Swiss Music Awards 2018

The Swiss Music Prize is unique in many respects and therefore worth more than a cultural note. A few years ago, none of the award winners would have imagined that such recognition of artistic independence and maturity in a wide range of genres - from avant-garde to folk music - would one day be possible at federal level.

The Federal Office of Culture (FOC) is also sending out a political signal with this prestigious award. In his sympathetic speech, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis emphasized that it is an important task of democracy to integrate and appreciate those who are critical and think differently. For him personally, it would be impossible to live without music; he would have preferred to become a jazz trumpeter.

It is not possible to apply for the Swiss Music Prize. Every year, the BAK selects around ten experts who nominate candidates from all regions and from all musical genres. A federal jury, chaired by clarinettist Florian Walser, then awards the Grand Prix Music, endowed with CHF 100,000, and the 14 Swiss Music Prizes of CHF 25,000 each.

The presentation of the award winners was colorful and not at all dull. Nothing of noble etiquette, all were simple and authentic. After a brief introduction by Florian Walser, a short video was played of each artist's work and everyone thanked them in their own way. It is quite special when the well-known folk music freethinker Noldi Alder is followed on stage by the "snappy" rapper Baze, or when the 37-year-old rock musician Kassette is followed by the radical sound experimenter Jacques Demierre, who was born in 1954.

This year's Grand Prix Music goes to jazz pianist Irène Schweizer for her life's work. Isabelle Chassot, Director of the BAK, held the laudatory speech for the now 77-year-old and also paid tribute to her commitment to women's rights. The self-taught Schweizer, who began playing the piano intuitively in her parents' restaurant and who visited the relevant clubs as an au pair in London, established free jazz in Switzerland and also asserted herself in a purely male domain.

This gathering of original artistic personalities turned the subsequent aperitif riche into a pleasant celebration in a lively atmosphere. The award ceremony was cleverly combined with the Label Suisse festival, at which several of the winners performed. Like the Swiss Music Prize, the biennial festival focuses on unique Swiss music from all genres. It is mainly supported by the city of Lausanne and the canton of Vaud, all concerts were free and took place at ten different venues. Radio Télévison Suisse was on site and, as the main partner, broadcast many concerts live or recorded them.

The festival, directed by Claire Brawand, offered an enormously wide and varied range of events over three evenings. Rock and pop groups performed open-air on Place Central, where the weather was a real folk festival. Jazz musicians presented themselves in the clubs, while classical music could be heard in the concert halls and in the church of St. François. You could come and go as you pleased. The Basel Chamber Orchestra and the Knabenkantorei gave a lively orchestral concert to mark the Bernstein anniversary, while the Mondrian Ensemble, which had won the music prize the day before, played contemporary music by Jarrell, Xenakis, Feldman and Dieter Ammann (also a prizewinner) to a small, interested audience.

By contrast, the program presented by the young French composer Kevin Juillerat (*1987) in the church of St. François was surprisingly well attended. Earth was in spring for voice, historical instruments and electronics. So you could switch from the delicate to the rocky, and inevitably encounter musical styles that you would never have heard otherwise. It was just a shame that the festival guide was so small and finely printed that it was almost impossible to read. In total, around 90,000 people experienced this Label Suisse. The people of Lausanne know how to celebrate in style.