engelberg_magazin_nummer17_winter

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kultur | arts+culture kultur | arts+culture
Engelberg native ELRITSCHI loves his home in
the mountains, and he loves playing the guitar
and singing. He combines his passions by
composing and singing songs in broad local
dialect about Engelberg sites that have captured
his heart, such as the Grassenbiwak mountain
lodge and the Zieblen cableway. This winter sees
the release of his new album, which, thanks to a
collaboration with Engelberg Alpine horn
quintet Echo vom Spannort, features even more
sounds of home.
As a Boy Scout, Richard Blat ter, aka
ELRITSCHI, found that he
cou ld enter tain people by
play ing simple guitar chords
and singing his own ly rics. “I
was an unremarkable young
fellow but I soon rea lised
that I cou ld amaze people
with my music,” he says. But the idea of re-
leasing his own a lbum hadn’ t yet crossed his
mind. Before that cou ld happen, he needed
a push in the right direc tion, and some time
ref lec ting on his love for his late father.
When Richard ’s seven-piece band Jolly
and the Fly trap played their f irst gig at Engel-
berg’s cinema in 1989, the boys rea lised that
they didn’ t have enough songs in their rep-
er toire to enter tain the surprisingly large
audience. “They said: ‘Ritschi, get on stage
and sing your solo pieces’,” remembers Rich-
ard, now a 46-year-old father of three. He
obliged and, much like when he was a Boy
Scout, the crowd went crazy. With just a few
chords – he has never had guitar lessons and
can’ t read music – teamed with simple ly rics
about the loca l area and a dash of irony, he
managed to enchant his audience. But de-
spite his success, the band still came f irst.
His father had a lways encouraged him
to release a solo a lbum. “It wasn’ t until 2000,
when I was rea lly missing my dad, who had
died, that I took on this new projec t,” explains
ELRITSCHI. “In 2003, I f ina lly did my f irst gig
as a solo ar tist.” He can f ill an entire room
with his voice, and his songs transpor t audi-
ences on a journey through the mountains
– to the Grassenbiwak lodge, for example. His
music and clever wordplay require an at ten-
tive audience. “On ly then can I think up great
stories for between the songs when I’m on
stage.” ELRITSCHI used to sing in English too,
but a ll the tracks on his new a lbum A lphorn-
liäd li are in loca l dia lec t. “The
sing-song rhy thm of ‘Ängel-
bärger Duitsch ’, Engelberg
German, lends itself well
to the music,” he explains.
The idea to record an
a lbum with A lpine horn
group Echo vom Spannor t didn’ t come f rom
ELRITSCHI. “As is so of ten the case, I had to be
given a lit tle push in the right direc tion to f ind
the inspiration I needed,” he laughs. Thomas
Infanger, one of the A lpine horn players, asked
him to write a song in natura l harmonics so
that they cou ld play it together. That meant he
cou ld on ly use three guitar chords. “Because
I’m a fan of simplicity, this task was a gorgeous
one for me,” says ELRITSCHI, referring to their
f irst collaborative track “Grassäbiwak ”. That
one song then led to an entire a lbum, featur-
ing collaborations between ELRITSCHI and the
A lpine horn players as well as tracks that each
per formed on their own. The a lbum is rounded
of f with the sounds of percussionist Werner
Häcki, Richard ’s fellow band member in Jolly
and the Fly trap. The a lbum is far f rom the
mainstream and will cer tain ly not be played
over and over on the radio. But it will bring
a smile to many people’s faces, par ticu larly
those who appreciate authentic, A lpine sounds.
Die Plattentaufe zur CD «Alphornliädli» fin-
det am 12. Dezember 2015 im Kursaal Engelberg
statt. Weitere Informationen unter: -
und
The A lphorn liäd li a lbum launch par ty is on 12 December
2015 in Engelberg’s Kursaa l venue. For more information,
v isit and www.a lphorn-quar tet .
ELRITSCHI tells stories
with his songs, most of
them about Engelberg.
Der Weg in die Spannorthüt-
te war den Musikern nicht zu
weit. Sie genossen die spezielle
Atmosphäre auf 1956 m.ü.M.
The musicians enjoyed the
special atmosphere 1,956
metres above sea level.