Some of my relatives live in Wellington, so I went to New Zealand on my Dream Awake Tour. Uncle Freddy has lived here for sixty-five years. I live here in his house and would like to take this opportunity to thank him for the hospitality and Aunt Gerda for the good food. During my visits, I am always warmly welcome. I also would like to thank Diana and Oskar for the nice party on the weekend.
Uncle Freddys first wife Pauline was Maori (natives of New Zealand) and sadly passed away more than thirty years ago. So he also speaks the Maori language and respects and lives the Maori traditions. After the death of Pauline, he married Gerda in 1989. She is also Austrian, originally from Burgenland, but the two met here in New Zealand. He has two children from his first marriage, Oskar and Tanja, who are also married.
Two worlds collide…
Soon after my arrival uncle Freddy and I had some disagreements in our discussions. Our two world views were partly similar, but the subject „music and street“ was a bit sensitive. There are two worlds colliding because he considers my „Dream Awake Project“ as a musician around the world to be nonsense.
Of course you have to remember that he had a very hard childhood because he grew up more or less in World War II. At that time, there were apparently no musicians who could afford to sing songs on the street, but the only songs that were sung at that time, were at most the war songs of the so called Hitler Youth. He questioned me why I would sing in English and not in German. I said: „If you had not lost the war back in the days then I would most likely sing in German today. However, I have not written the story and it is not my fault that Austria has been heavily influenced by England and the USA (e.g., Marshall Plan, film and music industry, etc.) after loosing the war. „ Maybe my answer was a bit too exaggerated and I did not want to make a judgmental political statement on my spontaneous answer (certainly not… about winning the war with Hitler). I am a convinced pacifist and I want to confirm that here.
With our former rock band „Fur Balloon“ we wrote a song about the war generation. It is called „Stalingrad Cowboys“ (it was sung in English / the text was written by my brother Manuel at that time / Stalingrad Cowboys by Fur Balloon on Youtube).
Work, work, work?
During our talks uncle Freddy told me, in addition to his hard wartime past, to work as much as possible to buy a land, and then build my own house. That’s what he did that time when he went to New Zealand. So he came to a possession and ascended to a New Zealand „Landlord“. According to his story, after only 18 months of hard work, he was able to buy a plot of land with a house.
If that were possible today, it would be nice, but times have changed. In my opinion, in Europe today (or probably anywhere in the world), the relationship between income and cost of living is no longer consistent. Quite apart from the relation to the land and housing prices. Also, I do not want to take on any debts so I can pay off a golden (or rather copper) cage for life and then be completely dependent on the bank and employer. I would not feel free to think about locking myself up in four walls and, on top of that, having to pay off debts (including interest) for many years to come. Maybe give up the music because the neighbor is upset because you play too loud. Others like to do that and I also give them their possessions with apartment and balcony (or house with garden). However, my freedom is very important to me and therefore I would like to make my short life as I imagine.
My Dream Awake Statement
It was my dream as a child to play the guitar and make music. I’ve been listening to and kind of misleaded by my social environment for many years, but now I’m on my „Dream Awake Tour“ and living my personal dream. And I am very happy that I took that step in that direction. Although this dream is often associated with certain hardships, but also dreams are not always exclusively pleasant and beautiful. But when I play the guitar, I always feel very good and on this journey, coupled with my album release „Dream Awake“, I feel I’m on the right path.
But now topic change and: New Zealand! I’m not here to teach you my philosophy of life.
Uncle Freddy teaches: New Zealand
The flags of New Zealand and Australia look very similar. Uncle Freddy explained the difference to me. He meant that both flags of course have the „Union Jack“ (the flag of Great Britain). There are stars on both flags. Both star pictures are the „Southern Cross“. The Southern Cross, however, is not one of the 48 classic constellations of antiquity, but was helpful for the navigators to determine the South Pole. The difference is that the Australian flag has two extra stars, the larger star is the Commonwealth Star. And the smaller star actually belongs to the constellation „Southern Cross“, which the New Zealanders simply do not have.
Uncle Freddy gave me a book „Kiwis and Volcanoes“. It is a book about an Austrian New Zealand researcher named Andreas Reischek. He first traveled to New Zealand in 1877, where he first lived in Christchurch and did his research as well. Interestingly, I read that he grew up in the gardener’s house at Schloss Weinberg and attended the primary school in Kefermarkt. This is the birthplace of my grandfather and also the home of my great-grandparents. It could therefore be that my great-grandparents or my ancestors knew the New Zealand researcher Andreas Reischek. I assume. Because Kefermarkt is still a small village in the Mühlviertel and people know each other there.
The researcher from my home
Reischek actually learned bakers and had no higher education enjoyed. However, took over various professions and various life stations in 1877 as a pet grower a two-year employment at the Canterbury Museum Christchurch. The boat trip from Trieste to New Zealand took more than two months. The Mühlviertler Andreas Reischek did not stay two years, but eventually remained twelve years in New Zealand and dealt intensively with the culture of the Marori, made several expeditions and made natural history observations. Andreas Reischek had already recognized at that time that the autochthonous bird world is seriously endangered by introduced rats. Reischek’s work was respected as a natural scientist by scientists by choosing him as a member of the famous Linnean Society in London. Likewise Reischek was honored by Maori king „Tawhiao“ with the title „Ihaka row Te Kiwi Rangatira Autiria“ (translated: the Schnepfenstrauß, prince of Austria), including the award of tail feathers of the Huia bird.
If anyone wants to know more about him: I learned this from the book: Kiwis and volcanoes, the 150th birthday of the New Zealand researcher Andreas Reischek; Publisher C. & E. Grosser, Linz.
What I’m (also) here for – music!
Besides the many interesting conversations with Uncle Freddy and the nice time with my relatives, I also made music. Mainly I played on the „Cuba street“, however, I usually got to know people and then played jam sessions or held talks. For example Ally Dubetz a girl from Canada, who like me is traveling the world with her guitar to play her music in the streets. I feature a part of her song „End of the Road“ in my VLog No. 8. (You can also find a live-version of it on youtube: Ally Dubetz – end of the road.) She told me that her passport was broken in a heavy rain and so she had to visit the the Canadian Embassy in Wellington. And now she had to spend time in Wellington until she gets her new passport. Hopefully everything will be fine and I wish her a nice journey and all the best for her musical future!
Another day I met Kai from Germany. He was only twenty-one years old and he said that he has been living in Australia and New Zealand for nearly three years and that he is a „Hare Krishna monk“. He was a very remarkable person and told me that he just did not go home on his trip. He is currently living in Hare Krishna Ashram in Wellington and so invited me to participate in a spiritual event, as well as playing with the „Hare Krishna musicians“. Of course it was clear that I like being there and it was a new experience for me. At this point I would like to thank him again for the nice invitation and wish him all the best on his spiritual path!
Now I move on to the pacific islands of Samoa, Fiji and Hawaii. I’m really look forward to rock the South Sea!