Hubert von Goisern | |
|---|---|
 Hubert von Goisern in 2023 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Hubert Achleitner (1952-11-17)17 November 1952 (age 73) Bad Goisern, Austria |
| Genres | |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, trumpet, guitar,clarinet,Steirische Harmonika |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Labels | CBS,BMG,Ariola, Blanko Musik |
| Website | www |
Hubert von Goisern (bornHubert Achleitner, 17 November 1952) is an Austrian singer-songwriter andworld musician. With his mix of rock music and elements of traditionalVolksmusik he has become a prominent exponent of the so-called New Volksmusik and Alpine Rock in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. His stage namevon Goisern refers to his hometown. Hubert von Goisern has won numerousrecord certifications and several national and international awards.
He was born inBad Goisern. Already interested in music as a youth, he joined the local brass band where he learned playing the trumpet as his first instrument. When conflicts arose with the band leader about the band's repertoire and Hubert's long hair, he had to leave the band and return the trumpet. He then learned to play guitar starting with an acoustic guitar and then expanding his skills to a self-purchased electric guitar. He also took lessons in trumpet andclarinet. Other instruments like theSteirische Harmonika that was introduced to him by his grandfather were learned in private study.[1]
Aged 20, he left Austria with his girlfriend and relocated to South Africa where he worked in a chemical laboratory. He became involved in the struggle againstapartheid but returned to Austria five years later. There he married his Canadian wife and adopted her surname Sullivan.[2]
At the age of 27 he decided to become a professional musician. He studied guitar inToronto for two years and learned to playflamenco music. After separating from his wife, he went on another journey and learned to play thenose flute on thePhilippines. This was also where he began to develop his own musical style by incorporating elements of a foreign traditional music into the traditional music of his home country Austria.[2]
Back in Austria in 1984, he worked as a freelance musician and composer and studiedelectroacoustics and experimental music at theUniversity of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. In 1986 he and Wolfgang Staribacher founded the band Original Alpinkatzen. At this time he also adopted his stage nameHubert von Goisern while Staribacher wasWolfgang von Wien. Beginning with small performances in clubs and pubs, they published a studio albumAlpine Lawine [Alpine Avalanche] in 1988 onCBS using the moniker "Alpinkatzen featuring Hubert von Goisern".[3]
Together withWolfgang Ambros, Joesi Prokopetz and Manfred Tauchen the Alpinkatzen performed theWatzmann tour, a stage adaption of the audio dramaDer Watzmann ruft [Mount Watzmann is calling]. Afterwards the band parted with Wolfgang Staribacher. Hubert von Goisern kept his stage name and continued the project with a number of new musicians: Stefan Engel (keys), Wolfgang Maier (drums), Reinhard Stranzinger (guitar) and Sabine Kapfinger (vocals). Kapfinger became later known as "Alpine Sabine" and eventually "Zabine". At first she participated in studio recordings only, but taught von Goisern how toyodel.[3]
The band had a breakthrough in 1992 with their albumAufgeigen stått niederschiassen [Striking up instead of shooting down] that featured the tracks "Heast as nit" (Austrian German for "don't you hear it"), "Weit, weit weg" [far, far away], and "Koa Hiatamadl" (dialectal for "no herder girl"). "Koa Hiatamadl" received extended airplay and peaked at No. 2 in the Austrian singles charts.[4] The Alpinkatzen toured across German language countries and became one of the most successfulAlpenrock bands.
In 1994, the second albumOmunduntn (dialectal for "Up and down") was released. It contains the track "Goisern" which is a German language adaption ofRay Charles' song "Georgia", and also reworked versions of the songs "Cocaine" and "Kren & Speck" [horse radish and bacon] from the Alpinkatzen's first albumAlpine Lawine. A new tour was conducted through Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Another quick tour included performances in Paris,San Antonio andAustin, Texas, and New York City. It was the last concert tour by the Alpinkatzen. Their last concert was given on 1 November 1994. Shortly before, a performance at theCircus Krone Building had been filmed by directorJoseph Vilsmaier and his wifeDana Vávrová. The documentaryWia die Zeit vergeht [how time passes by] was presented at the 1995 Munich Festival and was later published onVHS and DVD. The concert at Circus Krone was declared the farewell performance by the band.[3]
Apart from his musical activities, von Goisern had created two fashion lines together with his friend Klaus Höller, which were produced by Modehaus Meindl. Like his music, these collections were meant to interpret traditional elements in a modern way.
Von Goisern made his debut as an actor in the 1995 television dramaHölleisengretl by director Jo Baier. He played the husband of protagonist Gretl (Martina Gedeck), and wrote the film score together with Austrian singer-songwriter Stefan Melbinger. Due to theOmunduntn tour he was unable to accept another acting offer for the role of Elias in Vilsmaier's filmBrother of Sleep (German title:Schlafes Bruder), but he wrote the film score together with Winfried Grabe andEnjott Schneider. Other film music by Hubert von Goisern includes the scores for two films by Austrian actor and director Julian Pölsler in 1991, and a television filmDie Fernsehsaga – Eine steirische Fernsehgeschichte [the TV saga – a Styrian television tale] (1995).
The soundtrack for the children's television filmEin Rucksack voller Lügen [A backpack full of lies] was published in 1996 asEin Sack voller Lügen [A bag full of lies].
Hubert von Goisern had been introduced to anthropologistJane Goodall by their common friend, publisher Michael Neugebauer. Intrigued by her work and eventually invited by her for a visit toGombe Stream National Park, von Goisern travelled to Tanzania in 1996 for the first time. During another voyage, a documentary film was made in cooperation with the AustrianORF and GermanBayerischer Rundfunk broadcasters:Von Goisern nach Gombe [From Goisern to Gombe]. The soundtrackGombe was published on CD in 1998.[5]
Tseten Zöchbauer, chairwoman of the Austrian organisation Save Tibet introduced von Goisern to artists of the India-basedTibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA). Subsequently, he accompanied and presented their Austrian tour. Afterwards he planned a voyage toTibet and invited Zöchbauer, who had left her native country aged two, to come along. For six weeks they travelled through Tibet and later, in an ORF interview, reported on the status of the Tibetanpeople,culture, and relationship with their Chinese national government.[6]
Together with Wolfgang Spannberger he later travelled toDharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India, where theCentral Tibetan Administration is located. There they met Tenzin Gyatso, the14th Dalai Lama. With a mobile sound studio they recorded traditional Tibetan music performed by artists of TIPA. These recordings and other songs from a recording session with Tibetan guest musicians inSalzburg, Austria, were released in 1998 on the albumInexile [in exile]. The Dalai Lama followed an invitation by Hubert von Goisern and visited him inBad Ischl in 1998.[6]
In 1999, Hubert von Goisern worked again on recordings for an album of his own. The tracks forFön [Foehn wind] were recorded with a new band in the summer of 2000. The album was released the same year. In early 2001, the band went on a promotional tour starting inLinz, andTrad, a compilation of Austrian folk songs, was released.
In May 2001, Hubert von Goisern received his first Amadeus Austrian Music Award as best national rock/pop artist.[7] In his acceptance speech, which turned out to have been edited by ORF prior to airing, he criticised the Austrian music industry for a lack in supporting Austrian artists.[8]
Following theFön tour, Hubert von Goisern played a number of concerts in Egypt and West African countries. InAssiut he shared the stage withMohamed Mounir,[3][9] one of the best-known Egyptian musicians, who fuses elements of traditionalSufi music and modern rock. During his tour through West Africa, von Goisern was accompanied by a film team that recorded a documentaryGrenzenlos [Without Borders] about connecting the meetings of the Austrian musicians with various African artists. In the summer of 2002, a concert tour was made in Germany, and the albumIwasig [Above] was released.
The same year, when the Dalai Lama performed akalachakra ceremony inGraz, Austria, Hubert von Goisern and Tseten Zöchbauer presented severalSounds of Tibet concerts with TIPA artists.[6]
After an indoors concert tour through Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy, the band recorded the albumTrad II in a studio that had been custom-built in an abandoned hotel on Mount Krippenstein in theDachstein Mountains. The subsequent concerts included locations inSarajevo andCape Verde.[3] In 2003, von Goisern toured with Mohamed Mounir through Germany, Austria and Switzerland.[10] After presentingTrad II on Mount Krippenstein in October 2003, von Goisern went on theTrad II tour in 2004.
In January 2005, Hubert von Goisern and his band performed at theFestival au Désert in Mali together withbalafon player Kele Tigi. Again, this trip was recorded on film and was later shown asWarten auf Timbuktu (Waiting for Timbuktu).
After the numerous tours of the past years, von Goisern turned to different activities. Examples include the presentation of a soundinstallation in a cave of the Dachstein mountains. In November 2005 he recorded the duetRita mir zwei withWolfgang Niedecken which was released on the anniversary album of the German bandBAP:Dreimal zehn Jahre [Three times ten years].
In April 2006, theFreedom Party of Austria used von Goisern's song "Heast as nit" [Don't you hear it?] in an election campaign. Hubert von Goisern then published an open letter to party leaderHeinz-Christian Strache, demanding that the Freedom Party stopped using his songs. The letter included a statement: "I stand for an open, tolerant society, for the destruction of fear of the unknown and new, and not for the fomentation thereof. 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...'."[11]
In 2007, von Goisern started theLinz Europe Tour 2007–2009 which was a promotional tour forLinz asEuropean Capital of Culture 2009. The planning had already begun in 2005. Until 2009, he navigated several European rivers with a convoy of three ships, including a cargo ship converted to a floating stage, atowboat MSWallsee, and a houseboat. This included concerts with local musicians in numerous towns along the route. Performances were made at the 2007Donauinselfest in Vienna (featuringWilli Resetarits), The first part of the tour lead down the riverDanube to its delta at theBlack Sea. In 2008, a documentary DVD of this tour was released:Goisern goes East.[12]
In 2008, the second leg of the tour went upstream the Danube viaPassau andRegensburg, through theRhine–Main–Danube Canal, and downstream theRhine toRotterdam in the Netherlands. Simultaneously the albums'Nix [The Void] was released. The river tour ended with a three-day-long celebration in Linz, the ships' homeport. Participating musicians includedKlaus Doldinger, BAP,Haindling,Konstantin Wecker andXavier Naidoo.[12]
Von Goisern wrote a logbookStromlinien [Streamlines] about this tour. It was published in 2010.
From late 2010 to spring 2011, Hubert von Goisern toured pubs and inns in Austria and Germany. Live recordings and a documentary were broadcast by the Salzburg-based stationServus TV in August 2011. Soon after, the albumEntwederundoder [Either and or] was released that reached the top 20 charts in Austria and Germany.Hitradio Ö3 put the track "Brenna tuat's guat" [It burns well] on the playlist. The single reached position No. 1 in the Austrian within a few weeks, outperforming the previous success "Koa Hiatamadl". "Brenna tuat's guat" got a platinum certification in Austria in 2012 and was also a success in Germany where it was von Goisern's first single in the charts. The album was awarded three platinum certifications in Austria and gold in Germany.[13][14]
Hubert von Goisern is counted among the exponents of the so-called "Neue Volksmusik", lit. "New Folk Music". He is however more often associated with "Alpenrock" or "Alpine rock".[15][16][17][18] His music fuses modern rock and traditional Alpine music. His style is significant for stressing the sound of the harmonica which is then balanced by electric guitars.[19]
Other influences include traditional African music as recorded onGombe[20] as well as Braziliansamba and alsofunk. The latter genres have helped von Goisern develop from Alpine music towardsworld music.
The lyrics of Hubert von Goisern's songs are often political and critical of society.[17][21] An example are the references to far right politicianJörg Haider who hailed also from Goisern, and whose Freedom Party enjoyed high polls during the late 20th century and early 2000s.
| Year | Title | Type | Peak positions | Certifications | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUT | GER | SWI | ||||
| 1992 | Aufgeigen stått niederschiassen [Striking up instead of shooting down] | studio album | 1 | 47 | 25 | AUT: 1 × Gold, 6 × Platinum[13] |
| 1994 | Omunduntn [Up and down] | studio album | 1 | 25 | 18 | AUT: 1 × Platinum[13] GER: 1 × Gold[14] |
| 1995 | Wia die Zeit vergeht… [How time goes by] | live album (2 CDs) | 4 | 27 | 27 | AUT: 1 × Gold[13] |
| 2006 | Wia die Zeit vergeht… | live album (DVD) | — | — | — | GER: music video award[14] |
Studio albums
| Year | Title | Peak positions | Certifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUT | GER | |||
| 1998 | Inexil [In exile] | 15 | — | |
| 2000 | Fön [Foehn wind] | 4 | 33 | AUT: 1 × Gold[13] |
| 2002 | Iwasig [Above] | 5 | 52 | AUT: 1 × Gold[13] |
| 2008 | S'Nix [The Void] | 2 | 40 | |
| 2011 | EntwederUndOder [Either and or] | 2 | 13 | AUT: 3 × Platinum[13] GER: 1 × Gold[14] |
| 2015 | Federn | 2 | 6 | |
Live albums
| Year | Title | Peak positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUT | GER | ||
| 2005 | Ausland [Overseas] | 30 | — |
| 2005 | Haut und Haar (double album) [fig.: Neck and crop] | 24 | — |
| 2017 | Federn Live 2014–2016 | 40 | — |
Compilations
| Year | Title | Peak positions | Certifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUT | GER | |||
| 2000 | Eswaramoi 1992–1998 [Once upon a time 1992–1998] | 19 | — | AUT: 1 × Gold[13] |
| 2001 | Trad | 6 | 52 | |
| 2002 | Trad II | 10 | 73 | |
| 2006 | Derweil 1988–2006 [Meanwhile, 1988–2006] | 17 | 68 | AUT: 1 × Gold[13] |
Soundtracks
| Year | Title | Peak positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUT | GER | ||
| 1995 | Schlafes Bruder | 23 | — |
| 1996 | Ein Sack voller Lügen [A bag full of lies] | — | — |
| 1998 | Gombe | 14 | 74 |
DVD
Von Goisern has won multiple Amadeus Austrian Music Awards byIFPI Austria, and RUTH, the German World Music Prize. In 2004, he was granted anhonorary citizenship by his hometown Bad Goisern.
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Amadeus Austrian Music Award | National Rock/Pop Artist | Fön[7] | Won |
| 2002 | National Jazz/Blues/Folk Album of the Year | Trad[7] | Won | |
| 2003 | National Rock/Pop Artist | Iwasig[24] | Nominated | |
| 2005 | National Jazz/Blues/Folk Album of the Year | Trad II[25] | Nominated | |
| 2006 | National Jazz/Blues/Folk Album of the Year | Ausland[26] | Nominated | |
| 2011 | Deutsche RUTH (German World Music Prize) | Artists rooted in German traditional music | Mit Haut und Haar[27] | Won |
| 2012 | Amadeus Austrian Music Award | Album of the year | EntwederUndOder[28] | Won |
| National Rock/Pop Artist | Won | |||
| 2013 | Honorary award for genre-crossing, unifying music | Won | ||
| 2016 | Artist of the year | Federn | Won |
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