Liechtenstein & Austria

 When I set out this blog, I said I'd stop in every country, so I better give Liechtenstein a mention (although I draw the line at Vatican City!).  I have on a number occasions accidentally visited Liechtenstein, usually when trying to avoid a traffic jam in one of the tunnels in Switzerland and suddenly realising that the number plates on the cars looked different.  On one occasion I ended up in a traffic jam in rush hour Vaduz instead, so had a bit of time to look at the place as well.

The majority of the population are either bankers and/or play in the international football team plus their respective partners.  There are a few alpine skiers as well, so it doesn't leave many people making music.  There is one guy called Al Walser who has become a bit of a pop star in Los Angeles and there is gothic metal band Erben der Schöpfung, and that is about it to my knowledge.  In time honoured fashion of rock bands, they have had numerous infights and split with one of the founders retaining the rights to the original band name, whilst the rest carried on under the name Elis, after the title their first single.  Here is said song:

So much for Liechtenstein and before you know it you have crossed another border and end up in Austria.  

Now my memories of Austria are altogether more positive than those of Switzerland: delicious cakes in Vienna, racy white wines in ancient cellars in the Wachau region around Krems and unctuous desert wines on the Lake Neusiedl in the east.  But for music?  Here is an abridged history of music in Austria:

• 18th-19th century: Vienna is the centre of the musical universe with classical composers from everywhere drawn to the city with it's most famous son Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the centre.
• Intervening period until 1980's: Some yodelling
• 1986: Falco sings Amadeus
• 2014: Conchita Wurst, the lady with the beard, wins the Eurovison Song Contest

So in other words, Austria is not exactly famous for music in the modern era, not sure why this is.  We begin our journey in the west of the country in Hall in Tirol, where composer and jazz musician Werner Pirchner was born (1940-2001).  He seemed to have had a wicked sense of humour.  The following is a short extract from a film called Der Untergang des Alpenlandes (The fall of the Alpine country), for which he composed the music.  In the intro they bemoan the fact that traditional dance hasn't changed for hundreds of years and propose a new form of dance...

About 10 years ago, when we lived in Italy, we were joined on our land by a young volunteer from Klagenfurt in Austria called Steph.  She told us of her dreams of travelling the world and becoming a musician.  She had already represented Austria in the junior Eurovision Song Contest, a fact she was slightly embarrassed about.  Now 10 years and many travels later she has just released her first album under her artist name She Got Salty Bones called Ocean Shores.  Here is a short album preview.  You can buy it directly from her website if you feel like supporting a young artist.

Hubert Achleitner is so proud of his home town of Bad Goisern that he renamed himself Hubert von Goisern.  The singer/songwriter certainly has been around, from South Africa, Canada and the Philippines to Tanzania and Tibet.  He is friends with primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall and the Dalai Lama. All this has influenced his music style which he incorporates into the traditions of his native Austria.  His genre is often described as Neue Volksmusik (New Folk), but more often as Alpenrock (Alpine Rock), which probably better describes it.  From the mid-80's to the mid-90's he was accompanied by his band Die Alpinkatzen.  This track, Da Juchitzer, which can be found on his album Eswaramoi 1992-1998, features some wild yodelling over some rock rhythms:

The duo Attwenger were formed in 1990 in the city of Linz, consisting of drummer Markus Binder and button accordion player Hans-Peter Falkner.  They combine the traditional folk music of the Upper Austrian region with hip-hop, singing in their local dialect.  During the early days they literally took traditional Austrian songs and put a punk spin on it, but as they evolved over the years, they began writing their own material, mixing in electronic elements, rap and dub.  Here's a song from their 2011 album Flux called hintn umi (round the back):

Composer and electronic music pioneer Hubert Bognermayr (1948-1999) was born in Linz.  He was one of the founder of the Ars Electronica festival in 1979 and founding member of Austrian rock band Eela Craig and founder of the Blue Chip Orchestra.  He is even credited with influencing Mike Oldfield.  With the Blue Chip Orchestra he created a New Age electronic sound inspired by Native American music, which is sensitively interwoven into the music.  Here is the opening track to the 2000 re-issue album Enigmania (not sure if it is still available) called Ate Heve Lo!

I'll leave it at that for today and will give the capital Vienna a separate post.  In the meantime, as usual, you follow my virtual trip in my Tripline map.