A DIFFERENT
KIND OF
SWISS FOLK-MUSIC

Tritonus_Schriftzug

Tritonus_2010

‹An Archaic World of Timeless Sound›

The Swiss ensemble TRITONUS will surprise you with folk music of a completely different kind.
With magical shepherd’s calls, wild dances, songs and old texts, TRITONUS bring the old roots to flower again.

Felicia Kraft: Vocals, Percussion, Rebec

Urs Klauser: Bagpipe, Cittern, Fife

Lea Zanola: Hammered Dulcimer, Jew's Harp, Percussion

Daniel Som: Hurdy-Gurdy, Shawm, Flutes

Andreas Cincera: Violone, Double-Bass

Andrea Brunner: Violin, Viola

Andreas Ambuehl

Andreas Ambühl: Soprano-Saxophone, Bass-Clarinet, Chalumeaux

Info for Concert Organisers:

Info-Leaflet Alpan-Project (PDF)

Musicians 2010 (PDF)

Info-Leaflet Programm 2010 (PDF)

Press

Stageplan - Technical Rider
for big events (PDF)

Photo Tritonus 2010 A

Photo Tritonus 2010 B

Photo Tritonus 2010 C

Photo Tritonus 2010 D

Photo Tritonus 2010 E

Photo Tritonus

Photo Musical- Instruments

Biography / Artist Information:

TRITONUS is a Swiss folk music ensemble which was founded around 1985 in the Eastern Part of Switzerland. They count as pioneers and experts in the investigation and performance of ancient folk music and their instruments in Switzerland before 1800.

Their 1991 standard work ‹TRITONUS – Alte Volksmusik in der Schweiz› won the ORG (Eastern Swiss Radio and Television) Award and is still on sale today.

In 2006 Tritonus was breaking new ground with their album ‹Alpan›, a fresh but respectful rendering of early Swiss folk music. Together with young jazz musicians they created a programme that combines the past and future of Swiss folk music: Having pieced together original instrumentations, they can demonstrate early musical styles, melodies, texts and instruments and mix them with new sounds to show possible future directions. The majority of the tunes and songs are unpublished works that have not been previously recorded. It‘s an exciting musical journey where the familiar can suddenly sound very different!
Tritonus was awarded a support grant by the Culture Foundation of the Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden for their ‹Alpan Project›.

In autumn 2010 the band toured China and played in Shanghai (World Expo, Lake Malaren Music Festival), Su Zhou and Zhenjiang.

Currently Tritonus is working on their new programme ‹Swiss, Swede, Wine and Wife› which deals with the three pivotal questions of mankind: Where have we come from? Where are we going? And – possibly – most importantly: What we’ll drink along the way?

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

CDs:

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? (The essential worldwide roots music guide)

listen / CD-order

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)

listen / CD-order

ANCIENT SWISS FOLK MUSIC

The Ancient 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

Fotos: Samuel Forrer, Speicher AR

"Teufelsband": Ausschnitt aus Titelillustration "Des Tüfels Segi", Bodenseeraum 1441, Badische Landesbibliothek, Karlsruhe, Cod. Don. 113, Bl. 1b.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF SWISS FOLK-MUSIC

A DIFFERENT
KIND OF
SWISS FOLK-MUSIC