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They awaken this Advent feeling, which is easier to sing about than to describe. The singers of the Schwaz folk choir keep ancient customs alive and bring the contemplative Christmas magic to the people.
It's not easy. It really is not. As the Advent season progresses, not only those who are sensitive in this respect reach their limit - the audio limit, should there be such a limit. It starts with the Pling-Pling-Pling, then the horse-drawn sleigh drives through the snow and luck must already be spoken of here, if it is Bing Crosby and not Donald Duck, who sounds "Jingle bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way". It is a kind of musical mallet, with which the people of our time are made aware that it will soon be Christmas.
It seems like the time of gingerbread starts in department stores already in mid-summer. The Christmas dramaturgy of consumption then takes place in precisely this fast rhythm and with the high notes of the merciless bells, so that with every day that Christmas approaches, the desire grows for precisely the peace and harmony for which the day for which everything is striving also stands. Sounds absurd. It is.
It has long since become boring to complain about the American fast-paced life of Advent, which is oriented towards buying. But it never gets boring to look for ways that awaken a Christmas feeling that has less to do with the redemption from the sound mania. It is rather a longing for slowness and other sounds. According to those who arise when walking in the crunching snow for example. Or wood crackling in the fireplace. Or songs that are used to knit a mantle of sound that is cosily warm and makes the heart beat a little slower. This is what the singers of the Schwaz folk song choir succeed in doing when they come out to "knock on the door" during the Christmas season and bring the real Advent atmosphere to the parlours. Whoever hears them knows that he has found the way to arouse the Christmas feeling.
UNESCO CULTURAL HERITAGE
"We bring the good news, the hope and the faith that Jesus will be born," says Joseph Kirchmair. He is the secretary of the Schwaz Folk Song Choir and not only knows about the beautiful history of the choir, which was founded in 1928, but also about the effect of the male voices when they draw on the rich treasure of folk songs and sing contemplative songs during Advent. When they enter the parlours at Christmas time, it is as if the clocks are turned back. Shepherds are there, dressed in loden with hat, stick and lantern. This too is part of the tradition they fill with life.
Knocking on" was included in UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage sites in 2011. The international organization (UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) thus honored a custom that only exists in the form of the Tyrolean Lower Inn Valley, where it represents exactly that: A heritage that cannot be touched but can be heard, which is usually passed down from generation to generation and arises from the everyday religious culture of the village communities. "The singers are invited to the house and sing some songs announcing the Christmas message of the birth of Jesus," explained Joch Weißbacher of the Oberauer Anklöpflern in his application to UNESCO, where he also noted: "In the Tyrolean Unterinntal and differs in its practice from the Salzburger Anglöckeln and the bells usual in South Tyrol".
