Once again, this year’s call for submissions for a «Get Going!» grant generated a termendous response. Over 220 dossiers from all parts of the country and all genres were submitted and presented to our expert jury. After reviewing all the dossiers, the jury decided to support the following musicians for their artistic visions with a «Get Going!» grant of CHF 25,000.- each. Congratulations to the beneficiaries!

LUCA FORCUCCI

Luca Forcucci is an artist, composer, and scholar. In his research, he investigates the perceptual relationships between the sonic and the spatial, exploring the inaudible, and the inherent cognitive aspects related to inner landscapes. This exploration involves immersive (deep) listening experiences in diverse locations such as the Amazon Rainforest, South Africa, Ghana, Lofoten Islands, and Alpha Cities. Additionally, he collaborates with neuroscience to better understand the cognitive aspects of the mechanisms of listening. The processes associated with machine learning entail biases and mistakes, stemming from the subjectivity introduced by humans. Furthermore, in the realm of music, what may appear as mistakes are not inherently so; rather, they represent potential new directions a work can take. In his project “Not Always Human(s): Landscapes Perception and Architecture,” for which he received a «Get Going!» contribution, Forcucci delves into questions such as: What can be expected from a sonic architecture when insights from machine learning, cognition and mistakes are applied to it? How might new experiences emerge as a result?
lucaforcucci.com

MONTE MAI

Monte Mai is a psychedelic pop trio founded in 2020 by Grenadian singer Anais Schmidt and two Ticino musicians, Fabio Pinto (guitar) and Fabio Besomi (bass). The project that earned them a «Get Going!» grant arose from a desire to examine more closely the musical intersection between North and South. It is looking at bringing together, from an aesthetic point of view, the roots and cultural influences of Latin and Germanic music. The trio’s main aim is to forge a link between the traditional melodies of the Italian musical repertoire and the rhythmic elements of the German genre known as Krautrock or “kosmische Musik”. The contaminating element plays an important role here, ultimately resulting in the emergence of exotic pop, Krautrock, opera, jazz and electronics in a stylistically free space.
montemai.com

NICULIN JANETT

Niculin Janett is a composer and saxophonist who also plays the clarinet and flute. He is one of the most versatile musicians on the current Swiss jazz scene. 2015 saw him found the Niculin Janett Quartet featuring Rich Perry, but he has also visited standards and the Great American Songbook with the duos Janett / Schraff and The Sad Pumpkins, and brought jazz and Ländler folk music together in the ensemble by the name of “(C’est si) B.O.N.”. In 2021 he and the Niculin Janett Quartet succeeded in innovatively combining folk, jazz and classical music in a nine-part suite, “Rêveries Dansantes”. On the back of the «Get Going!» grant, Janett will be able to use a composing workshop in New York city for three months to work on alternative playing techniques, harmonic expansions and new melodic and rhythmic elements.
niculinjanett.ch

NICK FURRER

After four albums as one-man band “Haubi Songs” and numerous collaborations, Lucerne songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nick Furrer is artistically at a turning point. He now wants to broaden his musical universe by bringing in new musicians. With this desire to open up, he wants to break down stereotypes both live and in the studio, challenging the structures and strategies of a band formation. The «Get Going!» grant will enable Nick Furrer, who has recently started writing in a number of different languages, to intensify his exchanges with people from all areas of the music business and thus further the reorientation of “Haubi Songs”, perhaps even by creating a live multi-instrumentalist band.
redbrickrecords.ch/haubi-songs

FRÄULEIN LUISE

Fräulein Luise is a young indie-pop band from Zurich whose songs, which feature lyrics in German and Swiss-German, manage with consummate ease the balancing act between socially relevant commentary and danceable music. Consisting of Olivia Merz, Paula Scharrer, Aliosha Todisco and Paul Studer, the quartet has only been in existence since 2021, but quickly achieved cult status with its exuberant blend of genres ranging from indie and pop to rock and jazz. The «Get Going!» grant is an investment in the future of this band, enabling it to pursue creative ideas, explore and pursue new – to it – directions in laboratory-like conditions. As active FINTA artists, they will also use the time to build up their network and reactivate their podcast project “Störfrequenz”, which covers the topic of women in Switzerland’s male-dominated music scene.
fraeulein-luise.ch

ANNA HIRSCH

Anna Hirsch is a composer, musician and performer based in Basel. She is one half of art-pop duo Fleeb and a member of the Ikarus jazz quintet. Hirsch has also been involved in numerous theatre productions and took part in the international project SOFIA (Support Of Female Improvising Artists). Her wide-ranging experience is the starting point for her next project. The solo project she is currently working on, MARIA RIA, sees her leveraging the inputs of recent years to realise her very own, highly individual artistic visions. She wants MARIA RIA to bring out the insubordinate, the vulnerable and, above all, the playful tendencies that lurk in her and in all of us. The «Get Going!» grant is allowing Anna Hirsch to compose and produce new music, but it is also helping her collaborate with an artistic team to develop a visual aesthetic – including a live show, stage design, lighting, clothing, artwork and videos – that complements and enhances the music.
anna-hirsch.com

CHRISTOPH TRUMMER

Christoph Trummer is both a singer/songwriter and an author. Since his 2014 album “Heldelieder”, Trummer’s literary writing can no longer be separated from his activities as a composer and musician. Whether exploring migration, as in the aforementioned “Heldelieder”, or family, as in his “Familienalbum” from 2020, Trummer uses the dialectic of the two artistic possibilities to examine his subject matter in a variety of ways. He is currently working on two projects at once, for which he has been awarded a «Get Going!» grant: “In die Welt kommen” is a book project in which he uses his experiences as a musician in New York to reflect on his sheltered Swiss origins. “Creeds”, the other project, investigates the question of how articles of faith shape our lives – through the lens of spiritual, scientific, political as well as emotional enquiry. The exploration of this multifaceted topic will be documented in conversations (podcasts) and will ultimately result in a book and new songs.
trummeronline.ch