Conchita and Ina Regen’s cover of von Goisern’s ‘Heast as Net‘ is the perfect polyamorous marriage
You know it’s going to be a beautiful day when you wake up to Vienna’s first snow and to this.
A gorgeous cover of the 1994 Hubert von Goisern song ‘Heast as Net‘ (‘Don’t You Hear It’) from Conchita and new Austrian singing sensation Ina Regen.
A music video released on Conchita’s YouTube channel this morning, and one that is not only beautiful but utterly surprising.
Because it is Conchita and Ina going back to their traditional roots, singing in Austrian dialect, and actually yodeling. All while filmed on a hill overlooking a stunning view of Vienna.
But to me what is so special about this cover of ‘Heast as Net‘, other than that we get to hear Conchita yodel (and you have no idea how delighted that made me or how big the smile on my face when I first heard it), is it is even better than the original von Goisern.
And, no, not because I’m biased and love Conchita (which I am, and I do), but because the song is arranged in a more simple way than the original (thank you, Florian Cojocaru), which causes the emotion behind the song to be pushed to the forefront much more.
When you add in how much more softly and sweetly Conchita and Ina sing the verses, it gives the song a touching feel the original did not have for me.
Then they just wallop it with power in those yodels, which gives us a massive reminder that time passes quickly and that every one of us should be making the most of every second of it. Because soon it will all be gone. (And yes, that’s what this song is about).
Things to also notice about this gorgeous video…
At 0.59, listen to that first Conchita yodel. Because, hell, while I do know behind all that make up and wig Conchita is definitely all boy, the absolute clearness and feminineness of that note is astonishing.
And because, when asked by an interviewer once if she could yodel, Conchita just laughed. Yet here she is, yodeling like a champion yodeler. Me? It just made my year.
At 0:23, and Ina’s first yodel. That beautiful huskiness she has in those notes and how softly she sings that yodel is breathtaking.
The camera angles and movement by Johannes Dürhammer. (Jazztime). The way the camera slowly follows and pans and swoops around Conchita and Ina, while keeping them in just one third of the video screen much of the time, actually adds to the whole power of this piece.
Notice too that first 39 seconds of the video is actually one continuous shot, from Ina walking towards the camera, past it and then continuing to be shot from behind and from the side. Just wonderful.
That stunning location.
Chosen by André Karsai and, with those two tiny figures almost secondary to it in places, it perfectly expresses how as arrogant as we sometimes feel about ourselves and our place on this planet, when it all comes down to it we are all so very small, and Vienna and Austria will still be here when we are all long gone. “Heast as net wia die Zeit vageht“. (“Don’t you hear it as time passes by”).
Finally, look at the editing by André Karsai. Cutting from a soft almost gauzy shot of Ina walking next to the camera at the beginning of the video to a starker, slightly harder image of Conchita as she begins to sing, for instance. It could have been jarring, but instead it’s just about seamless.
And the wonderful mix of sweeping landscapes, close ups of Conchita and Ina, and then shots of them small and framed against that enormous Vienna background. Incredibly powerful.
I just dread to think how many minutes of video he had to go through to choose the stunning shots he did.
‘Heast as Net‘ is a perfect polyamorous marriage
In other words, Conchita and Ina Regen’s video for ‘Heast as Net‘ is a perfect polyamorous marriage.
A polyamorous marriage between two talented singers who both obviously love Austria, traditional folk music and the true language of their country, and a gorgeous musical arrangement, superb filming, a stunning view and beautiful editing.
And all that equals the kind of beauty you get when you have a perfect team. It could not possibly have been better.
Watch Conchita and Ina Regen’s ‘Heast as Net‘ video below, followed by Hubert von Goisern’s original video for the song below that. Because, man, I love the original but this new one..it’s at a whole other level.
And, by the way, you can read the lyrics to ‘Heast as Net’ in English here.
Related: Ina Regen’s one-take session of ‘Wie a Kind‘ proves this Austrian singer can definitely sing