A DIFFERENT
KIND OF
SWISS FOLK-MUSIC

The story of Tritonus goes back to before 1980. Urs Klauser and Beat Wolf , both of them instrument makers and musicians, were united in their interest in old folk music of varied provenance, and in their desire to research thoroughly the Swiss folk music of previous centuries. They reconstructed instruments according to historical models, and on these, they brought the melodic material that they had discovered to new life, as it would originally have sounded. At the centre of their interest were instruments such as the Swiss bagpipe, the shawm, the cittern, the fife,the hurdy-gurdy and the Jew's harp. These were the instruments that had been popular and widely spread until they were superseded in the 19th century, primarily by the accordion (the so-called "Schwyzerörgeli"). The price-winning first Tritonus-CD "Old Folk-Music in Switzerland" (1991) marked a turning point in research into these old traditions.
After fifteen years after this CD appeared - it has since become a 'standard work' - Tritonus ventured with their 'Alpan Project' into new musical territory, with added personnel. Together with young jazz musicians, they created a repertoire that unites tradition and innovation, the origins and future of our folk music. Most of the pieces in this repertoire come from sources that are either unpublished or difficult to access. One of their focal areas is the music of Canton Appenzell, though not the well-documented, well-loved string music of the 19th and 20th centuries. Tritonus present 'Alpsegen' (the dusk-time prayers sung in the mountains), 'Zäuerli' (a type of yodelling from Appenzell), ranz des vaches, ranz des chèvres, 'Löckler' (cow-call tunes) beneath dance tunes, ballads and love songs.
Archaic Swiss folk music mingles here with new sounds – This is a colourful, varied, intensive music!

International Folk Music Festival "Alpentöne", Altdorf Switzerland 2007

The old Swiss folk music differs greatly from the popular present day forms such as the "Ländler" (country waltz) and the yodel song. How, then, did our folk music sound before 1800 ? Musicological research has brought much to light but, so far, practically no folk music instrumental arrangements have resulted from this research.Since many years we (U.Klauser and B.Wolf) have been reconstructing old musical instruments and using them to play early folk music in the group TRITONUS.
Fortunately, various folk music pieces have been preserved in the old sources:
From artistic 16th century lute tabulatures we have reconstructed instrumental arrangements as they probably were played by early folk musicians. Also, several Swiss folk music collections were made in the 19th and early 20th centuries with the purpose of preserving older folk traditions. From these collections we obtained several "jewels". The words of old songs and ballads were more frequently handed down because the long texts were often written down whereas the original melodies are usually missing.
The typical Swiss alpine "Kühreihen" (cow calling melodies) are quite old and reached into the realm of magic. A characteristic of this oldest Swiss folk music is the lydian mode with the "tritonus" of the augmented 4th in the natural tone sequence. This "devilish" interval gave our group its name.
How, and with what instruments, earlier music was played is shown by an extensive iconography which, together with the critical analysis of the written sources, led us to the present results. Many of the instruments we used, such as the bagpipe (Sackpfeife), shawm (Schalmei), hurdy-gurdy (Drehleier) and rebec, have died out in Switzerland. Other instruments, such as the hammered dulcimer (Hackbrett), cittern (Cister) and fife (Schwegel), are traditional Swiss folk instruments which have survived up to the present day.

Translation: Dale Overturf

Order: CDs "TRITONUS" and "Alpan"

Tritonus "Alte Volksmusik" (Review: good)

TRITONUS have done a lot of valuable research in reconstructing defunct instruments and resurrecting a musical tradition that has fallen in abeyance.

fROOTS No 119 (1992?)

Tritonus Alpan (Review: good)

Swiss traditional material, but no yodelling, alphorns or oompah.
Tritonus' previous album was 1991's Early Swiss Folk Music, this one draws on their discoveries since then, played skilfully on Swiss bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, shawm, rebec etc. plus occasional female vocals, and gutsy percussion, jazz guests and impressionistic arrangements.

fROOTS No 286, April 2007 (The essential worldwide roots music guide)

Im Frühling 2002 verliess Beat Wolf nach 25 Jahren die Gruppe, um sich ausschliesslich seinem Beruf als Instrumentenmacher zu widmen (Barockharfen: www.beatwolf.ch). Auch Fabian Müller wandte sich wieder seinem Hauptberuf als Komponist zu (www.swisscompser.ch) und Geri Bollinger wollte wieder einmal "musikalisches Neuland" betreten. Felicia Kraft und Urs Klauser fanden mit dem Schalmei-, Flöten- und Drehleierspieler Daniel Som und der Hackbrettlerin Lea Zanola ideale neue Partner. Seit Dezember 2003 gaben wir wieder Konzerte in der ganzen Schweiz mit der neuen Tritonus-Besetzung, oft zusammen mit der Sagenerzählerin Loretta Federspiel.

Im Jahr 2005 erhielten wir den Förderpreis der Kulturstiftung des Kantons Appenzell Ausserrhoden für unser CD-Projekt «ALPAN». Es folgten viele Konzerte mit dem Alpan Projekt im In- und Ausland (u.a. Internationales Musikfestival "Alpentöne" Altdorf 07, "Forum Alte Musik Zürich" 07, Spazio Culturale Svizzero di Venezia 08). Der Bassist Andreas Cincera wird 2008 festes Mitglied des Ensembles Tritonus.