Let's play music

Moritz Jaeger, one of two violinists in the Gimpelinsel Saitenmusi, sits relaxed on the terrace of his parents' house and points to the summit of the 1,837-metre Loser: "I was already up there this morning". His ancestors in the Middle Ages had also been drawn to this peak,but they did so to hear the noise of battle from the Enns Valley. That's where this mountain got its name, because "losen" means "to listen" in the Ausseer Land.

The people of Aussee have always loved to listen to the sounds of the musicians, who sprout here in a density like hardly any other region. "I believe that music is part of the soul of the people here," says Moritz. Also to his and his colleagues Fabian Egglmeier (violin), Simon Amon (double bass), Johannes Rastl (guitar) and Bernd Fettinger (Styrian harmonica). Six years ago they met at "Jo" Rastl's parents' house for their first rehearsal, and because it is located on the Gimpelinsel, where the Traun divides for a short stretch near Bad Aussee, the name for the music group was quickly found.

Just as the Traun divides in front of the Gimpelinsel, only to flow on again as one river, the path of the five boys to each other was not a direct one. Moritz Jaeger originally devoted himself to classical music, a few of his colleagues went wild with hard rock before they found their roots, the genuine Ausseer folk music.

"I am fascinated by the fact that we have songs that everyone - from little boys to old women - knows," enthuses Simon Amon, double bass player and main singer.

The young men are also attracted to these songs because they give deep insights into the living conditions of earlier generations, opening a kind of time window, so to speak. "Certain pieces bring up a lot of emotions in me, when you imagine what the situation was like for the people back then, for the alpine dairymaids or the lumberjacks," reveals violinist Fabian Eggl meier. His colleague Simon adds: "Singing a little or going to dances was fun - but that was it, because life otherwise consisted mainly of hard work."The repertoire of the Gimpel insler is not limited to folk music; the musical wanderlust of the individual members is too pronounced for that: "We sometimes arrange our programme as a round trip, starting in Ausseer Land and returning via Russia and the USA, for example.

This diversity comes not only from the musicians, but also from the audience, which always asks for one or another well-known title from musical genres other than traditional folk music.

This is no problem for the boys, because they like a lot of it themselves. But they never cross the border from folk music to so-called folk music - and they also tell the audience this, usually as charmingly as Simon Amon puts it with a wink: "We can only play what we can do well anyway. And what we don't want to be able to do, we just don't learn.

There is no shortage of opportunities to perform, because in the Ausseer Land is music in all walks of life all year round. From carnival to Christmas, at church festivals, weddings and funerals, music is in the air here. In the beginning, making music together was a pleasant way for the group to get together and earn a little extra money as students, but since everyone has a job and some already have a family, the motive has changed a little:"It seems to me that it is important to all of us not only to carry on the music, but also the culture of Ausseer Land, from the garb to a certain attitude to life," Moritz believes.
For all their love of concert performances on various stages, this attitude to life also includes social gatherings at musicians' regulars' tables. Fabian calls it "our natural habitat", and that consists of two things: making music and listening.

TEXT: Wolfgang Maria Gran PHOTOS: Raphael Gabauer

Text & photos were published in Servus Salzkammergut Magazin 2021.