"Vogelpfeiferl" (Bird Whistle; prairie whistle)
As with almost everything in life, the internet also offers information on our “Vogelpfeiferl”. On the internet it’s called a “Gaumenpfeiferl” (palate whistle), but it actually refers to our traditional “Vogelpfeiferl”.
"The Bavarian Original - Peter Berger"
The “Vogelpfeifer” always carries his “Vogelpfeiferl” with him!
Peter Berger (46) can’t fool the visitors at the Gäuboden county fair, nor amateurs at bird imitation: He has the whistling down pat. And the fourth generation of bird whistlers is already at the starting gate, namely his sons Sven (19) and Ludwig (11).
At the Gäuboden fair, Peter will once again set up his show stand – guaranteed to be the smallest and most enchanting on the fairgrounds. Peter took over the stand at the Gäuboden fair from his father in the year 2000. But even now his father isn’t quite ready to retire completely and sometimes returns.
In the otherwise noisy world of fairgrounds, at the Gäuboden fair the “Vogelpfeifer” has become part of the beloved and nostalgic fair inventory. In addition to the Gäubodenfest, Peter is also at the Oktoberfest (entrance Esperanto-Platz), the Karpfhamer Volksfest, Oberstimm, Memmingen, etc. (see “Termine & Auftritte” – the Events and Performance Schedule). And naturally, in keeping with tradition, he is at the Straubinger Gäubodenfest – the nicest fair with Bavarian “Gemütlichkeit” (coziness) as Peter enthusiastically describes it.
He teaches an amazed audience how to elicit a harmonic bird song concert from a piece of waterproof cardboard, a pressed high-grade steel and tin ring and a “hand-cut” membrane of ox gut. The whistles are produced by the family, in other words “made in Bavaria”. Two cast-iron machines from the turn of the 20th century press and bend the tin. The individual parts are then pieced together by hand. Packaged in little envelopes, the “Vogelpfeiferl” are ready to be sold for a “tongue tango” at the county fair.
And this is how it works: Place the whistle on your tongue, press it against the palate, and then “sch-tsch-tsch-tschrr-tschiro-tzschrue-tschip”. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
Mr. Eckl, a chimney sweep from Aiterhofen near Straubing, visits the stand three or four times each year with his family. Of course, Peter is pleased by these visits since “chimney sweeps bring good luck” and his own great-grandfather had been a chimney sweep.
As Peter’s grandfather said: "A Gäuboden fair without a Vogelpfeiferl is like a bed without bed bugs – nothing stirs.” He too whistled some seventy-five years ago. Horst Berger learned the art of the bird song imitations and the fitting monologue from his father. He looks down from heaven today - with fellow Bavarians - and is happy that the third generation of the Berger family is no loser when it comes to mastery of the bird whistle. Peter’s father, Horst, even whistled for Chinese audiences on the Great Wall of China and on Tiananmen Square.
Peter grew up in Giesing (a part of Munich) – between the training grounds of the soccer clubs FC Bayern and TSV 1860 München. As a baby, he spit out his pacifier because he always wanted a bird whistle instead, he tells with a wink. In order to prepare his voice for the Gäuboden fair Peter takes cough medicine and drinks plenty of sage tea before the event. ”But even then your voice is gone after two days.”
In the meantime Peter has become well-known through his performances on radio and television. Whether in interviews with Carolin Reiber (a German television moderator) and Reinhold Perlak (the lord mayor of Straubing) or in broadcasts for the Oktoberfest or in Bavarian radio and television productions, the “Vogelpfeifer” belongs to the Gäubodenfest in Straubing like custom belongs to Bavaria. Tradition needs to be upheld. Peter has also found a new partnership and sponsor with Erdinger Weißbier (a local manufacturer of wheat beer) that is now celebrating its 120th anniversary. Erdinger Weißbier and the “Vogelpfeifer” have much in common: both stand for Bavarian customs and traditions. Both guarantee high quality. And both share a love of Bavaria.