It always gives you goosebumps when the Austrian national football team, together with the thousands of fans in the stadium after a successful match, starts singing the country’s unofficial anthem and everyone sings in unison: “I am from Austriaaa”. Rainhard Fendrich’s Austropop classic from 1989 is currently on everyone’s lips thanks to the European Championship euphoria – “I am from Austria” can even be found in the charts again.
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The singer himself is delighted that his hit has such great significance for football fans: “It is an incredible honour for me. The fans are also very important for our team and we really have a great team at the moment,” said Fendrich on “Ö3-Wecker”. The 69-year-old can also be seen in a motivational video that is played on the video screens in the stadiums before the games.
- See here: Rainhard Fendrich with a message of greeting to the Austrian national team
5 interesting facts about “I am from Austria”
1. The history of its creation: Fendrich wrote the song in 1988/89, shortly after the Waldheim affair. Background: Despite his Nazi involvement, Kurt Waldheim became Federal President of Austria in 1986. Many Austrians were ashamed of this and denied their own identity, the Austropop star remembers: “I had a holiday home in the USA at the time. My neighbors there, also Austrians, suddenly said they were German,” said Fendrich in an interview with the “Kurier” in 2016. A feeling of homesickness also resonated when writing.
2. The video: The music video for “I am from Austria” was shot on the summit of the Grossglockner in 1990. With his guitar on his back, the then 35-year-old singer climbed Austria’s highest mountain.
- A report from the shooting of the music video from the show “Salzburg heute” See here.
3. No number 1 hit: Almost every Austrian can at least hum the chorus of “I am from Austria”, but surprisingly it wasn’t enough to make it a chart hit in the 1990s. The song reached number six in the Austrian singles charts and was in the charts for 20 weeks. “The song was criticized as being nationalistic and was hardly played on the radio at first. But it was never meant to be nationalistic,” remembers Fendrich.
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Image: Johannes Ehn (Johannes Ehn)
Source: Nachrichten
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
