Cyrill Schläpfer

Cartographer of the sounding Switzerland

With his label CSR Records, the music producer, composer and percussionist Cyrill Schläpfer maps the acoustic landscapes of Switzerland. Born in Lucerne in 1959, he studied recording technology, music production and drums at the Berklee College of Music before working in the folk music department of the music label EMI. He discovers recordings of the Schwyzerörgeler Rees Gwerder, who teaches him and arouses his interest in doing field research with traditional music in the Alpine regions: His documentary film "UR-Musig", premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 1993, was instrumental in rediscovering the then hardly respected traditional Swiss musical heritage. Cyrill Schläpfer also uses his acoustic field research as a composer: the electro-acoustic steamboat symphony “Die Waldstätte” (2007), which stands in the tradition of Musique Concrète, is based on sound recordings from Lake Lucerne. With his label CSR Records, founded in 1989, Cyrill Schläpfer represents musicians from Swiss folk music, pop and rock.