2009

December 12, 2009 | raum35

For the fourth edition of shut up and listen! the motto Land der Berge (which comes from the Austrian national anthem: Land of Mountains) refers not only to all that is typically Austrian – whatever that means – but also to the various artistic works shaped by alpine experiences.

Daniel Ender’s short lecture takes a detailed look at the history of the Austrian national anthem. The Tyrolean musicians Barbara Romen on dulcimer and Gunter Schneider on (contra)guitar give audiences a taste of the alpine music of the future. Together with the accordionist Franz Haselsteiner, the multi-instrumentalist Hans Tschiritsch incorporates the tradition of overtone singing into the diverse sounds of his self-made instruments. Through an open call for contributions, the festival adds two more compositions to its programme. With his work eine hummel als warnung vor dem sturm, an extended field recording of a mountain pasture at the foot of the Totes Gebirge, Jörg Piringer calls into question the “permanent availability of goods and services in Central Europe”. In their sound projection Brechfest, a mélange of Austrian identity and political satire, Miriam Mone & Kurt Petin present a swan song to national pride. A video documentation gives at least some insight into Georg Nussbaumer’s impressive sound installation Die schönsten Gipfel der Alpen. Expanding our horizon past the Austrian border, Lionel Marchetti’s Portrait d’un glacier (Alpes, 2173m) offers the listening experience of hiking across a glacier in the French Alps, while Aaron & Bronwyn Ximm record an acoustic portrait of their honeymoon as they hike the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal.