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Switzerland is a small country. It's population is 8 million. That's a huge one million fewer people than there are Londoners. It's a friendly country. Conservative in some ways (paternity leave is one day), progressive in others (they have proportional representation and seven president figures). Geographically-stunning and sprinkled with vast, breathtaking lakes, it's an amazing place to visit, though expensive. Wealthy and independent, Switzerland is not a member of the EU. Their money - Swiss Francs - come as kaleidoscopic notes and enormous silver coins.

But what of their music scene? In a country so different to ours, surely there must be huge differences in how the industry works over there? Reader, there are. Swiss Music Export kindly invited us over to Zürich for a tour of their city and its scene: a preview of the culture and music there ahead of the Swiss focus showcase at January's new talent festival Eurosonic. And what we found was truly fascinating. 

In the company of Swiss Music Export's Jean Zuber, Irascible Records' Fabienne Schmuki and Raffi Kolb, and A&R Manager at Universal Records Switzerland Kamil Kotska, we discovered a brand new world. Read on to learn more about the music scene in Switzerland. 

Switzerland’s language split means bands rarely find nationwide popularity

There are four official languages of Switzerland: German, French, Italian and Romansch. Really, Universal Switzerland’s A&R Manager Kamil Kostka tells me, there are five, what with the prevalence of English: at Irascible Records, the team speak in English as standard because they have colleagues from both the French and German sides of Switzerland. Clearly, this reflects on the Swiss musicians up and coming on the scene. Bands singing in Swiss-German (a verbal hybrid that I, with my small amount of German, had no chance at understanding), are unlikely to ‘make it’ on the French side, and vice versa. Many artists sing in English, though this isn't usually a means to transcending those barriers...it's just because people in Switzerland grow up listening to English and American music. 

Switzerland have the highest density of festivals in Europe

When you consider its tiny population, Switzerland have the most festivals in the whole of Europe. Massive fests like Montreux Jazz, Zurich Openair and Paléo are joined by hundreds of littler ones such as M for Music, the new talent showcase in Zurich. And it reportedly isn’t only the music that convinces Swiss people to head to festivals: Raffi confirms that Swiss people will buy a ticket to a festival for the experience as much as the music, much for the same reasons that hundreds of thousands of people descend on Glastonbury every year.

Switzerland can be an amazing place to see big acts in intimate spaces

Artists spinning out of small capacity venues at a rate of knots over here may still be playing tiny places on the continent. It’s worth keeping an eye out for tours touching Zürich, Bern and Lausanne…you might be able to see bands like Deerhunter at intimate venues you could never hope to catch them in here.

Music journalism struggles

As the UK observes closure after closure of traditional music magazine, so too does Switzerland struggle to keep their platforms alive. There are only a handful of regularly-visited Swiss sites - even VICE output Noisey closed its Swiss arm soon after it launched, though local acts still receive strong local media support. 

Bands love playing Switzerland

UK venues: it's time to upgrade on that rider of four warm Red Stripe lagers. In Switzerland, bands of all sizes receive a rider of nutritious food and a selection of beverages that aren't all alcoholic. Raffi moonlights as Artist Liaison, and strives to deliver varied, delicious riders. "British bands love to play here!" she says. 

On the surface, alcochol and drugs don't define a night out

At a gig on the Thursday night of my visit, punters made their way through perhaps a third of the booze that a British or Irish crowd of the same size might consume. The lower alcohol intake was noticable, and by the reports from the people I met in Zürich, cocaine isn't quite so prevalent in the industry either.

Only a few Swiss acts could headline festivals

Fabienne and Raffi at Irascible handed me a list of Swiss acts who could headline festivals on their home turf. Heritage rock band Patent Ochsner, rap duo Lo & Leduc, rock group Züri West and new Universal signing Faber are all on the list. Otherwise, they tell me, it’s UK and US performers all round. Céline Dion, Robbie Williams and Billie Eilish make festivals easy sell-outs, while German punk band Die Toten Hosen are also big ticket spinners. At Paléo near Lausanne next July, Lana Del Rey, The Cure and Twenty One Pilots will headline.

Sam Fender is huge in Switzerland too

Now on his steady incline to household name and music legend in his home country of the UK, Geordie rock musician Sam Fender is also on the up and up in Switzerland. A year ago, he played to a room of twenty people. In March he’ll reach 400…and he’s booked for a festival stage that’ll have thousands present next summer. 

Bogen F is the countercultural hub of Zürich

There’s a particular crowd who frequent Bogen F in Zürich…here is where you can see all the newest alternative sounds from Switzerland and further afield. The venue is famous for indie guitar programming, and had black midi and Weyes Blood as guests in 2019. For 2020, you’ll be able to catch (Sandy) Alex G there in January, and a hell of a lot more if this year’s programme is anything to go by.

Vinyl is on the up there too

Like in the UK and USA, vinyl is on the up in Switzerland. Record sales count among them 5% in vinyl purchases. As it is here, the increased popularity of physical music is a nice boost for smaller bands, and a considerable one for big hitters. Swiss-German band Patent Ocshner, which Kamil compared to a British heritage band like Joy Division, sold 20,000 of their latest album Cut Up. When you consider that only around 4 million people in Switzerland speak the Swiss-German they sing in, that’s no mean feat.

Black Sea Dahu could make it big in the UK and US

The English-singing folk band Black Sea Dahu are very popular in their hometown of Zürich - they play a gig most nights of the year and plays of their super-hit ‘In Case I Fall For You’ are very high in Berlin (a city where Swiss acts can find particular success). With a spellbinding performance at The Great Escape this year already charming me, their tiny performance at Piccolo Giardino on the night that the British General Election concluded managed to distract me from a growing sense of impending doom. Their delicate, otherworldly folk pop is decadent and complex, magical and soothing. It's certainly good enough to make it big here and in the USA. Watch this space. 

Breaking the UK is very hard

So much music comes out of the United Kingdom and Ireland that bands from Switzerland find it very hard to make it over here. Even Japan is more receptive to their artists, Irascible tells me amusedly, with a hint of understandable exasperation. Swiss Music Export, a programme that does what it says on the tin, helps homegrown talent to travel around the world, including to our unwelcome shores. Black Sea Dahu returned from a UK tour at the beginning of December. 

Yes, they do produce great musicians

For a taste of what's popular -and good - in Switzerland right now, have a look at indie songwriter Faber, Berlin transplant Sophie Hunger, krautrock/electro-duo Klaus Johann Grobe - and please, please, do not sleep on Black Sea Dahu. 

At Eurosonic Noorderslag in January there will be a Swiss focus showcase of more than twenty artists. Eurosonic takes place in Groningen, The Netherlands from 15-17 January 2020. 

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