“Grüezi wohl, Frau Stirnimaa!” creator Mario Feurer has died
Published: Thursday, Oct 17th 2024, 15:30
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With "Grüezi wohl Frau Stirnimaa!", Mario Feurer created a dialect hit that has become popular far beyond Switzerland's borders. The Zurich musician died on Tuesday at the age of 82.
He died "surrounded by his family" after a short stay in hospital, his sister-in-law Brigitte Zaugg told the Keystone-SDA news agency. The Tamedia newspapers had previously reported.
It was almost exactly 55 years ago that three traveling musicians in minstrel costumes made a television appearance at the Olma St. Gallen. The troupe, consisting of Mario Feurer, Pepe Solbach and Daniel Fehr, called themselves the Minstrels and were dedicated to folk, blues and Swiss dialect.
On that memorable television appearance, they performed "Grüezi wohl, Frau Stirnimaa!". Just two days later, the song reached number two in the Swiss charts. That was the initial spark for one of the biggest successes of a Swiss dialect song ever.
Niederdörfli original
Feurer was the violinist for the Minstrels. He grew up in Zurich. He remained connected to the Niederdörfli district there until the end. He had violin lessons from the age of seven until he was eleven. During his time at grammar school, the violin took a back seat.
He considered pursuing an academic career. But at the age of 16, he turned back to the violin, taught himself further and a few years later decided to pursue a career as a professional musician.
After a detour abroad, Feurer returned to Switzerland. In 1968, he and the two guitarists Pepe Solbach and Daniel Fehr founded the Minstrels, who initially performed on the street and in pubs and gave their first concert in Zurich's Hechtplatz Theater in the same year.
At the end of 1970, the three musicians bought a 16-room house in Trogen, Ausserrhoden, and converted the basement into a recording studio. In 1971, the Minstrels released their debut album "Chrüsimüsi". From then on, they gave numerous concerts and appeared in television and cinema films. Their appearance in a pub in the film "Was ist bloss mit Willi los?" with Heinz Erhardt in one of the leading roles is noteworthy. His landlady (Helen Vita) is the sung-about Mrs. Stirnimaa.
Ten weeks at number one
Another hit was "Hopp de Bäse!", which stayed in the Swiss charts for four weeks - but was nowhere near as successful as "Grüezi wohl, Frau Stirnimaa!". This song occupied first place for ten weeks and remained in the top ten of the Swiss charts for an uninterrupted total of 17 weeks. The song also met with a great response in Germany (third place) and Austria (fifth place). "Frau Stinimaa" sold 1.5 million copies in 27 countries. Countless cover versions were created.
The creator of the song, which probably goes back to the Central Swiss song "Schäfli-Schottisch", was Mario Feurer. His "Frau Stinimaa" survived the Minstrels, who had already disbanded in 1974 - and now Mario Feurer himself. Because even after 55 years, many people can still sing along to the tune: "Yes, hello Mrs. Stinimaa / say, how are you doing / how are you doing?"
©Keystone/SDA
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