Innviertler Landler
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Quellenviertel
The history of the Innviertler Landler is inextricably linked to the Innviertler Zechen. These were originally farmers’ youth societies which produced artistic performances in the form of the Zechentanz – a combination of dance (the ‘Eicht’), music, poetry and song. The melody, the distinctive, appended yodel (‘Almer’) and the ‘stretched’ rhythm in ¾ time make the Innviertler Landler a distinct form within the Austrian Ländler family.
It is believed that, around 1850, the mining communities began to create their own Landler from the well-known dance figures by modifying the original steps and dancing them together in a specific sequence. Each mining guild’s own Landler was passed down from generation to generation, whilst at the same time being continually developed.
Whilst countless forms of the Innviertel Landler have thus emerged over the years in both dance and song, they can all still be danced to the same music due to their shared origins.
With structural changes in agriculture, the individualisation of leisure culture and increased mobility, a decline in the number of mining clubs began in the 1950s. The Innviertler Landler is still danced today by around 25–30 ‘Zechen’, folk dance groups and traditional costume associations, with the ‘Zechen’ in particular, but also the region’s folk dance groups, seeing their main role as preserving their respective Landler traditions. Every year, there are several gatherings in the Innviertel at which around 10–15 mining societies and folk dance groups perform their Landler as well as other folk dances. Fair days and weddings (particularly those of the mining society members) were, and in some cases still are, important occasions for the Innviertel Landler.