STS legend

Honor for Schiffkowitz: “Where was my achievement?”

Günter Timischl (l.) and Gert Steinbäcker (r.) naturally did not miss out on Schiffkowitz's tribute.

(Bild: Stadt Graz/Fischer)

Great honor for Schiffkowitz: The third of the Styrian cult band STS was presented with the Golden Medal of Honor of the City of Graz on Tuesday. The recipient expressed his gratitude in his own way.

Helmut Röhrling was born in Graz on December 27, 1946. Under his stage name Schiffkowitz, the 76-year-old later wrote Austrian music history. For his decades of work, the East Styrian has now been awarded the Golden Medal of Honour by the Mayor of Graz, Elke Kahr, "as a thank you for your music, which still touches us all so much", as the city leader emphasized at the presentation ceremony.

"Wrote a few great songs"
"But where was my performance," asked "Schiffi" beforehand. He later gave a possible answer himself: "I actually wrote a few great songs, including one in which Graz rhymes with Stinatz. I think that's why I'm sitting here in the town hall today."

The musician is of course alluding to the STS anthem "Fürstenfeld", which is still sung along to fervently by people who don't even know where the "metropolis" of south-eastern Styria is located. Naturally, Günter Timischl and Gert Steinbäcker did not miss out on the tribute to their band colleague. So it was more or less an STS revival in the town hall.