Strong words during the second night of the festival: “If you can sing, sing along; if you can’t – DON’T!” The audience in the sold-out marquee responded to Seal’s words with a laugh, and did its best. That’s how Seal is: Born in London, with a Nigerian-Brazilian background, soaked in British humour and blessed with a souly-bluesy voice that shook the frame of the marquee yesterday evening. His lyrics, his voluminous, velvety baritone, his band, with four background singers in tight black dresses – a first-rate treat for the eyes and the ears. The 1,600 festival-goers therefore stood most of the time, being quite carried away by the 48-year-old multi-Brit-Award winner in his khaki buttoned shirt and a jaunty silver belt around his waist, and even took part in Seal’s impromptu survey: One-tenth of the festival-goers raised their fingers enthusiastically when he asked who was from Zermatt. According to the rule of thumb estimate, about 50 percent of yesterday’s audience came from the rest of Switzerland and 40 percent from abroad.
Sina, by contrast, mostly attracted fellow countrymen. The 44-year-old Oberwallis singer rocked the sold-out Vernissage, the second main stage of the festival, to a late hour. She brought along a string quartet to support her band, whose unplugged sound matched Sina’s vernacular pop-rock like a hand in a glove. As with Seal earlier, love was the main topic, the only thing that really counts in life. “Love that comes, and sometimes goes away again”, she said in “Walliserdiitsch” (Valais German dialect), which doesn’t sound quite as strong since she has been living in the Aargauer Seeland with fellow musician Markus Kühne. This also has great advantages, however: Her strong rock ballads and her amusing comments in-between could be understood perfectly by the numerous “Üsserschwyzern”. Whatever: In flawless and clear German, she was visibly very happy to have been invited to Zermatt once again after a long period of ten years, and really kicked off with her crew: “Wenn nid jetzt wenn dänn?”
This also goes for the 14 young, hungry Swiss bands to whom Zermatt Unplugged offers a platform for their music in the Foyer Tent and the bars. The impressive Chamber Soul who played in the bar of the Hotel Alex yesterday evening, for example, a trio from Zurich made up of singer Brandy Butler, trombonist René Mosele and guitarist Roman Hosek – all experienced, reliable jazz musicians who have been on the road together for four years. “Our clientele is from the cabaret scene”, said Brandy Butler after the concert. The American-born singer has lived in Switzerland for 7 years. ”But it’s a great honour to be invited for once to perform at such a cool festival as Zermatt Unplugged.”
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