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Written in Folk Roots issue 174, 1997

WIENER TSCHUSCHENKAPELLE
Wie Schön Österreich Ist
Extraplatte EX 305-2 (1997)

Once in a while an album arrives for review that causes a person to see a place in a whole different light. In this case, it’s Austria, and in particular Vienna. As in many parts of Europe, from what’s played on the radio it’s usually hard to tell even which country you’re in. And yet Vienna has for a centuries been a cultural meeting-point between east and west and used to be the swinging musical city; popular hits of the day in Vienna would sweep Europe and are now filed under “classical”.
      This album (and probably the band’s previous three too, but this is my first encounter with Wiener Tschuschenkapelle) is full of the music that the radio would be playing if it reflected what’s actually there under the surface - Turkish, Balkan, Greek, Hungarian, Gypsy, Romanian, Slovakian, Kurdish, Croatian, and yes, Austrian music, including a song by “probably the most famous Austrian abroad”, Mozart.
      The band is a six-piece which judging by the names draws, like the music, on a wide mix of family origins (and so do the children on the cover, which is at first glance garishly unpromising, but once opened is clearly contrived thus). Vocals are variously by Slavko Ninic, Adula Ibn Quadr or guest singers, and instrumentation includes guitar, saz, ud, bouzouki, mandolin, double bass and percussion. This is isn’t pastiche eclecticism, but chunks of the real thing, played with style and a warmth of understanding.
      In a short sleeve note that puts it all into context, Ninic says “If you want to experience a “live” performance of this great variety, all you need to do is spend a Saturday night wandering through the Viennese “Musikbeisln”, the pubs and Heurigen offering live music”. He goes on to say “Most people living in Austria are open-hearted, liberal-minded and multiculturally interested. May this CD bring joy to them all. (May it annoy the xenophobic and racist minority)”.


© 1997 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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