ALPIN PROJECT

Old sounds and new works – new sounds and old works – traditional tunes on the dancefloor – full throttle with Swiss-grown music.

The Alpin Project unites five seasoned Swiss musicians from very different backgrounds with deep-rooted expertise in their own musical styles into one diverse music project: Thomas Aeschbacher (various swiss accordions), Balthasar Streiff (alphorns, büchel, cornet, animal horns), Singoh Nketia alias DJ Flink (sounds, beats), Chris Pfändler (hammered dulcimer) and Barbara Berger (voice). They are rebranding Swiss and and other folk music, bringing together alpine sounds and archaic modernity, turning rural ländlers into “urbänlers” in collective compositions.

Ländler, polka, waltz, mazurka … this is music that has always been danced to. In its simplist form, a single schwyzerörgeli is all that is needed. An accordion, hammered dulcimer, violin, clarinet, double bass, Jew’s harp, piano and brass instruments ensure an enormous variety of sound in this folk music.

However the Alpine region is also well-known for specific sounds, which had and still have their origins in both metaphysical needs and concrete communication, accompanying work, animals and even the landscape: (alp)horns, yodelling, prayer’s call (Betruf), cow bells …

These attitudes encounter the sounds, loops and beats of modern dancefloors in the Alpin Project. The project also aims to find out more about a sound universe that has been very little researched until now. But it is now high time it was discovered. Since summer 2014, a delicate little plant has been growing into an impressive tree …