Willi Resetarits, the man who gave Dr.

Kurt Ostbahn was dead

Created: 04/24/2022Updated: 04/24/2022, 19:26

By: Michael Schleicher

Willi Resetarits (1948-2022): musician, philanthropist - and Dr.

Kurt Ostbahn.

© Luke Beck

Willi Resetarits, known as Dr.

Kurt Ostbahn became famous is dead. The Austrian singer and musician died in Vienna at the age of 73.

The doctor is no more.

And that is terribly sad news for all fans of Austro-Rock and friends of the Stubnblues, yes, for the worldwide following of the favorite 'n'blues Wiener Art absolutely embodied: the Dr.

Kurt Ostbahn” – as he liked to be introduced to at concerts by what is perhaps his best band, the Chefpartie – is dead. Willi Resetarits, who brought this Ostbahn kurti to life so much that it was sometimes difficult to distinguish between the artist and the fictional character died on Sunday, April 24, 2022, at the age of 73 in Vienna.

Bitter.

Willi Resetarits was born in Burgenland in 1948

Wilhelm Thomas Resetarits, as his real name was, was born in Burgenland in 1948, the family belonged to the Croatian minority.

It is possible that his sense of justice was already shaped at that time, his advocacy for the outsiders and the weak in a society: Resetarits was committed throughout his life, sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly.

However, he was unable to perform at the recent benefit concert for Ukraine in the Prater: Corona.

But he had long since recovered from it.

Resetarits quickly gave up his studies in Vienna at the end of the 1960s – it should be the music: he became one of the butterflies, Austria's wildest political folk: clear edge, ornate songs against the injustice of the world.

Willi Resetarits sang and composed.

In 1983, Resetarits met Günter Brödl, the father of Ostbahn-Kurti

In 1983 he met Günter Brödl - and the two were to change Austropop from then on: Because in 1979 Brödl, who always called "Trainer" like Resetarits the journalist, moderator and author (1955-2000), had written the play "Who Owns Rock'n' Roll?” published.

This is where the Ostbahn kurti performed.

A secondary character actually, but - never mind: the audience found the kurti canvas.

The "trainer" recognized the potential and gave it a life of its own: Brödl invented a biography, published a fictitious interview, placed classified ads ("Look for LPs by Ostbahn-Kurti"), had song lyrics reprinted in literary magazines and sprayed bridge pillars: "Kurt Ostbahn is alive !” Uh sure.

Because Resetarits became this Kurt Ostbahn – really.

Only in 2003 was he supposed to send him into retirement after the "trainer" died unexpectedly at the age of 45.

the singer didn't want to either.

In the interim.

Luckily.

ZZ Top and the Steve Miller Band in Viennese

In the almost 20 years together, the duo released umpteen records.

What is special – and a secret of success beyond Austria's borders: Brödl translated blues, rock'n'roll and country music hits from English into Viennese.

ZZ Top's "Sharped Dressed Man" became "Neiche Schoin", he made the soul number "I heard it through the Grapevine" into "Wo hamma denn den Foaschein", and "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band was called "Da Joker” with the lines that are as simple as they are true: “I am ka Gwinda/ Des siacht a Blinda/ I am in Gwinna/ And live from the singer/ A musician wia ma sogt”.

The Chefpartie was Ostbahn-Kurti's first band

In 1985, Resetarits released his first LP as a fictional character, Ostbahn Kurti & die Chefpartie.

And this lead role with sex counselor Karl Horak on bass, Leopold "Prinz" Karasek (guitar), Lilli "Zirkus" Marschall (guitar from 1989), Signore Mario Adretti (keyboard, accordion) and Mr. Graduate Engineer Eduard Jedelsky on percussion was Kurti's first Band - technically maybe not perfect, but on stage with enormous enthusiasm, a lot of wit and rousing energy.

The fact that some musicians' names were glorious rubbish was the concept - and was celebrated with great seriousness by the doctor at concerts.

"It was like that," he used to like to lecture: He invented the "Favoriten'n'Blues" with the father of the prince, i.e. with "King Karasek" - "and the Americans gave us the whole thing 30 Stolen years before.

An Austrian destiny.” With this mix of a lot of humor, rousing rock music and local dialect, Ostbahn-Kurti won a large, loyal fan base.

"I repeat: It's a pleasure to live," he exclaimed at the farewell concert - given the current news, it's a consolation to know that he meant it that way.

Resetarits 2021 was a guest vocalist on the EAV Christmas Album

After retiring from Kurti in 2003, Resetarits got involved in various projects.

For example, he was a singer in the studio for Thomas Spitzer from Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung to work on the EAV album “Your Sinners Come”, which was finally released at the end of 2021 after 42 years.

But the Stubnblues was particularly close to his heart: a finely tuned, reservedly interpreted mixture of Austrian and Croatian folk songs, blues and poems set to music, for example by HC Artmann.

Here the artist, who liked to let it rip, showed that he also mastered the quiet tones.

Death in general is "a gross mistake," diagnosed Dr.

Kurt Ostbahn once.

And who would disagree with this doctor?