14th OBWALD Folk Culture Festival

Here’s all the information you need to get there by public transport.
Sarnen can be easily reached by train, with trains leaving Lucerne every half hour and Interlaken Ost every hour. Timetable

SHUTTLE BUSES SARNEN – GSANG (FESTIVAL GROUNDS) 04-07 July 2019

Thursday to Saturday - Outward trip:

• e.g. arr. Sarnen: 5:38/46 p.m. / 6:38/46 p.m. / 7:08/24 p.m. (from Lucerne)
• dep. Sarnen rail.st.: 5:48 p.m. / 6:48 p.m. / 7:26 p.m.
• arr. Gsang: 6:08 p.m. / 7:08 p.m. / 7:46 p.m.

Thursday to Saturday - Return trip:

• dep. Gsang: 10:55 p.m. / 11:30 p.m.
• arr. Sarnen: 11:13 p.m. / 11:45 p.m.
• e.g. dep. Sarnen: 11:19 p.m. / 11:49 p.m. (direction Lucerne)

Sunday - Outward trip:

• e.g.  arr. Sarnen: 09:32 a.m. (from Interlaken)
• e.g.  arr. Sarnen: 09:38 a.m. / 10:08 a.m. / 10:38 a.m. (direction Lucerne)
• dep. Sarnen rail.st.: 09:40 a.m. / 10:10 a.m. / 10:40 a.m.
• arr. Gsang: 10:00 a.m. / 10:30 a.m. / 11:00 a.m.

Sunday - Return trip:

• dep. Gsang: 3:55 p.m. / 4:30 p.m.
• arr. Sarnen: 3:15 p.m. / 4:45 p.m.
• e.g. dep. Sarnen: 3:19 p.m. / 4:49 p.m. (direction Lucerne)
• e.g. dep. Sarnen: 4:24 p.m. (direction Interlaken) 

Use of the shuttle bus is free. Regular trips according to the Zentralbahn /PostBus timetable must be paid for.

In a world of conformity and levelling of cultural expression, traditional folk music is at best called exotic and nostalgic and at worst backward or irrelevant for our time. We are committed to counter this point of view. We see folk music as an enduring and revitalizing force through which a self-determined, authentic musical form inspired by the past finds a way to withstand the pressures of a unified globalized culture.

This force can be witnessed every Wednesday night on Saad Zaghlul Street in downtown Cairo. There, you can hear the rhythmic beats of drums sounding from an open door at the end of the block. At Makan, a blessed place of Egyptian folk culture, the Mazaher ensemble performs a ritual. This ensemble is one of a few remaining groups in Egypt to preserve and perform the Zar rituals.
The ceremony begins with a hypnotic chant, which is soon accompanied by various traditional instruments and drums – a euphoric, almost spiritual experience! Om Sameh, the shaman who conducts the ritual, is one of the last of her kind in Egypt to master these rituals, which will inevitably fall prey to the zeitgeist. We believe the souls of the shamans that inhabited our mountain valleys centuries ago will be thrilled about their visit to our region.

On our stage, we have already hosted joint performances by an Obwald-native yodeler and a Mongolian singer, by Obwald and Vietnamese instrumentalists as well as by a Muota Valley “Juuzer“ and a Georgian singer; this year’s edition will see intra-Swiss encounters for the first time, including joint performances by Appenzell Ausserrhoden’s “Waldhüttä- und Setzschuppel” and the fantastic Obwalden-based “Jodler von Heiterluft”, who will perform alone and together on our stage. Another joint performance will feature the Rymann siblings from Giswil and the Schmidig twins from Ried in the Muota Valley.

In addition to a solo performance by gifted young Schwyzerörgeli (Swiss accordion) virtuoso Adrian Würsch, we are very excited to welcome Appenzell string quintet Vielseitig featuring five young women from Appenzell Innerrhoden, who in addition to their solo show will also perform together with Egypt’s Tarab Quintet.