go out into the Knetzgau night, everyone is happy. Simply fantastic. So wonderful!
The Kaiser from Goisern at the Kaiserpark in Bad Ischl
Hubert von Goisern at his open air concert in the Kaiserpark in Bad Ischl
Neither drizzle nor September temperatures could hold back zillions of Hubert von Goisern fans
They came in floor-length skirts, dirndl dresses, loden, nailed boots and stilettos, with every possible and impossible headwear, raincape and plastic bag. Everyone wanted to experience HvG and after two hours everyone left him enthralled.
The homeland has its son once more! Because he became aware of his roots in the imperial place - and has found his way back to them.
Artistic experiments can - nay, must be. They shouldn't degenerate into self-purpose and self-satisfaction, but should also fulfil the expectations of the fans.
And in this HvG is a formidable success! There is at first slight scepticism in the audience as he announces titles from his soon to be released twelfth studio album. But with the first songs all doubts are thrown overboard. HvG is the "old HvG" again, having returned to his linguistically unmistakeable Goisern roots. When early on he plays the Ray Charles' famous hit Georgia On My Mind – reshaped into Goisern - everyone loves him.
New material (much of which will become hits) and enough old classics (Heast as nit, Hiatamadl, Zinds eng a Pfeifferl o etc) round off an unforgettable evening in the Kaiserpark. HvG is supported marvellously by Severin Trogbacher and Helmut Schartlmüller on guitars and Alex Pohn on drums. The acoustics are also unexpectedly excellent. Full praise to the organiser and the very proper stewards (event halls in Linz and Salzburg could take a leaf out of their book), as well as the very disciplined audience.
HvG is a virtuoso master of acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica and accordion, as well as clarinet (parallels to Ray Charles? He didn't just play piano and sing either - but also played saxophone in the early years).
HvG has also matured in an entertainer. He knows how to make his legions of fans (an estimated 4500) - among them host Markus von Habsburg Lothringen and his brother Johann Salvator von Habsburg-Lothringen and their families - smile with lots of little stories strewn in. The emperor would say: "So good, he may continue".
Just have courage, people of Ischl and organise more such concert in the Kaiserpark. Locations like these are truly few and far between.
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Bad Ischl - 14th July 2011
More photos at moser.zenfolio.com
Hard and tender in the sanctuary
The Gaffenberg Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary. Hubert von Goisern played the opening concert.
Heilbronn. Hubert von Goisern has always done a lot of things differently from other people: other musicians usually put out an album and take the CD on tour. But at the beginning of the Gaffenberg Festival Hubert von Goisern says: "Our CD has been finished for a month. But we thought we'd go on tour now and not release the record until afterwards. Then you lot can't learn the lyrics by heart and we can play undisturbed."
The irony, with which Hubert von Goisern takes on the musical trademark, is one part of the truth. The other part is that one has the feeling that he actually enjoys confounding: with his excellent band, consisting of just drums, bass and guitar, Hubert von Goisern sparks a musical elemental force in the full tent that seems like a flip book against the rain outside. In his radically reduced new songs, the man from Bad Goisern chooses his path of distraction with every passion at the highest musical level, in order to finally end up at reconciliation with life. His new songs are very hard and very tender - and they are often so upliftingly natural, as if one had dreamed them the night before.
His haunting singing, his at times maltreated and then caressed accordion, his softly-spoken clarinet and his dancing Jews' harp - they all tell in Heilbronn of a rousing form of resolve. The floating tent ceiling at Gaffenberg offers the audience the opportunity to on the one hand experience this highly-concentrated Hubert von Goisern in the atmosphere of an open air festival and on the other hand seething, as if in a club.
The wind can slip in here into the covered circle, but the rain is repelled. This tent construction, that plays its part in the unique nature of the Heilbronn Gaffenberg Festival can - when accordingly filled with sound - become a surreally wonderful tent of refuge.
On Wednesday evening the Ladin female trio Ganes succeeded in turning a vile tent into a warming sanctuary in a very captivating way: sister Elisabeth and Marlene Schuen and their cousin Maria Moling accompanied Hubert von Goisern on his Danube tour a few years ago; now the music of Ganes is among the most beautiful and enchanting that upmarket world music currently has to offer. Before Hubert von Goisern's concert (and together with him!) Ganes tell a moving musical story of isolation and the overcoming thereof. The anniversary event for one of the most unusual and at the same time most wonderful festivals in the country has now begun with the superb double concert from Hubert von Goisern und Ganes. [...]
Hubert von Goisern on top form
Bad Ischl. Hubert von Goisern on top form with old and new hits, a good atmosphere and a cheering audience - you could describe yesterday's concert highlight in Bad Ischl as simply as that.
The warmup band Royal Guitar Club put in a very good performance and provided for the first cheers of the evening. The musicians thrilled the audience with their guitars for half an hour.
After a short interval the time had come, Hubert von Goisern stepped on stage and made things really loud in front of the Kaiservilla. The audience was clearly delighted to see the star making an appearance in Salzkammergut again for the first time in a long time.
The audience needed the first half hour to really get going, but hits such as Goisern and Hiatamadl, as well as his new hits ultimately provided for the kind of atmosphere that can barely be put into words.
The show lasted two hours and not even the rain was able to spoil the atmosphere for the spectators. At the end everyone stood up, sang along and said farewell to the singer with loud applause and cheers. Only the encore was a little too short, but ultimately one makes a very positive review and the joy of a reunion remains, perhaps next year.
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Bad Ischl - 14th July 2011
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Bad Ischl - 14th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Bad Ischl - 14th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Bad Ischl - 14th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Bad Ischl - 14th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Bad Ischl - 14th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Bad Ischl - 14th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Bad Ischl - 14th July 2011
Photo: © Elli Christl
Hubert von Goisern: Live in Bad Ischl - 14th July 2011
Photo: © Elli ChristlHuidiei jodleiri Huidiridi
Hubert von Goisern & Ganes thrill 1400 fans at Gaffenberg
Alpine world music? It sounds like a contradiction, but it isn't, as Hubert von Goisern has proved for more than a quarter or a century now. With his huidiei jodleiri huidiridi he stands on stages big and small. And at the start of the 23rd Gaffenberg Festival brought alpenglow to the Audi tent.
It might be down to the mountain, to Goisern, Hubert's hometown in the Salzkammergut, where there are more than a dozen brass bands for fewer than 7000 inhabitants. But it is above all down to Hubert Achleitner that about 1400 fans let themselves be carried despite the cold, wet weather, to the three splendid musicians at his side - and to Ganes, the South Tyrolean sisters Marlene and Elisabeth Schuen and their cousin Maria Moling who kick off the evening.
Achleitner was the singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer's name before he became the epitome of alpine rock and a world musician, who went culturally poaching in Africa and Tibet and returned time and again to Goisern: "It's a shame, I have to keep coming back to you, or I can't stand it."
Cow bells
He has also returned to the festival in Heilbronn, where he once began with the Alpinkatzen and later mixed Sufi with pop and rock with the Egyptian Mohamed Mounir. Three summers ago Hubert von Goisern docked on the banks of the Neckar with his concert ship, now back on Heilbronn's Hausberg mountain he was celebrating a sound of rock and blues, traditional folk music and pop with accordion, cow bells, harmonica, electric guitar and clarinet.
"We sing in Ladin", a minority Romance language, said Ganes, currently accompanying Hubert von Goisern on tour. The name of the band refers to the spirits of alpine mythology, the mermaids and fairies of their home village of La Val in the Dolomites. These three are pretty mermaids, bright and highly musical. They studied music and now the women sing in solo verses and three-voices harmonies about love and loss and men who turned out not to be the right ones.
Ganes transform the soft Ladin language with beguiling pop into flowing rhythms and finally invite the master himself on stage. He barely has the white squeezebox in his hands and it's there: the festival feeling on Gaffenberg. A break, rejig, then the stage belongs to Hubert von Goisern, the man who looks for and returns to home and yet is driven by wanderlust.
Together with Alex Pohn on the drums, Severin Trogbacher on the guitar and bassist Helmut Schartlmüller Goisern classics and new songs from the twelfth album, which will be released in late summer follow in quick succession until just before midnight.
A simple "hello", the tent goes wild, the fans close ranks like penguins. "It's a bit like Goisern here, chucking it down." The guy feels at home in the "Gaffenberg rainforest". Hubert's favourite saint is Rita, who makes the impossible possible and and they intone an eerily beautiful "Holy Christopher, pray for us".
"There are many things that sound good, but are rubbish" Goisern discovered during his years of learning and travelling, as well as how useful it can be to become invisible like an Indian. The music is notably varied with Styrian accordion, wild guitar duels and drums, at times folk, at times power polka, and then yodels and juchitzers again and again. The stories that von Goisern tells sound commandingly composed. "I want to live" the Über Upper Austrians declare and then get Ganes back on stage, before things become calm and lyrical with Weit weit weg, Heast as nit and other sentimental earworms. Until farewell is said with Hiatamadl.
Alpine whizz kid: Hubert von Goisern in the sold out Kassel Kulturzelt
Kassel. The mountains and alpenglow were close by on Tuesday evening: harmonica and accordion, cow bells and clarinet painted pictures into North Hessian. And at the end, four exhausted men stood in a circle, yodelled a cappella, sounding a little Gregorian, definitely sacral.
A perfect end to a perfect performance in the sold out Kassel Kulturzelt and the audience cheered Hubert von Goisern and his three musicians, the alpine rocker from the Salzkammergut being much acclaimed.
The pioneer of alpine world music is somehow reminiscent of the legendary Cologne rock band BAP - a language that barely anyone understands, and music the combines everything - the rocky and the gentle, the thoughtful and the rebellious. In the Kulturzelt Hubert von Goisern presented his new and as yet unreleased CD. For he wants to be able to play the new songs in peace and not have anybody singing along. A stunning explanation, just Hubert von Goisern, simply different.
The man looking for home and inspired by wanderlust is above all a conjuror of images of sound. With electric guitar and harmonica he breaks free from his hometown of Bad Goisern, freedom for him is being both very far away and very close. Then the man, whose real name is Hubert Achleitner, sings a rock song of praise to his hometown and its six brass bands (Goisern, i steh auf di) that brought him to the world of music.
But the alpine whizz kid also thrills his audience with hard rock rap in Indianer, the folkloristic Halt nit an, the funny, crying out song Heidi, the amazing adaptation of Janis Joplin's Mercedes Benz or the melancholic sing-along song Weit weit weg . The way he mixes the traditional with the modern and with his three musicians Alex Pohn (drums), Helmut Schartlmüller (bass) and Severin Trogbacher (guitar) combines folk with a rocky, earthy sound is exhilarating in his joy in playing and energy.
He then sings, no, screams and yodels his I will leben into the crowd, creating an undreamt of feeling of being alive.