Two weeks ago, musician Markus Illko and his bandmates won the world’s most important music award in Los Angeles. Now he is back in Austria and tells the “Krone” about success, family and what more we need in this country.
It all started with the connections of the Austrian Hollywood musician Dimitrie Leivici and his annual “Music Workshops” in Baden with the musician and composer Markus Illko from Kapfenberg. The Styrian, born in 1981, has been working in Los Angeles for over ten years now, won the Grammy two weeks ago with his guitar ensemble The String Revolution and the cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” and has been on everyone’s lips ever since. Success is hard earned “It still takes time to process it properly,” he tells the “Krone” on his return to “good old Austria”. “Professionally, the Grammy win is of course extremely big. Personally, I keep the ball very low.” But the fact is for him that the success, even on this scale, didn’t come completely out of the blue, because before the Cash cover, Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” or Elton John’s “Rocket Man” were played “ with his bandmates. “I’ve been working for too long for it to just ‘happen.’ It was a project together with John Carter Cash and us. He wanted to work with us and we with him.” The rest is now officially a part of (Austrian) music history. The latter is very important to Illko because he thinks that we not only have a lot of potential in the country: “No, the training too per se is excellent here. But then there is a lack of the appropriate platforms.” What does he mean by that? “For example, I would never win an Amadeus (note: the Austrian music prize) here in Austria.” A fate that he shares with one or two prominent Styrians. But he, Illko, has no problem with it. And sometimes other Styrian musicians don’t either. “What I sometimes notice about us Austrians is that we have too little self-confidence and are often too reserved. But the talent in general is just great!”Support from family and friendsHe sees himself as a fundamentally positive person and is not afraid of new “best” friends: “My family in Styria and my friends are a very good support. Also, I’m like, ‘If you don’t have my phone number, then I don’t care if you say anything negative about me.'” PS: He didn’t have his Grammy trophy with him. It will only be delivered to him with his name engraved on it. Until then, he “takes solace” in his Grammy medal. . .
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