Christoph Pfändler was born in Lucerne in 1992. He was taught by the renowned dulcimer player Töbi Tobler, which proved to be a stroke of luck: this pioneer of the dulcimer let Pfändler explore traditional paths along with those that were new and unconventional, and supported him as he did so. Pfändler soon became interested in heavy metal and wanted to transfer this to the dulcimer. He began his folk music studies at the Lucerne University of Music in 2010. In January 2012 he gave his first concert with the conductor Howard Griffiths and the Brandenburg State Orchestra, which resulted in several more such engagements. He graduated from the Lucerne University of Music in 2013 with top marks in his Bachelor of Arts in folk music. That same year, Marco Kunz invited him to join his band. To date, he has released four albums with “Kunz”, which have all achieved gold status, and were followed by large-scale tours throughout Switzerland. Together with his band “Metal Kapelle”, Pfändler released the albums Fuckbrett and Insomnia. He and Töbi Tobler perform as the dulcimer duo “TOPF” (“i.e. TObler & PFändler). Pfändler’s band “Stalldrang” specialises in traditional folk music.