in the Japan startup world for 10+ years | former loc professional and video game producer (Nintendo, Spicysoft, Square Enix)
It's a bit long, but stay with me, it's a fun story. Until a few years ago, I would not have thought that I'd ever feel anything like this, but these past few months, I'm getting more and more proud of being Austrian. Or in other words, I've learned to appreciate parts of my home that I had either never seen or didn't care about. One example is the story behind this song: https://lnkd.in/gqeYFnR4 As many of you are surely aware, EURO 2024 is going on right now, and Austria is doing quite well in the competition, but apart from that, this song is based on a very specific quote from Austria's football past. In a legendary game against Spain that Austria lost 0:9 (NINE!) - a guy from Austrian television actually had the nerves to do a half time interview with one of the players, at the score line of 0:5. The reporter asked: "What can we expect from you in the second half? It's 0:5 now, you have a lot of experience, what can you still get out of this match?" The obviously totally frustrated and beaten player Toni Pfeffer answered: "Na hoch werma's nimma gwinna" - meaning something like "Well, we won't win by a high margin, will we?" (much more funny and quippy in Austrian dialect) This is such a perfect example of Austrian humor. With one sentence, not only did he remind the reporter what a dumb question he had just asked and expressed his feelings towards it without being offensive (that is important), he also made the whole country laugh and turn an absolute debacle into a moment, that people still talk about and smile. So years after, Austrian pop artist AUT of ORDA made this football themed support song in light of EURO 2024, and they used that quote as the hook line. The song is literally called "Well, we won't win by a high margin" - but with a little word play of putting the (n) in "nimma" brackets - so you could also read it "always win by a high margin" instead of "not". The song lyrics also feature a number of countries we played against and lost horribly, while singing that "no matter if we lose or don't qualify, you'll still hear us singing" - again turning things positive. This kind of not taking ourselves too seriously, but actually still being kind of proud, while having a very honest relationship with the facts and accepting those, is what makes this so "Austrian" in my opinion. We were a huge glorious empire until a bit more than 100 years ago, now we're a tiny country that many people confuse with Australia, but still is one of the most visited destinations in the world and actually a really, really nice place to live. The song is a banger too, so even if you don't speak German, definitely check it out. ❤️🇦🇹
