"Sing, Hansi!"

Austropop reflection of Hansi Lang in a community building

Producer Thomas Rabitsch and housing councillor Kathrin Gaál presented the posthumous Hansi Lang album where it was made.

(Bild: Jöchl Martin)

Hansi Lang would have been 70 years old now, and the local music scene with producer Thomas Rabitsch as mastermind is giving him one last album: with "Sing, Hansi!", the Austropop legend is celebrating his resurrection where it all began and where the recordings were found: in a municipal building.

Stiege 18, door 1, right on the ground floor of the municipal building between Hutweidengasse and Krottenbachstraße in Vienna-Döbling: this is where Hansi Lang grew up, where he spent his last years again, and where the home recordings were made that have now, 16 years after his death, become a new final album by the local musician and actor: "Sing, Hansi! - Songs from the community building".

A Billa sack full of home-burned CDs
The album posthumously shows a new side to Lang: he was working on a dialect album until the very end. After his death, these song sketches found their way to his long-time friend Thomas Rabitsch, an eminence grise of Austropop who was just as responsible for Lang's career as Falco and countless others. It was only during the coronavirus pandemic that Rabitsch found the time and the necessary emotional distance to listen to the songs more closely - and to find out how good they actually were.

The tenant who now lives in Lang's former apartment (2nd from right) received a copy of the album from Hansi Lang's brother Robert, his daughter LIsa, Gaál and Rabitsch.

(Bild: Jöchl Martin)

Hansi Lang's brother Robert brought back family memories: on the left Hansi Lang (with long hair) at Christmas in the council apartment, on the right the three brothers (Hansi far right) with their mother

(Bild: privat)

The three brothers Gerhard, Hansi and Robert fooling around in the council flat

(Bild: privat)

Lang's daughter gave him the material, mainly CDs she had burned herself, "in a Billa sack", as Rabitsch recalls to the "Krone" today. It turned out to be a stroke of luck that he did not devote himself to the songs until 2020: in the meantime, music software and studio technology had developed to such an extent that Lang's voice could be clearly distilled, the rest could be filled out with the crème de la crème of the local music scene and a real album could be made from it.

Star parade in red-white-red

The line-up of musicians on the album includes pretty much everyone who is anyone in the local scene: Lang's companions such as Harri Stojka, Heli Deinboek and Tini Kainrath can be found on it, as well as those who grew up with his music, such as Ernst Molden, Birgit Denk and Marco Wanda. They all played their part out of appreciation for Lang and waived any fee.

Beautiful and painful memories
Rabitsch and the musicians on the album put themselves entirely at Lang's service artistically. His main aim was to make Lang's music as audible as Hansi himself would have wanted to hear it, he says. After the sold-out performance of the album at the Rabenhof Theater on the birthday evening, the music will also be presented on 24 and 25 January and on 1 February. Housing Councillor Kathrin Gaál sees the album as an "unexpected and touching legacy" from Lang and that "municipal housing is so much more than a place where you can live affordably and securely".

The celebration in the Hansi Lang courtyard became a sentimental tribute to the artist's work and life. His brother Robert recalled their childhood days together, when the council house was still "their kingdom", later times when Hansi's new musician friends, from Falco downwards, were regular guests - and also the later years and the fight against drug addiction: "I often think to myself that I didn't help him enough - and then I get angry again at how much he hurt our mother." Former neighbors don't say anything about "their" Hansi: He was always nice, said hello to everyone, but was quite quiet. He probably had his problems - but he wasn't the only one in the council estate.