Stephan Eicher takes center stage

This year's Swiss Music Awards were presented to Stephan Eicher and 14 other musicians at the LAC Lugano in mid-September.

Music newspaper editorial office - Oct. 01, 2021

Steles with projections of the honorees on September 17 at the LAC Lugano. Photos: SMZ/ks

The names of the prizewinners had been known since May of this year. The ceremony in the presence of Federal Councillor Alain Berset took place for the first time in September in Ticino, at the LAC (Lugano Arte e Cultura) cultural center in Lugano. Each of the eleven artists was introduced with a short excerpt from the video, which portrays the award-winners individually and can be viewed on the Website schweizerkulturpreise.ch can still be seen.

The award winners took to the podium and expressed their great joy and gratitude in creative statements. But questions were also asked: Whether it was the right time for such prizes and whether they reached the prizewinners in good time and in an appropriate amount. Stephan Eicher, a "grand seigneur of European chanson" (Website BAK) was awarded the Swiss Grand Prix Music for his multifaceted work. Together with Viviane Chassot, Lionel Friedli and Simon Gerber, he reinterpreted some of his chansons before the honorees and invited guests were dismissed to the buffet and party.

The award ceremony can still be seen on the Swiss Cultural Awards" website.

Laurence Desarzens chaired this year's Federal Jury for Music, which included Sarah Chaksad, Anne Gillot, Simon Grab, Johannes Rühl, Nadir Vassena and Sylwia Zytynska.

The 2021 award winners

Inside the LAC, photos of the award winners were projected onto the wall.

Names highlighted in blue below the photos lead to larger articles, which can be found in the Swiss Music Newspaper have been published on these artists, either online (direct link) or in the printed edition (PDF).