Peter Schärli calls the music on this CD “traditional”. But what does “traditional” mean?

 

It's about continuing something that is in danger of being forgotten and disappeared. Something that we lose sight of because our horizons narrow, because in our mindless pushing forward we only look or hear in one direction and lose sight and ear of the wide horizon of possibilities. With a little distance you can better see the ridiculousness of the constant optimisation, which is also a constant forgetting.

 

We have now noticed that the incessant assertion of an unconditional, absolutely “new” thing in the arts has proven to be quite inflated, a hubris. Literature also only knows a few topics, and that's why it's less about inventing, but rather about constantly translating, interpreting and varying things (even destroying what you find is tied to what you find). “Nothing said is new, nothing conveyed comes from nowhere,” said literary scholar George Steiner. And the art historian Ernst Gombrich said: “Even the greatest artist needs an idiom for his work. Only the tradition that he finds provides him with the raw material of images that he needs.» The philosopher Odo Marquard put it succinctly: “The future needs origins.” 

 

What is therefore crucial is how what is found is dealt with. Anyone who thinks that Peter Schärli and his group – in this case – are interested in turning the wheel back and escaping from the present is wrong. The music on this CD is not a turning away from the here and now, but rather the connection of the here and now to a timeless flow. This is called culture.

 

And that's why there's another, less abstract reason to listen to this music.

 

Musicians who have worked together for years and built mutual trust play here, searching for their “tone”, their “language” – far from any showmanship or forced attitude. They take their time to develop their songs calmly and calmly. You breathe deeply – in a breathless, hectic time. They look for the measure in our immoderation. And in doing so, they opposed the categorical imperative of performance society not to “waste” time.

 

Listen to Nina Simone’s song “Four Women”. Is that yesterday? Outdated? - Certainly not! The present interpretation creates a mood in which pause and encounter become possible. This is confident, out-of-time interaction. Music that can, that doesn't have to (because “have to” would be a totalitarian approach).

 

Further words are unnecessary. This music speaks for itself...

 

Meinrad Buholzer