Contemporary music
Switzerland has a very colourful music scene, so it comes as no surprise that this country plays host to a series of well-attended open air events each year. Performers include internationally renowned greats from the world of music as well as Swiss bands.
Dialect music
Lyrics sung by Swiss pop musicians and rock bands are more often in English nowadays, otherwise no honours or money are to be had at international level. Nevertheless, the most popular bands throughout Switzerland still use their own national languages or vernaculars as well.In the German-speaking region of Switzerland, this music is also known as "Mundart-Rock" ("Dialect Rock"). This music was pioneered in the 1960s by the Troubadours (of Berne), who performed their own songs in dialect, generally providing their own guitar accompaniment. The most famous of these musician-poets was Mani Matter, who wrote and performed his witty and deeply symbolic songs in Bernese German. His songs are still sung today, and his own recordings remain very popular.
Swiss dialect rock was originally influenced very strongly by Bernese music groups. Nowadays, however, this vernacular rock is sung in all the Swiss dialects. Dialect rock was also influenced heavily by Toni Vescoli, Polo Hofer and the Rumpelstilz, and the Minstrels and Span groups.
The Bernese bands Züri West, Patent Ochsner and Stiller Has launched a real boom in dialect music during the 1990s which climaxed for a while with hits by the Bernese singer Gölä between 1998 and 2002. Never in the history of modern popular music have so many Swiss music groups appeared in the Swiss hit parade. The first punk and rock bands for children soon emerged: Schtärneföifi (musicians from the Baby Jail band) from 1995 onwards, and Roland Zoss (a musician from the rock band Span) from 1999 onwards. Fusion Square Garden from Berne devoted themselves to dialect reggae. Other well-known bands and interpreters whose lyrics are in Swiss German include Plüsch, Sina, Mash, Florian Ast and Adrian Stern.
One such artiste has even managed to get entire concert halls in France to sing along with him in Swiss German: he is Stefan Eicher. This multi-cultural Swiss artiste is also very popular in France: he sometimes sings in Bernese German, sometimes in English, sometimes in Italian but mostly in French – and some of his songs even combine all of these languages. He rose to fame in the German-speaking world during the 1980s with his band Grauzone and their New German Wave chart single Eisbär. Since then, he has scored successes in France and Switzerland with a variety of albums, tours and number one hits. He always likes to turn offbeat ideas into tangible projects such as Im Taxi von Hamburg bis Palermo, eine musikalische Reise durch die Kulturen (In a Taxi from Hamburg to Palermo, a Musical Journey through the Cultures) in 2003, for which he wrote the script and produced an album. He alternated with Herbert Grönemeyer and the Italian artiste Max Gazzé in the title number, Taxi Europa.
Rap
Rap performed in dialect is also popular in Switzerland. Swiss rap started out in the early 1990s along with German, French and Italian rap. The first Swiss-German rappers originally wrote their lyrics in English but after the bilingual song Murder by Dialect by P-27 and Black Tiger, they switched to their Swiss-German dialects. Artistes from the French- and Italian-speaking regions also rap in their local dialects. And Romansh too has been an established feature of the Swiss hip-hop scene since the Graubünden group Liricas Analas achieved fame in 2004. The Graubünden rappers' albums to date show that rap music has a large community of Swiss fans, even though it is sung in a language that only a few natives of this country can understand. The latest examples of popular dialect music from the German-speaking region of Switzerland are Bligg, Big Zis and Steff La Cheff, among others. Renowned artistes from the French-speaking region include Stress from Lausanne, Sens Unik, which was disbanded in 2010, and Greis.Globally oriented Swiss music
Global trends that have penetrated the entire planet have also influenced modern forms of classical and popular music – ranging from jazz, which experienced a boom in Switzerland after the first world war, to chart hits and rock or pop music.Classical music
Although Switzerland plays a rather modest role in classical music, the country has nevertheless produced some internationally known composers: in the 20th century, for instance, Arthur Honegger (whose portrait adorns the current 20-franc banknote), Frank Martin and Othmar Schoeck. Under the baton of its founder Ernest Ansermet, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande has made a decisive contribution towards popularising modern musical culture in Switzerland. Almost all the major Swiss cities (Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Biel/Bienne, Berne, Basel, Lucerne, Lugano, Winterthur and St Gallen) now have high-calibre classical orchestras, and some of them enjoy high standing. Alongside the traditional city-based symphony orchestras – the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, the Kammerorchester in Basel and Berne and the Orchestre de Chambre in Lausanne, with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano – there are many groups of various sizes, often specialising in certain genres, such as the Basel Sinfonietta or Basel's two baroque orchestras, La Cetra and Capriccio. Under the baton of its founder Ernest Ansermet, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande has made a decisive contribution towards popularising modern musical culture in Switzerland. The main annually recurring festival weeks featuring classical music include the Lucerne Festival, the Zurich Festival, the Music Festival Weeks in Ascona, the Menuhin Festival at Gstaad, the Septembre musical at Montreux-Vevey and the Verbier Festival & Academy. Charles Dutoit and Mathias Bamert are carrying on the tradition of internationally respected Swiss conductors. Offerings on classicpoint.ch include an events calendar and concert tips. swissinfo.ch (Swissmusic section) also offers further information about classical music.classicpoint.ch
Jazz
George Gruntz and Claude Nobs have been the two Swiss jazz artistes who achieved fame beyond the scene. Basel-born Gruntz, a pianist, composer and founder of an ensemble, played with partners as diverse as the American star trumpeter Chet Baker and Tunisian Bedouins; he experimented with his own country's baroque music and folklore; and as a gifted communicator and cultural manager, he directed the Berlin Jazz Festival from 1972 until 1994. His fellow-countryman Claude Nobs founded the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival. Nowadays, Switzerland ranks among the major players in the European jazz world – especially in view of its small population. The famous festival in Montreux is only one of the reasons for this success. Colin Vallon, for example, began performing a few years ago in small provincial clubs where the musicians passed the hat around after playing. Nowadays, Colin Vallon gives concerts in renowned auditoriums in Paris or Berlin. Born in 1980 at Lausanne, this pianist and composer trained at the Swiss Jazz School in Berne; for many years, he accompanied other musicians before recording his own CDs until in 2011, he attained the peak of any jazz musician's career: recording for ECM, the legendary German label. But Vallon is not the only Swiss artiste to break through into the competitive international jazz scene. Erik Truffaz was probably one of the first members of the younger generation to achieve fame beyond Switzerland's borders. This trumpeter, who was born in 1960 at Chêne-Bourgeries near Geneva, has succeeded in conveying his own special universe of jazz, electronic rhythms and ethno music to half of the world. Erik Truffaz has achieved popularity among music lovers thanks to his eclectic approach and his talent for adopting trends without becoming constrained by purist tendencies. It is no problem for him to play together with a DJ or rapper, to appear with musicians from India or the Maghreb, to render homage to the best of American jazz, or to work with the unique sound of his digitised trumpet. The Ronin band led by pianist Nik Bärtsch wins prizes at international festivals; their music is a hypnotic, repetitive blend of obsessive rhythms and unexpected improvisations that attracts a following among young audiences and is creating a sensation in Scandinavia, South Africa and the USA. Two other musicians are prominent at present: singer and accordionist Erika Stucky and pianist Thierry Lang. Stucky, born in San Francisco to Swiss parents, is a singer who is difficult to classify. She appears together with jazz musicians, and her style is somewhere between yodelling and American music. Veteran Thierry Lang (born in 1956 at Romont) is one of the handful of local musicians who draw on traditional Swiss music for their own projects. This Professor at the Montreux Conservatoire has recorded for the American Blue Note label and in 2008, he was appointed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic. Stefan Rusconi's piano-bass-drums trio also enthuse audiences across Europe with their jazz-rock fusion music. Saxophonist Nicolas Masson is contracted to the Munich recording label ECM. Interesting acts at the Jazzahead event at Bremen in April include singer Elina Duni. Trumpeter Franco Ambrosetti, percussionists Daniel Humair and Pierre Favre and pianist Irène Schweizer have been among the leading exponents of their instruments for many decades. Experimental artistes include the saxophonist Hans Koch from Biel/Bienne.The jazz festivals at Willisau, Lugano and especially Montreux number among the most renowned events in their genre at international level. The better-known jazz academies in Switzerland include those at Berne and Lucerne.
Pop / Rock / World Music
Switzerland has several bands in the pop/rock category that are famed beyond our country's borders. They include the duo Yello, formed by Dieter Meier and Boris Blank in the 1980s. Their remix album Hands on Yellow came out in 1995, showing that these two musicians also influenced the techno generation that followed them. It includes groups and musicians that are known beyond the techno scene such as Moby, Mark Spoon, The Orb and other performers of international standing.DJ BoBo is one of the few artistes from the Eurodance era (as it is known) who is still releasing successful albums today. This is why he is known to his fans as the "King of Dance" although his recent songs have also incorporated more elements from and pop and rock genres. DJ BoBo became known for his mix of pop and dancefloor.
Other star international performers include the chansonnier Stefan Eicher and the harpist Andreas Vollenweider. Krokus, a band that scored its greatest hits with strident hard rock numbers in the first half of the 1980s, also achieved success abroad. This has often prompted comparisons with AC/DC, although Krokus also included ballads in its repertoire of songs. The band won several platinum discs and was awarded honorary citizenship of Tennessee in 1983. Bands that are or were pioneers in their own genres include the post-industrial band Young Gods, which was cited as a source of inspiration by U2 and David Bowie among others, and death metal groups such as Celtic Frost or Coroner.
Great interest is currently being aroused in Switzerland itself and in neighbouring foreign countries by musicians such as Sophie Hunger, BOY, Bonaparte, Navel, Michael von der Heide, Heidi Happy, Stress, William White, Marc Sway, Seven, Lovebugs and many others.