On March 9 and 12, 2016, Austrian musician Hubert von Goisern rocked both the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York and the Austrian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
When a hearty Schuhplattler gets tarted up with rocking electric guitar, you immediately think of Hubert von Goisern. With squeezebox, cheeky dialect singing and sometimes biting lyrics Goisern frees folk music from dull beer tent bliss, as he plays with thoughts of suicide in "Ganz Alloan", lets out a hearty yodel in "Brenna tuats guat", or denounces the political oppression of the truth in "Snowdown".
Bob Bernstein takes care of the country flair on the pedal steel, while as a farewell multi-instrumentalist Goisern brings an alpenhorn on stage and conjures up a mountain atmosphere (Hamburger Morgenpost). After travelling Africa, Tibet or the Philippines, Hubert von Goisern went to the USA where he lived in Louisiana and New Orleans and discovered jazz, blues and Cajun for himself. Out of this experience he developed his newest album "Federn", where he brings blues and cajun together with alpine folk music.
See a short biography on HvG’s life and work:
Listen to Hubert von Goisern on WNYC Radio
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Hubert von Goisern started his success in 1992 with his "Alpinkatzen" - band. In 1994, a tour to Austin, Texas and New York brought him to live audience in the US for the first time.
The following years were years of musical experiments for HvG. He directed a film about famous scientist Jane Goodall and dived deeply into African folk music. One year later, he recorded an album with Tibetian singers and musicians.
Over the years, Hubert von Goisern played approx. 1.000 concerts on almost every continent in 24 countries. He travelled to Africa for many times, he played in front of 15.000 people when joining the Egyptian singer Mohamed Mounir on stage in Assiut / Egypt in the mid-2000s.
His probably biggest project: the Linz Europe tour 2007-2009. For two years, Hubert von Goisern travelled Europe's rivers with a ship convoy. He was host to some of the most famous European artists (i.e. Zap Mama; Xavier Naidoo; BAP; Klaus Doldinger; Rambo Amadeus and many more), inviting them to play on the ship's stage. In 13 countries, more than 200 000 saw Hubert von Goisern, his band and guests live on stage. The Linz Tour was the best proof that music can make it happen - connecting cultures via the universal language of sound.
After the project was finished, Hubert soon re-invented himself once again. After playing his most successful tour ever with an audience of more than 300 000, and after reaching platinum status (total: 10x gold/6 x platinum) with the sales of his latest CD, he startet exploring the U.S. once again. Feeling a connection between Austrian and American folk music, Hubert travelled to Nashville to find out the similarities - and the differences. The result? His CD "Federn" and more than 75 live concerts playing an America-inspired live show. The most intriguing thing? It just fits. Hubert von Goisern has the gift of making music work.