FUAIM Friday Lunchtime Concerts – Claudia Schwab

About Claudia Schwab: 

Sligo-based Austrian violinist/singer/yodeller and composer Claudia Schwab has performed on numerous recordings and collaborated with a range of cross-genre artists both established and emerging. She has published three CDs of original work in 2014 (Amber Sands), 2017 (Attic Mornings), and 2024 (Went To Walk), which received a variety of excellent reviews by magazines and radio stations. She was commissioned to write for the National Concert Hall in collaboration with STF in 2019 and was awarded a Next Generation Bursary Award from the Irish Arts Council (2019), the Neuer Deutscher Jazzpreis 2019 with the Band “Shreefpunk + Strings” and a Hubert Von Goisern Förderpreis (2020). Alongside her solo show Claudia currently performs with the Claudia Schwab Quartet, Plúirín na mBan (feat. Cathy Jordan & Irene Buckley), Los Hostes (feat. Matija Solce & Aleš Zorec), Trio Hupsala (feat. Johannes Bär & Vinzenz Härtel), the Irish Gamelan Orchestra, the Kate Young Quintet and Cathy Jordan´s Crankie Island Song Project. Her tours have brought her all across Europe, over to India, Indonesia, Egypt, Canada and the US, with performances at renown festivals and venues such as Umefolk Festival (SE), Shrewsbury Folk Festival (UK), Rudolstadt World Music Festival (DE), Vienna Concert Hall (AT), Fleadh TV (IRE), National Concert Hall Dublin (IRE), Body&Soul Festival (IRE), Cairo Jazz Festival (EGY), Vicar Street (IRE), Kadikoy Sessions (TU) and Festival d’Art Huy (BE). 

Went To Walk (single) 

Ois Z’vü (single) 

About the album: 
Claudia Schwab (Violin/Vocals/Loop/Piano/Composition) 
 
Born out of solitary forest, seaside and mountain dwellings during the periods of lock down, the album marks a return to the origins of her composing practices: a world of sound that she could create, and retreat to, entirely on her own. 
 
Never shy of crossing borders between genres, traditions and conventions,  the album presents an introspective body of folk-inspired songs with experimental elements. Amalgamating aspects of the worlds of Irish, Austrian and Indian Classical music traditions, the compositions are interwoven with sound samples collected at home in Sligo, as well as during arts residencies in Crete, Austria, India and Sri Lanka. Amidst the sounds of a whistling kettle, wooden drawers, a coffee cup, nuclear alarms or Indian prayers, we hear of unfinished love stories, the yearning to be left alone, diverse “what if” scenarios of re-crafting our lifestyles, or reflections on the startling lack of being present to our own lives. 
 
Featuring guest musicians Jos Kelly (keys) and Matija Solce (accordion) on the title track “Went To Walk”, as well as Michael McGoldrick (flute/whistle) on the avantgarde yodel-trad experiment “Jodlphase”, the remainder of this delicate body of sounds is written for an intimate solo set up of violin, vocals, piano and loops. 

Links to album: 

Bandcamp: https://t.ly/nwkH- 
Spotify: https://t.ly/zD_P- 
Apple Music: https://t.ly/jbGrk 

Press mentions: 

‘pretty much unforgettable’ – FATEA 
‘she makes Yodel music modern and happening’ – Folkworld 
‘crazy and yet strangely attractive’ – Songlines and Roots 

Links (website, social media, streaming platforms) 

WEBSITE 
FACEBOOK 
YOUTUBE 
BANDCAMP 
SOUNDCLOUD 
SPOTIFY 
APPLE MUSIC 

LINKTREE