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34 albums · 1961–2026

The alphorn and the Schwyzerörgeli, two Swiss instruments

· 1 min read · by 1001 Albums

An alphorn player in traditional dress on a mountain meadow in the Valais
Hitsch Jenny, a Grisons folk musician, smiling with his SchwyzerörgeliA Schwyzerörgeli by the maker Reist, with its button keyboard and bellows
An alphorn player in the Valais. Photo: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Hitsch Jenny at the Schwyzerörgeli. Photo: Jürg Vollmer, Aroser Zeitung, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · A Schwyzerörgeli by Reist. Photo: Adrian Gehri, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The alphorn is a straight wooden horn three to four metres long, its bell resting on the ground. It has no valves and plays only the natural notes, among them the alphorn fa, which no tempered scale has; herders blew it to call the cattle and to send word across the valleys.

The list also has the Schwyzerörgeli, the small diatonic accordion of central Switzerland, a lead voice of the Ländler since the 1880s. On the alphorn there are Leopold Mozart's concerto, Hans Kennel's Mytha, Eliana Burki, Lisa Stoll and Hornroh; on the Schwyzerörgeli Rees Gwerder, Markus Flückiger, Carlo Brunner's Ländlerkapelle and the new folk of Pflanzplätz and Hujässler.

The list has 34 records from 1961 to 2026. Every valley has players beyond these. About 29 hours of music, 4 days of a few records each.

By genre

World 70%Folk & Country 23%Classical 4%Other 3%
  • World 70%
  • Folk & Country 23%
  • Classical 4%
  • Other 3%

The genres named most: swiss, folk, ländler, alphorn, classical, jazz.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 1 country: Switzerland 34. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

More lists

Lists of Instruments first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.

29 albums · 1976–2024

The kora of Mali, the harp-lute of the jeli

· 1 min read

The kora is the harp-lute of the jeli, the griots of Mali, Guinea, Senegal and the Gambia: 21 strings over a large calabash covered in cowhide, played with the thumbs and forefingers of both hands.

World 89%Blues 3%Classical 3%Other 5%
  • World 89%
  • Blues 3%
  • Classical 3%
  • Other 5%

Read and see the list