For all Palotica-readers who do not know Linz and who go past the city on their way to Vienna or Salzburg: Quite a mistake! Forget the image of a grey steel-producing town without any cultural attractions.
Moreover, according to town planners and tourist experts the capital of Upper Austria is a Cool City. The German weekly journal Der Spiegel wrote: “Above all in the western world the so-called ‘second cities’ grow much faster than the over-populated metropolises and culturally they are often by far more interesting: San Francisco instead of Los Angeles, Barcelona instead of Madrid, Hamburg instead of Berlin. … Such cities are cool, because they attract people who inspire and stimulate each other.”
Cool Cities provide ideal conditions for innovation in various fields: Arts, science and research, trade and industry, and all kinds of services. Apart from a remarkable standard of living: Housing, shopping, restaurants, schools and universities, and recreational facilities.
Which European cities are considered cool urban areas? There are quite many and the list is getting longer every year. Stockholm, Helsinki, Kopenhagen, Amsterdam, Bilbao, San Sebastián, A Coruna, Perugia, Florence, Dublin, Bristol, Tallinn, Vienna, Graz – and Linz.
Not without cause Linz was listed by the UNESCO in the Creative Cities Network – namely in the Category City of Media Arts. But this town has more to offer than the internationally renowned Ars Electronica Festival. On the banks of the Danube you will find the concert hall Brucknerhaus, the Lentos Museum (Modern Arts) and the Ars Electronica Center. Towering on a hill the Schlossmuseum with outstanding exhibitions. And not to forget the university (after all the scientist Johannes Kepler lived and worked in Linz)
Some years ago Hotel Palindrone had appeared on stage of the Brucknerhaus, a double-concert with the Neff Brothers from Ireland. For this year’s world-music festival Musik der Völker curator Edith Winkler figured out a combination spanning a longer geographic distance: Tran Quang Hai and Bach Yen from Vietnam, plus the Palotians.
Corresponding to the motto Virtuosi of Buzzing Tongues the performance focused strongly on the skills of Tran Quang Hai and Albin Paulus as masters of the jaw’s harp and of overtone singing. Albin had even been awarded the heroic title World Virtuoso of Khomus (jaw’s harp) and given an impressive medal in Siberian Jakutsk. On our first Russia tour we met the dignified conferrers of Albin’s medal and finally understood what proof of excellence this title is.
Fotos: Edith Winkler - Brucknerhaus Linz
In Jakutsk Albin had become acquainted with the Vietnamese grand master of overtone music, who actually lives in France and works at the Musée de L’Homme in Paris. He is regarded as one of the leading ethno-musicologists worldwide. Furthermore Hai and his Wife Bach Yen are great entertainers and musical pedagogues: Their charming and sophisticated stage-announcements equaled their outstanding musicianship.
At the end of the double-concert the Vietnamese duo and our band played a frenetically acclaimed encore. The concept was simple: “Let’s start in D and see what happens.” That was not the end of the evening. At the Arcotel Nike (the name certainly alluding to the godess and not to a sportswear company) next to Brucknerhaus we had dinner and lots of fun. And the Palotians got to know much more about the music from Far East.
P.S.: As a buzzing-tongue-virtuoso Albin also played the wobblephone – his own invention and construction. There is no better town than Linz to present such an example of technical innovation and classy design. Besides, it produces sounds somewhere between futuristic industrial noise music and archaic ancient tones.