150th Anniversary Weekend Celebration
Saturday 8th, Sunday 9th September 2007
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Greetings from the Mayor |
 Dear
employees and friends of the Hohner company,Dear music lovers everywhere, Hohner has now been making musical instruments in Trossingen for 150 years. Trossingen without Hohner is simply unthinkable. For this reason, the coming jubilee celebrations are of special significance to us. On behalf of the town of Trossingen I would like to offer our warmest congratulations on this very special occasion. Matthias Hohner began manufacturing "Bläsle", as the harmonica is lovingly referred to here, in 1857 as a cottage industry in the house of his father. What we would today call a "start-up" turned out to be the beginning of a success story which has made the name Hohner synonymous with harmonica and accordion the world over and at the same time has carried the name of Trossingen to the farthest points of the globe. 
In the same measure that Hohner prospered, so did the town itself and
it is not least due to the local harmonica industry that Trossingen is
able to celebrate the 80th anniversary of its incorporation as a city
this year. The
close association between the town and the Hohner Company has remained
constant, not only during the good times, but also in periods of economic
turmoil. For this reason, I am especially happy that we can celebrate
our common past which has bound us together for the past 150 years and
of which we can be justifiably proud, with a festive weekend of the highest
order.The wide-ranging jubilee programme reflects both the musical diversity which can be created on Hohner instruments, and the town itself as a living embodiment of musical, economic and cultural identity. I hope that all our visitors have a wonderful time and an enjoyable stay, and I would like to wish the Hohner Company a successful future together with us in Trossingen, so that the advertising slogan from the 1950s continues to apply in years to come: "Hohner sounds all around the world!" With best musical wishes, Dr Clemens Maier Mayor |
| PRESS RELEASE Town party for the 150-years anniversary of Hohner on
8+9 September 2007 What's On This Weekend
150 Years of Hohner
– The Music Plays in Trossingen Big Town Party – Attempt at a World Record on 8th & 9th September 2007 |
A comprehensive music program, musical instruments for touching and trying out, a vivid market life, an attempt at a world record in playing the harmonica and many more attractions await the visitors in Trossingen on 8th and 9th September 2007. The occasion is to mark the 150th jubilee of the company Hohner. On the theme of “The Music Plays in Trossingen“, the company Hohner, the city of Trossingen, the trade association, the Volksbank Trossingen, the promotional community, the Hirsch brewery and numerous local institutions and clubs celebrate together a proper town party. It
is hard to believe: it has been already 150 years, since the harmonicas
of the former clockmaker Matthias Hohner started their triumphant success
from Trossingen throughout the world. According to the theme of the company
founder “My field is the world“, the Trossingen family enterprise
became a world-famous brand which until today carries the reputation of
Trossingen as “music town” into the whole world.„Trossingen and Hohner simply belong together. The town and the company have lived through a lot together, good times and difficult times. So it is a matter of fact that we celebrate our anniversary together, too,” the chairman of the Management Board Dr. Horst Braeuning explains the idea behind the joint town party. The list of activities that invites the visitors of the town during these two days to watch, listen and take part is a long one: a middle-age market lets you experience long-gone times, a flea market invites you to rummage, in front of the town hall a play street and a gay music-join-inprogram entertain the little guests. The local retailers present themselves during a Sunday of open shops and on different stages in the town center, a diverse music program attracts you. A further highlight is the opening of a special exhibition of the harmonica museum in the “Bau V” on the former Hohner area. In addition, there will be a day of open house in the music school and in the conservatory.  An
extensive exhibition of musical instruments including a service station
of the company Hohner takes place in the Musikhochschule. There, it is
not only allowed to look but it is also expressively desired to handle
and try out. Yet, there are not only daytime celebrations: altogether
four locations are waiting for you to join the party in the evenings. On
Saturday, the visitors are spoilt for choice: in the marquee on the Maschke-
Platz, the „Feldberger“ with „Frau Waeber“ entertain
with folksy pop music, in the „Kulturfabrik Kesselhaus” and
in the “Bau B” on the former Hohner area a selected Blues-Jazz
program is waiting for the guests, where for example “BB & the
Blues Shacks”,  “Triple
Sweet” (left) and Manfred Leuchter (right) get the audience fired
up. Last but not least, there is an accordion gala concert in the concert
hall of the „Musikhochschule”. There, you can hear among the
„Hohner Akkordeonorchester 1927 e.V.“ and the ensemble „Art
of Accordion“ also the harmonica worldchampion from Trossingen, Kathrin
Gass, accompanied by Hans-Guenther Koelz.On Sunday evening, „Dr. Quincy and the Lemonshakers“ ensure the appropriate jubilee mood in the marquee with rocking sounds from the fifties. The “Kesselhaus“ is once again under the control of the Blues friends with „Blues Delivery“ and „Abi Wallenstein & Blues Culture“, including Steve Baker, the exceptional harper, as a band member. The crowning finale of the jubilee weekend is a fireworks display on Sunday evening. Attempt at a World Record and Music Relay. However, prior to that, the organizers of the event have resolved something: They want to provide evidence that Trossingen truly deserves the title „Capital of the Harmonica“ by breaking the existing world record for the „largest harmonica orchestra of the world“. It was established in 2005 in the USA by 1,706 players in Seattle, Washington. A jubilee melody composed solely for that purpose shall be played on Sunday afternoon by as many players as possible at the same time. In order to make sure that the melody is really in the head of every participant, a “music relay” will start on Saturday morning incorporating the melody. Then this melody – just as the rod in a sports relay – will be passed on from one player or ensemble to the next every 15 minutes, until it reaches the town hall square on Sunday afternoon for the attempt at a world record. Stations are planned in the shops, on the stages and in the streets of Trossingen. In order that the record is really established, the organizers ask all harmonica players to participate in the attempt and to come to the town hall square, respectively the Cluser street in Trossingen, with their harmonica on Sunday, 9 September from 4 p.m. on. And should the own instrument not be at hand: especially for the jubilee an easy-to-play world-record harmonica is introduced as special edition „150 Years of Hohner“ and will be available during the town party. |
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