Schülande Engaling: You Bleda Bua

In the 1970s, Christine Nöstlinger published three remarkable volumes of poetry that reflect the social conditions of people from what was then referred to as the "lower or working class." This trilogy, "Iba de gaunz oamen Leit," has since become a classic. Nöstlinger tells stories that provoke thought, going beyond Viennese coziness and playful, humorous social pornography. Her perspective on people and their fates is never accusatory. She views her surroundings with love, critical distance, and respect. These poems are a tribute to the people for whom "things don't come together," yet who still get up almost every morning.

The texts, written in the Viennese dialect, are interpreted by actress Sarah Jung (voice), singer/songwriter Anna Widauer (voice/effects), and drummer Judith Schwarz live at the Posthof on Christine Nöstlinger’s 90th birthday. "Iba die gaunz oamen Leit" serves as the textual foundation for the program "Du Bleda Bua," which has also been published as a sound book by the Wiener Mandelbaum Verlag.

"And yet the texts, together with the often very rhythmic, sometimes jazzy, sometimes rocky, and always experimental and allusive music, do not grow into grotesques or monstrosities of suffering... but possess a literary power, so that the themes develop an immense impact in artistic translation" (Süddeutsche Zeitung).

Christine Nöstlinger, Du bleda Bua, Mandelbaum, 2024.