Employee story: “12 Points for Patty?”

“Melodies of Hope”. Patricia Büchler, whose stage name is Patty Gurdy, will be sing-ing this song at the German ESC preliminary decision. She comes from Düsseldorf. And what’s more, she is the daughter of our ERGO colleague Claudia Büchler.

Can a song give people hope? Yes, it can. “Don’t do it for yourself; do it for the people who need the message in the song right now,” was Patty Gurdy’s thought as she applied for the selection final to choose Germany’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) with the song “Melodies of Hope”. What started out as a remote possibility has now become the biggest highlight of her musical career to date. The moment of truth will be on the evening of 3 March in Cologne, when “Our song for Liverpool” is broadcast. Of course all of our ERGO colleagues have already made up their mind: “Vote for Patty!”

“A dream come true for us”

The excitement is almost palpable in the Büchler home in Düsseldorf. “Of course. We are all very, very excited,” admits the singer’s mother Claudia. “We hardly talk about anything else. This is like a dream come true for all of us. And it’s a really big opportunity for my daughter.” Almost in the same breath she admits that Patricia has nothing to lose: “Whether she finishes well or not: She’s already a winner just by appearing on the show.”

“Melodies of Hope” – the song could be described as Celtic folk pop. And a key component is the hurdy-gurdy with which Patty Gurdy is appearing in Cologne. It is an instrument that some people may be familiar with from descriptions of mediaeval minstrels. Its sound fits in perfectly with modern dance-pop. But the hurdy-gurdy has been the young artist’s trademark for years.

Hope – keeping us going for the future

Even her stage name is taken from the English name for the instrument. Claudia Büchler, who works in ERGO’s human resources management, explains how her daughter fell in love with this unusual instrument: “Patricia once visited a mediaeval market looking for a set of bagpipes. She didn’t find one, but instead discovered the hurdy-gurdy. And from that day to this, she has been fascinated with it.”

“The song I’ll be singing in Cologne means a lot to me,” says the 26-year-old. “I would like to give people hope. Because hope is what keeps us going for the future.” Patty took an interest in music from an early age. She sang while other people chatted, and practised while others were leafing through their sheet music. She could play several instruments at a young age, and joined a band in her early teens. She grew up in a house full of mu-sic since her sisters Beatrice and Victoria also played. “But with Patricia we sometimes didn’t need an alarm clock,” her mother Claudia remembers with a smile. “She would start to play the piano very early in the morning.”

Making the most of artistic freedom

Patty Gurdy is an independent artist, a sort of self-made musician, who tours with a live band. Getting the opportunity to compose and sing for the AmazonPrime series “Carnival Row” was a “huge milestone” (says Patty herself). Her fans like to be known as “Gurdians”. “What she’s good at is making the most of her artistic freedom while preserving her own integrity,” says Claudia Büchler.

So it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that her individuality and power of expression could win her the contest in Cologne. Perhaps what we will then hear in May in Liverpool will be “Germany, 12 Points.” And incidentally, the last ESC to be held in this country was in 2011 in Düsseldorf. So could a girl from Düsseldorf win the contest once again for Germany? Let´s hope so.

Lothar Grimm