Our music blog features music from around the world, traditional music, modern music, singer and
instrumental, as well as some interesting facts about the different musicians, countries and cultures.
Mountain Man (Echo 2015 Live Show)
By Sabina Wrightsman
Andreas Gabalier is a very well known Austrian folk singer who received several music awards. In 2012, he won the ECHO (an association of German recording companies organized to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry) award in the folk music category, the Amadeus Austrian Music Award, also in 2012, as Best Live Act and best ‘Schlager’ (pop song) singer and in 2013, again the Amadeus award in Folk music category.
With Father’s Day approaching, Bernd Melichar, editor of the Kleine Zeitung, interviewed Andreas recently about his father. Andreas grew up with three other siblings in a happy, healthy and socially active household. Money was sparse, but there was always enough to go around. It came as a total surprise when his father committed suicide; Andreas was barely 22 years old. His sister followed the same path two years later, as she could not come to terms with her grief.
Andreas describes his father as a happy man. He never scolded the kids when they did something wrong, but they had to iron out their problems by themselves. The entire neighborhood liked him and many dropped by unannounced. His home was always open to everybody and he was a generous host. The Gabaliers were a typical middle-class family.
When asked if he is judging his father, he responded: “I am not judging my father, but I am judging his act of suicide. How can you leave a wife and four kids behind without any explanation? He never seemed depressed; he seemed happy. My sister was a daddy’s girl; she could not handle him leaving her. If it had not been for this death, I don’t think she would have killed herself. We were all devastated. I concentrated on music and wrote the song ‘Amoi sehn wir uns wieder’ (we will see each other again) for my little sister. My music clearly helped me cope with this tragedy.”
When asked what he would say to his father now, if he could, he responded: “I miss you all the time, but especially at Christmas when everybody is together or at one of my concerts at home. You were always proud of your kids, you would still be proud of your kids now. Why? What was so bad?”
The entire interview is in German and can be read online: