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Switzerland Hosts Biggest Alpine Horn Festival

Alphorn blowers perform an ensemble piece on the last day of the Alphorn International Festival in Nendaz, southern Switzerland. (Reuters)
Alphorn blowers perform an ensemble piece on the last day of the Alphorn International Festival in Nendaz, southern Switzerland. (Reuters)
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Switzerland Hosts Biggest Alpine Horn Festival

Alphorn blowers perform an ensemble piece on the last day of the Alphorn International Festival in Nendaz, southern Switzerland. (Reuters)
Alphorn blowers perform an ensemble piece on the last day of the Alphorn International Festival in Nendaz, southern Switzerland. (Reuters)

The soft sounds of hundreds of wooden Swiss alpine horns filled the valley below Switzerland’s Mount Tracouet on Sunday, as the world’s largest festival of its kind concluded after three days.

According to Reuters, the traditional instruments, alphorn in German or cor des Alpes in French, look like supersized smoking pipes.

Over three meters long and built in several connecting pieces to make transport manageable, they are beloved by many Swiss for whom the somber tones conjure images of snow-topped mountain peaks swirling in the clouds.

While the horns have been used by mountain dwellers in Switzerland, Germany, France and elsewhere, they are commonly associated with the traditional Swiss agrarian culture that dominates the country’s Alpine hinterlands. They were used historically by herders to call to their cows.

Over 3,500 people attended this year’s event in the ski town of Nendaz in the Swiss canton of Valais above the Rhone River valley.

Competitors, solo and in ensembles, vied for the rights to call themselves among the best alpine horn blowers in the world. Some 200 men and women dressed in folk costumes and blowing fiercely into their instruments united for the grand finale where they play simultaneously.

Judges were sequestered inside a tent where they could not see who is playing, allowing them to score with impartiality.

Switzerland even has an alphorn academy, a 20-year-old Montreux-based group that seeks to promote the instrument at home and around the world.

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Varieties

On Belgian Coast, Fishing on Horseback -- and Saving a Tradition

Once practiced throughout Europe, the custom of shrimp-fishing on horseback has all but died out. Nicolas TUCAT / AFP
Once practiced throughout Europe, the custom of shrimp-fishing on horseback has all but died out. Nicolas TUCAT / AFP
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On Belgian Coast, Fishing on Horseback -- and Saving a Tradition

Once practiced throughout Europe, the custom of shrimp-fishing on horseback has all but died out. Nicolas TUCAT / AFP
Once practiced throughout Europe, the custom of shrimp-fishing on horseback has all but died out. Nicolas TUCAT / AFP

Panniers strapped to their haunches, a team of horses waded collar-deep through North Sea waters -- hauling wide nets along the Belgian coast as cawing seagulls swirl all around.
In the saddle, clad head to toe in yellow oilskins, riders steered them parallel with the beach in Oostduinkerke -- the last place on Earth, they say, where the tradition of shrimp-fishing on horseback lives on, AFP reported.
Once practiced throughout Europe, the custom has all but died out -- but a community of enthusiasts has kept the flame going in this coastal town, earning a spot on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
They do not fish for profit, but the rare spectacle they offer has become a tourist draw for the small town, situated half an hour from the French border.
Back in the day, historians explain, poor farmers used to ride to the coast to fish -- as a way to supplement their diet.
At first they pulled their nets by hand, later using mules then eventually workhorses able to haul much larger, heavier loads. The method was used in Belgium, the Netherlands, northern France and the south of England.
'Unique'
On this sunny day in late October, a group of five headed out at low tide to fish for grey shrimp.
"This is the only place in the world where shrimp-fishing is still practiced with horses," fisherman Gunther Vanbleu told AFP as he sorted his catch on the beach -- surrounded by a curious crowd of smartphone-wielding onlookers.
"You're working with your horse, you're in the sea and the combination of everything at the same time -- the pleasure of catching fish or catching shrimp, all of that together makes it fun," he said.
This time around, some 200 people gathered -- in rubber boots or barefoot -- to watch the afternoon show under crisp blue skies.
"There is always a lot of interest from people, because it is unique," Vanbleu said.
Not for sale
The day's catch -- a few kilograms of shrimp -- is not for sale: it will be cooked up by the dozen families who keep the tradition going and shared among friends.
But the sight alone continues to draw tourists from April to October.
"I think that this will always exist in the municipality," said Vanbleu.
After the custom won UNESCO recognition in 2013, a committee was set up whose purpose is to ensure it is kept alive, he explained.
"I think that it will continue forever," he said.
Asked about the possible impact of climate change, Vanbleu said he has seen some shifts over the years.
"We do notice that something has changed a little, such as the temperature of the water -- it's maybe a little warmer than usual."
"And we are seeing other animal species arrive here," he said. "Maybe if the water gets too warm, the shrimp will move to colder water... in 30 or 40 years."
"If it comes to that, we will see," said Vanbleu -- who for now, come rain or shine, plans to keep riding out to sea.