Pirmin Huber Swiss Folk

The folk music group “Pirmin Huber Swiss Folk” offers fascinating combinations of archaic Swiss folk music and groovy elements from pop and jazz. Taking traditional impromptu, improvisational playing as his starting point, Pirmin Huber builds bridges between unspoilt forms such as Jütze, Stümpeli and Schottisch and the grooves of jazz. Together with his band, he creates an inimitable sound comprising a mixture of the rural and down-to-earth and an urban joy in experimentation. The band’s repertoire is focused on compositions of their own that take up elements of folk music and combine them with contemporary influences to create a new, dynamic sound world.

At the heart of the band is Pirmin Huber himself: a double bass player who loves to experiment. He’s a composer, an improviser and a sound artist who has devoted himself intensively to the further development of Swiss folk music, whether as a soloist, a bandleader or as part of an ensemble himself. He elicits earthy tones and groovy, innovative sounds from his instrument. He is joined here by a number of other great names from the Swiss folk music scene. Fränggi Gehrig is a local boy – born and raised in Andermatt – and one of the most versatile accordionists of the region. He plays both in a duo with his sister Maria Gehrig and with the groups Gläuffig and Hanneli-Musig. Dimitri Monstein is a busy jazz musician who’s at home on the drums. He plays in his own Dimitri Monstein Ensemble, but also with personalities as diverse as Helene Fischer, Andrea Bocelli, Daniel Hope and Nils Landgren. The violinist Andreas Gabriel likes to investigate forgotten Swiss fiddle music and experiments with old melodies. He is inspired by historical Swiss recordings and folk music violinists from all over the world and combines their influences in bands such as Ambäck. Lukas V. Gernet is a pianist and composer who deals with many different aspects of music and everyday encounters. He says: “I am fascinated by being able to develop a musical language of my own and by being able to implement it together with others in an ensemble”. This also applies on a broader scale to “Pirmin Huber Swiss Folk”, whose aim is to chart a new path for Swiss folk music and to develop it further across stylistic boundaries.