Ein Prosit , Stefan and the Stratton Mountain Boys
accordion
Otto Egger ( right ), former emcee and accordion player for the Stratton Mountain Boys , with his wife , Toni
There was the festival in Birmingham , Alabama , with an 80-piece military band on stage while thousands waited impatiently for the Stratton Mountain Boys “ screaming ‘ Chicken Dance .’ We never open with Chicken Dance , but we had to .”
Stefan ’ s classical training might have taken his music in a very different direction . At 12 , he was the youngest to join his town marching band , where decades later he plays again along with daughter Gabi and two grandsons . He had gone on to study music in Salzburg – playing e-flat trumpet 4 , 3 and 2 , b-flat second and first , and the flugelhorn -- before joining Austria ’ s military band .
“ I was close to being an orchestra musician , but it did not strike me . It was not exciting . I wanted to be where everybody is happy . To look down and see the happiness . And that happiness goes back and forth . My favorite is always what is favorite to my people out there .” On any given Tyrolean Evening , that favorite might have been the yodeling clarinet , woodchopper dance , ringing cowbells , “ Edelweiss ”, “ Amazing Grace ”, a quintet of alphorns , the haunting harmony of singing saws . Or that time they played “ Twist and Shout ” in the Base Lodge with Bernie on lead guitar , Ferdinand on Bass , and Hans on drums . “ There must have been five , six hundred people there . Everybody was so happy . The ceiling ( below ) was shaking .”
As a 1984 Stratton news release explained , “ the ‘ Boys ’ delight skiers during the winter with some of the most unusual apres-ski entertainment in the ski industry . Playing both modern and hand-made instruments , they play authentic Austrian music which could only be matched by being in Austria itself .”
In addition to playing for a packed house , you could have seen Stefan somersaulting high in the air , at the base of Suntanner , on skis . Flipping forward , Hermann Gollner backward .
Stefan launched Stratton ’ s freestyle program , coaching kids who would go on to win national championships . “ We would do pole jumps , ballet skiing all day on Tyrolienne . Everybody did moguls – that was my strength . What they do now is incredible — we had no idea where it was going .”
18 STRATTON MAGAZINE | STRATTONMAGAZINE . COM