2023-07-12 05:14:34
– «At the first festival no alcohol was sold at all»
Kathrin and Fredi Hallauer co-founded the Gurten Festival. A conversation about the Gurten spirit, Bob Dylan and today’s consumer society.
Published today at 7:14 am
Kathrin and Fredi Hallauer met in 1975 in the Mahogany Hall in Bern.
Foto: Raphael Moser
There are things in life that never change. For example, the Gurtenbahn closes the doors to the second according to the timetable and picks up speed. Or that Kathrin and Fredi Hallauer are on board when the big annual party takes place on top of Bern’s local mountain. The two only missed a single Gurten Festival. “That was in 2009, when we were on a journey,” says Fredi Hallauer.
For them, the Güsche is an affair of the heart. Fredi Hallauer is part of the six-person founding team that brought the Gurten Festival to life in 1977. His wife Kathrin Hallauer was the good conscience of the organization for many years, looked after the artists behind the scenes and ensured something like order in the chaotic first years of the festival.
This Wednesday, exactly one week before the 40th anniversary edition, the two take the train up the mountain again. The current organizers of the festival have invited the Wabern-Leist for a tour of the site. Kathrin and Fredi Hallauer are here as “special guests”. When you get off the train you can feel the difference in temperature – it is noticeably cooler than in the city.
A view of the audience from the main stage at the first Gurten Festival in 1977.
Photo: Hansueli Trachsel
Ms. and Mr. Hallauer, why did you choose the Gurten as a location back then?
Freddy Hallauer: The selection wasn’t very big. There was the Allmend, where concerts have recently been taking place. But this place is ghastly, just off the freeway. We knew it had to be a beautiful place. A place where everyone feels comfortable.
Kathrin Hallauer: At that time, the Gurtenwiese was the sacred lawn of the Bern city nursery. We needed a permit for the festival. In the beginning we only got permission from the city of Bern to use the lower part of the meadow, where the main stage and the backstage area are today.
Freddy Hallauer: In 1977 we assumed an event for 1000 people. Shortly before the festival started we realized that at least 3000 people had to buy a ticket so that we could make ends meet financially. Reynold Tschäppät, then Mayor of Bern, personally gave us permission to use the upper part of the meadow. When we wanted to build something, the supervisor from the city garden center jumped in and wanted to stop us. We then called Tschäppät again, and he said to the city garden center: “It’s okay, let them start up.”
After winning the first Gurten Festival, Mahogany Hall was renovated.
Photo: Hansueli Trachsel
The Gurten is part of the municipality of Köniz, but the land belongs to the city of Bern. The organizers had to obtain consent from both municipalities at the time. Even if the “Gurten hippies” were met with skepticism in the then bourgeois Könizer and Bernese establishment, no obstacles were ever put in their way. «In the second year, Urs Haudenschild (editor’s note: then mayor of Köniz) told us that he would give us the permit again. However, we should ensure that left-wing extremist organizations like the WWF are no longer allowed to set up stands,” says Fredi Hallauer.
Like many Swiss festivals, the Gurten Festival emerged from the folk movement. In 1977 there were still booths from political associations and campaigns all over the Güsche. Car-free Sundays, peace or a Switzerland without an army and without nuclear power plants were promoted. “The WWF people were the most harmless of all,” says Fredi Hallauer.
The Gurten pioneers were brimming with idealism. All worked on a voluntary basis. Fredi Hallauer always took a week off before the start of the festival. When you consider that he was responsible for set construction, lighting, sound, waste, transport, medical and security, that’s almost an outrageously little time.
During the festival, Kathrin Hallauer took care of the artists and helped with the coordination on the site. “We only had six walkie-talkies for that back then,” she says.
Such an organizational structure would be unthinkable for a festival of this magnitude today. On this Wednesday, seven days before the start of the festival, almost everything is set up. Final work on the scaffolding is still taking place on the main stage. Kathrin and Fredi Hallauer take a seat on a pallet right in front of the stage. Next to a stand with the oversized advertisement of a Lucerne beer producer.
Kathrin and Fredi Hallauer appreciate the peaceful atmosphere on the Gurten the most.
Foto: Raphael Moser
The festival used to be very political. Today, people come up here mainly to consume. Was it better then?
Freddy Hallauer: No, just different. If we were still holding concerts today, we would have to do a lot of things differently. Everything has become much more professional. What has remained, however, is the peaceful atmosphere, the Gurten spirit.
Kathrin Hallauer: I appreciate that the most too. Everyone who comes here wants to have a good time together.
Freddy Hallauer: Of course there are things that I like less. What I find unnecessary, for example, are the party tents on the festival grounds, which constantly fill you with sound.
Did you drink as much alcohol in the past as you do today?
Kathrin Hallauer: At the first festival no alcohol was sold at all!
I’m sorry, what?
Freddy Hallauer: Exactly, back then we only had a non-alcoholic beer from the Gurtenbrauerei on tap. The violinist of the Irish Bothy Band complained at the time that he was still not drunk despite 15 beers. (both laugh)
When was alcohol served?
Freddy Hallauer: Already in the second year. One of the reasons was that the hotelier at the Gurten Hotel suddenly started serving beer at the first festival. So we thought we’d rather sell the beer ourselves.
Music was played everywhere and practically at all times.
Photo: Hansueli Trachsel
When walking across the sacred Gurtenwiese, the Hallauers have an anecdote to tell about almost every place on the site. When Bobby Bähler drives by on his e-bike, they greet him warmly. Bähler has been directing the Gurten Festival since 2019. He knows what he has in his predecessors. The Hallauers are now something like guests of honor for life.
At the start of the festival, they want to come up the Gurten with their five- and seven-year-old grandchildren. Bähler promises a celebratory handover of the festival ribbons, where the grandchildren will be beaten to “Guarantee Knights”.
Fredi Hallauer has also worked as a journalist since 1999. The 72-year-old makes music programs for a radio station in New Zealand. The programs are now also available on Spotify under the name Swiss Music Show. Since retiring, he has devoted himself entirely to his passion. He goes to several concerts a week with his wife. He is particularly interested in young, up-and-coming bands from Switzerland.
In the first Gurten years, people stayed overnight on the festival grounds.
Photo: Hansueli Trachsel
I don’t even know most of the bands that are performing here this year. How are you doing?
Freddy Hallauer: People have been telling me that for years. And by the way, that was already the case at the very first festival in 1977. I always replied that that’s exactly the purpose of a festival: to discover new things. I also don’t know many bands this year. But I’m happy to get to know you.
Are artists generally accessible people?
Freddy Hallauer: Most do.
Kathrin Hallauer: Not all the same.
Freddy Hallauer: Sometimes they are under time stress. But I’ve had good experiences with most of them. Stephan Eicher, Stress and Philipp Fankhauser, for example, are all very approachable. They also enjoy talking to journalists.
Were there also headliners at the Gurten who didn’t let anyone get to them?
Kathrin Hallauer: I still remember Bob Dylan. He got up at the last second. Everyone then had to leave the backstage area. He didn’t want to see anyone, went on stage, wound up his program there and left immediately after the concert was over.
Freddy Hallauer: I remember him well too. (laughs) Only Jimy Hofer, the Broncos boss, was allowed to be in the back with him (Editor’s note: The Broncos are the security service on the Gurten). When he accompanied Bob Dylan onto the stage, he checked that no camera was aimed at him. Nobody would have recognized him anyway because he pulled a towel over his head.
The American superstar Bob Dylan performing at the Gurten Festival in 1993.
Photo: Keystone
The Hallauers are now sitting on the steps of the Supermercado, one of those party tents with constant sound reinforcement. The tents are now an integral part of the festival. The masses no longer just make the pilgrimage up the mountain to listen to a man and his guitar like they did with Bob Dylan.
But one thing has remained at the Güsche over the years: a place to come together. A long weekend in the year when old circles of friends who live across the country see each other again. From work colleagues to fellow students to school friends. The Gurten Festival has become part of Bern’s identity – also thanks to the Hallauers.
It’s just after 6 p.m. and the construction workers are just gathering up their things. The Hallauers talk about their festival plans for this year: Swiss Jazz Orchestra, Fräulein Luise, Rosalía, Hansruedi Egli – these are acts that you definitely don’t want to miss. Before they meet the people of the Wabern-Leist, the two want to walk across the Gurtenwiese up to the Waldbühne. The anticipation of the festival is almost palpable with them.
This year Kathrin and Fredi Hallauer will visit the Gurten with their grandchildren.
Foto: Raphael Moser
Quentin Schlapbach is an editor in the Bern department. He did a commercial apprenticeship and studied at the Swiss journalism school MAZ in Lucerne. More info@qscBZ
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