Swiss nominations for the Echo Jazz 2015
The group Hildegard lernt fliegen and their singer Andreas Schaerer are among the nominees for the German Echo Jazz 2015 in the categories Ensemble of the Year International and Singer of the Year International
The combo Hildegard lernt fliegen was founded by Bernese singer Andreas Schaerer and manages without a harmony instrument. Their compositions are a potpourri of styles, ranging from complex polymetrics, balladesque soundscapes, chamber music, noise art, polka and jazz. In 2008, the ensemble won the nationally important Jazz Prize of the Zürcher Kantonalbank.
The Echo Jazz is awarded by the Deutsche Phono-Akademie, the "cultural institute of the German Music Industry Association", for the "most successful and best performances by national and international musicians". In 2013 it was presented in Hamburg's Fischauktionshalle, in 2014 at the Kulturfabrik Kampnagel. Independent observers have repeatedly criticized the Echo Jazz as a presumably commercially oriented, meaningless award that the industry bestows upon itself.