With pop music, Federal Councilor Albert Rösti (55) gets in the mood to wave and sing. This was also the case on January 2, when he was honored in the village square in his home town of Uetendorf BE and Roli Eberhart (66) from the Calimeros intoned “Röschti du bisch z’Gröschti” – the song composed by the frontman of Switzerland’s most successful hit trio in honor of the new Bundesrat. The two have been friends for twenty years.
Since Eberhart’s bandmates were ill, he wanted to sing the song alone. “But things turned out differently,” says Eberhart with a laugh. Because at the encore Albert Rösti, who should not have been on stage until the end of the song, sang along at the top of his lungs.
Music video clicked more than 10,000 times
Alderman Samuel Krähenbühl (45) captured the event on video and shared it on social media. To date, it has been clicked more than 10,000 times. The fact that the Federal Council sings along to its own hymn and sings it’s the greatest should be taken with humor, says Eberhart — he was just so moved and would have spontaneously sung along with anyone.
“Albert is the last one to applaud himself,” says the musician, who once met Rösti at a village school party. He has a listening ear for everyone, is cheerful, good and close to people.
Even on the 90th birthday of Eberhart’s mother Rösli, on October 27, 2022, he, who was still mayor at the time, paid his respects in a good mood and with a Black Forest cake. “At the time he also told us at the table that he really wanted to be elected to the Bundesrat, even though he realized as a realist that things could turn out differently.”
Not with shorts
Eberhart will not forget this confession more than the Flumserberg Open-Air at the end of July 2022, where the Calimeros performed. When Rösti and his wife Theres, 48, stopped at the merchandising stand, according to Eberhart, she said, “Look at those cool Calimeros shorts.” Because it was so hot that day, she would have bought Rösti and put it on immediately.
SonntagsBlick has a photographic proof. But Albert Rösti does not want it to be published, which Roli Eberhart understands: “He does not want it to be said that the Federal Councilor is posing in swimming trunks.” He does have a sense of humor, but his new role has changed a lot. “But one thing remains: he is a good friend, a politician who is close to the people and a man who will certainly be seen with a pitchfork in his garden next summer.”