The world has changed a lot in the last twenty years, and so has Austrian music. In this series, we’re checking in with artists chosen over the past two decades to take part in NASOM – The New Austrian Sound of Music – an initiative of the Austrian Foreign Ministry (BMEIA) to foster the international careers of young Austria-based musicians and groups. This time, we’re especially excited to feature an act from the very beginnings of the NASOM project: Vienna musical legends Die Strottern.
They’re a little like those guys in school who were super-cool and popular but were also genuinely nice people, who you couldn’t help but like. Die Strottern (Viennese for “vagabond, rummager”) are largely responsible for the modern renaissance in Vienna’s homegrown folk music – Wienerlied. They released their first album of original material in 2003, and they’ve been exploring the fringes of Viennese music since then, helping to drag it (kicking and screaming) into the 21st century. They’re avid collaborators – a short list of people they’ve worked with includes the JazzWerkstatt Wien (hot tip: there’s a new album from that particular alliance on the way), Hannes Löschel, Ramsch & Rosen, Maja Osojnik, Lukas Kranzelbinder…and so on and so forth. At this point, they’re the elder statesmen – or at the very least, the cool uncles – of the Vienna music scene, but back in 2005, they were just getting started…
Die Strottern and NASOM
Where were you as a band when you applied to the NASOM program? Was it helpful to your development?
Die Strottern: I think we were part of the very first NASOM group, twenty years ago, so we were still pretty much at the beginning. Much like NASOM itself – it was only gradually that the project was integrated into the programs and connected with all the relevant institutions. Since then, it seems to have developed very nicely.
We see our musical existence as a long, slow river. Being part of NASOM brought us a number of great experiences and fed that river – artistically most of all, but surely also in terms of public visibility. We can’t pinpoint an immediate effect on our international presence beyond the two years, though. That’s partially due to the fact that our music is very connected to the German-speaking world, of course, but also because we didn’t (and still don’t) have an agency or management to help build an international network.
How were the two NASOM years for you? What concerts or locations were highlights of the period?
Die Strottern: We played in Berlin, New Delhi, Lesotho, Washington, D.C., and Ottawa. One particularly great thing was meeting the musicians in all the places we played. In Lesotho, we had a one-week workshop with the local music scene; in Washington and Ottawa, we booked local duos to play the concerts with us.
Die Strottern stay pretty busy – a small sampling of upcoming dates:
- April 16th: Deutsches Theater, Munich
- April 17th: Kulturschranne, Dachau
- May 6th: Bar jeder Vernunft, Berlin
- May 28th: Sommerarena, Baden (with Musikbanda Franui)
- June 13 – 15: Rooftop Festival, Sargfabrik, Vienna
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