HILDEGARD LEARNS TO FLY: A MUSICAL SENSATION FROM SWITZERLAND

Hildegard lernt fliegen: outrageous, funny, jazzy, and from Switzerland: an electrifying mix of jazz rock, tarantella, circus blues, swing, and opera in the funniest of all gray areas between Frank Zappa and Kurt Weil.

Hildegard lernt Fliegen is not a band, but a storm. You buy a ticket and expect a concert, but what you get is a theatrical assault on your understanding of music, a Dada party, a single thrill. Band leader Andreas Schaerer unleashes his effervescent imagination on the audience at full throttle, and they celebrate the Swiss sextet as if it were the salvation of art from itself. The nameless debut album was a hit, as was its successor, and the band toured half of Europe, Russia, and China with their mixture of jazz rock, tarantella, circus blues, swing, and opera. Hildegard lernt fliegen's third album, “The fundamental rhythmofunpolishedbrains,” picks up where the band left off. The sextet cleverly counters fearful conventionalists with fresh ideas, throwing itself like a grain of sand into the gears of uniformity. The band leaves conventions behind, does not elevate nonconformity to dogma, and displays stunning wit alongside precision. An eternally restless group—a splendid chaos!