Noldi Alder

Free spirit from Appenzell

Swiss music prize 2018

Noldi Alder, who was born in Urnäsch in 1953, is one of folk music’s great innovators. A former member of the legendary band Alderbuebe, he has been experimenting with folk, classical and new sounds since 1996 as a composer, arranger, violinist, dulcimer player and natural yodeller. He has blazed his own unique trail between rigid convention and lively modernity in ground-breaking groups such as Das Neue Original Appenzeller Streichmusik Projekt (The New Original Appenzell String Music Project), in films such as “Echoes of Home” and as a field researcher, opera composer and improviser.