Löschzugchörli Interlaken

30 years Löschzugchörli Interlaken, a portrait to the jubilée in 1998

SINGING - OUT OF LOVE - FOR THE FIRE DEPARTEMENT !

What is the Löschzugchörli ? It is a chorus made up from present and past firefighters from the Interlaken, Switzerland, Fire Departement. The word "Löschzug" is a Swiss-German an German therm that literally means "extinguishing train".
The actual meaning of "Löschzug" is the standart respnse for a fire. In Switzerland (and in Germany) a Löschzug consists of two engines and one ladder truck, along with a senior officer; sometimes there is an additional specialized apparatus for a particular area or hazard.

In smaller communities it might consists of one engine and one ladder or squad, or one engine and a squad. A normal first response usually is one Löschzug, but a significant target hazard or the area's principal business district might have a first response of two Löschzugs. Additional response above the first alarm is usually sent as one or more Löschzugs. The "Löschzug" closely relates to the "task force" concept in North America. The singers in Interlaken's fire fighters chorus, the "Löschzugchörli" (or the "Chörli" as it is affectionately called by its members an friends), are current or former members of the Interlaken Fire Departement's fire emergency first response group, Löschzug 1. During fire fighting and rescue operations, which sometimes these are difficult operations, they became close friends. As all fire fighters will unterstand, the trusting of and dependence on each ther develops close bonds and forges a strong team. Without this team energy and the staunch comradeship that binds the team and on which each individual can depend to the extreme, the operations can become more difficult and dangerous tasks.
Therfore, it is not surprising that the Löschzugchörli sings of events surrounding the fire service in several of it songs. This it is, of course, (how could it be otherwise?) that conviviality and that very staunch comradeship are clearly expressed.

A CLOSE-KNIT TEAM

Once the fire departement's mission is accomplished, wether an actual emergency or a training exercise, the team usually goes to a village pub for refreshement. The Hotel Bären (bear's pub) has been the favourite pub of fire fighters for years and many pleasant hours have been spent at the "stammtish" (the regulars table). And because beer, like the fire departement, has a lot to do with "quenching" it has become a sort of elixir of life for the fire fighters. The fire figthers get together at the Hotel Bären not only after fire or training duty but also every week, early on saturday evenings, when everthing under the sun - including the fire departement -is discussed.

THE FIGHT AGAINST "LA...LA...LA..."

Because the lyrics of songs being sung at the table were beginning to get substituted after the frist verse, usually by "la..la..la.." some of the better singers, among the fire fighters created a special song book. For a long time, when wearing the uniform, it was a matter of honor to carry this little song book around together with the fire departements regulations and hydrant listings. The more often a song was sung, the less often "la..la..la.." was heard.
It was the piece, "Songs without words", the vocal interpretation of military marching music compositions (baah, baah ba ba bah bah), that in 1977 made the Löschzugchörli a popular subject among the general public.

THE CHÖRLI'S BEGINNING FROM OUR OWN EVENING OF ENTERTAINMENT

The fire fighters "Evening of entertainment" is an event that the Löschzug 1 Association holds every two years. The fire fighters produce a "home made" stage program each time. The performance, which lasts a whole evening, ranges from acrobatic gymnastics, through theatrical and cabaret interludes, to musical and vocal pieces. Songs of the sea have been presented, as have portions form a well-known Italian opera. It was for this very occasion that the singing fire fighters rehearsed their repertoire for the first time. The success of that evening in March 1970 encouraged the fire fighters, to continue singing. The Löschzugchörli was as good as born, although nobody realized it at the time.

FIRST OFFICIAL APPEARANCE

A few weeks later, the singing fire fighters were on the stage once more. Members of the Oberland Fishing Club, remembering the performance at the "Evening of Entertainment", engaged them for an event at their own club. This engagement represented their first official appearance. The singing fire fighters, now the Löschzugchörli and wearing old-fashioned uniforms, were again well received.
The engagements became more frequent. To be able to do justice on stage (which means the world) even a for fun chorus has to rehearse rigorously. For an important event, such as the "Evening of Entertainment", the Löschzugchörli rehearses every two weeks. For the NFPA Centennial, the Chörli rehearsed every week from late 1995 until just before departure for the United States. There is a break of rehearsals during the summer but camaraderie nevertheless endures, usually accompainied by singing.
The Chöri has appeared officially at least three hundred times since 1970. The musical fire fighters have sung at programs and events from family birthday parties and weddings to public festivals. They have been involved in clebrity events, such as a tremendous company anniversary in Bad Rappenau, Germany, appearing alongside established stars. In contrast, there have been many diverse occasions; for example, the concerts given in aid of cerebral palsy in nearby Thun.

FROM ZURICH TO MOSCOW

The first television appearance was undisputedly a high spot in the history of the Löschzugchörli. On april 21th 1979, the Löschzugchörli enjoyed a TV premiere on Swiss television's popular entertainment show "Zum doppelten Engel" (Twin angel).
Since then, the Chörli from the spectacular mountainous Berner Oberland Region has taken part in several successful TV productions. Taking part in the Folk Music Grand Prix 1988 and 1991 was a very special occasion. Both times, the Chörli managed to reach the German-speaking finals. Together with four other groups specializing in musical interpretations, the Löschzugchörli, as "Swiss National Folk Hit Team", traveled to Zurich and to the Innsbruck Olympia Stadium (Austria) for live TV broadcasts. Neither time did the Chörli quite manage to win first place, but they brought the public the cratchy tunes "We are fire fighters" and "Get a fireman for husband" both by Alex Eugster and Charles Lewinsky. Both songs are often still played and listened to today. A recents and probably the most impressive engagement at this point of the Chörli's history took the Löschzugchörli to Moscow. The Chörli was signed up by the Russian state television "Ostankino" to appear on the popular music program "Raduga" (Rainbow) in November 1994. As guests of the militia, in whose organizational structure all of the Russian fire service is integrated, the Chörli, as the ambassadors for the Swiss fire service, spent four very interesting days in Moscow.

AND NOW AMERICA                            

May 1996 the Löschzugchörli raised up much of their own funds to travel from Interlaken, Switzerland to Boston to participate in celebrating NFPA's centennial (National Fire Protection Association). First at the grand opening of the general session at the auditorium of the Hynes Convention Center (8.30 AM) also at the "1996 Annual Meeting Luncheon" at the ballroom of the Hynes Centre.
Travelling around New York, Boston (where we met our friends of the Boston Fire Dept at the Cary Square Club, Chelsea MA, also our special friend Mr Bruce Teele) and Atlanta, the Chörli spent a week of  happyness and friendship they'll never forget.









The Löschzugchörli would like to thank to all the sponsor's, who helped to realize this special trip (NFPA, Swissair, Interlaken Tourism Organisation).

LÖSCHZUGCHÖRLI RECORDINGS

The requests for recordings became increasingly greater, and so the Chörli began to work on record productions. In 1977, the first single recording to appear was an interpretation of the military march "Tägertschi Märschi" (Swiss Records). Soon the first long-playing record was made. Five albums have been produced to date and the titles are:

Am Füürwehrstamm geits luschtig zue (At the regulars table)
(1978/LP/MC/Swiss Records)

Füürio (Fire alarm!)
1982/LP/MC/CH-Special)

Mier hei der Plousch (Good friends)
1986/LP/MC/CH-Special)

Mier si vor der Füürwehr (We are fire fighters)
1988/LP/MC/CD/Active Records)

Eiger, Monch, and... Löschzugchörli
(1992/CD/MC/Active Records)

While the Chörli previously had sung pre-written hits, folk songs. and oompha music, on later albums their "own" melodies, composed be Alex Eugster, with lyrics of Charles Lewinsky, were included.

APPEARANCE IN TV-PRODUCTIONS

NOW 30 YEARS YOUNG...

The Löschzugchörli of Interlaken could in the year 1998 look back on more of 30 years of existence. Nevertheless it is fairly certain that the Chörli will never celebrate a 50th or 100th anniversary. The Löschzugchörli ist characterized to a large extent by the personalities that brought it into being and by the spirit of the times reflexted in those personalities.
The musicians and singers of the Chörli are aware of this. Perhaps that is the way the Löschzugchörli is so very popular, because it is living for the moment without mapping out a future studded by demands for success.

ALMOST FULLY BOOKED...

The Löschzugchörli performs at about 20 engagements a year. As a purely non professional group, the Chörli has reached its limit. It is not easy to coordinate the schedules of the 25 Chörli members, all of whom are dedicated musicians and singers and very busy with other commitements such as the fire departement, community, politics, and tourism. However, written requests, several months before the date of the event if possible, can sometimes work wonders !

Our contact adress is:

Löschzugchörli Interlaken
Mr Beat Hassenstein
Hotel Splendid
CH-3800 Interlaken
Fax 0041 33 822 76 79
info@splendid.ch

or contact the webmaster, who is also a member of the Löschzugchörli and doing this work as a free service.
He will also present a lot of pictures and storys (most in german) on this sites coming up if something happens to the chorli or on e of the members. 

beny.marti@bluewin.ch

The members of the 
Löschzugchörli Interlaken 2007

to be continued