Tribute to a pioneer

Christine Lauterburg (*1956) catches the eye at first glance with her unique mix of dresses made up of elements of traditional Bernese costumes, punk culture and retro looks. But the yodeller also dares to create new combinations with improvised song accompaniments on violin, Langnauerörgeli, Talerbecken, Büchel, with experimental and techno bands. Thirty years ago, this innovative artist began rewriting traditional carols and adapting them to an urban environment. Hie obe. Ho-lobe became Hie unde ar Aare, wo d Laschtwäge fahre (CD Schynige Platte). The successful film actress learned to yodel in courses and private lessons, studied yodeling and folk song collections, expanded her repertoire with the help of recordings and became a member of the Swiss Yodeling Association (EJV). Lauterburg's experiences singing in a competition at a cantonal yodeling festival and her critical reflections are documented in the film Alpenglow (1987). Since then, the singer has repeatedly collaborated with other ensembles, but also presents old, newly arranged yodel songs in solo programs and mixes up the musical tradition in a risk-taking manner.

On the initiative of Robert Bösiger, a remarkable monograph of over three hundred pages has been dedicated to this deserving artist, who stands at the beginning of new folk music in Switzerland. The journalist invited around thirty musicians to write short texts about their colleague and published these "voices" together with 25 multi-page "encounters": Transcriptions of Lauterburg's conversations with one companion each on the occasion of reunions in 2017. Always similar profile photos by Christian Roth document these meetings and capture the many facets of the dazzling cultural figure. Lauterburg's musical achievements are featured in each of these articles, impressively portrayed by the Romansh singer Corin Curschellas, the Schwyzerörgel player Markus Flückiger, the alphorn player Eliana Burki, the CD producer Cyrill Schläpfer, as well as politicians such as Adolf Ogi, Moritz Leuenberger and the Mayor of Bern Alec von Graffenried. Peter Bichsel aptly describes Lauterburg's talent for constant renewal: "If someone is good, they always start again from the beginning."

Robert Bösiger and Christian Roth: Everything remains different. Christine Lauterburg, 336 p. incl. CD, Fr. 39.00, Werd-Verlag, Thun 2018, ISBN 978-3-85932-936-2