«We Mountain People in the Mountains…»

Digitisation and Analysis of the Sound Recordings Produced for the Documentary by Fredi M. Murer

In 1973 and 1974, when Fredi M. Murer made his documentary “Us mountain people in the mountains are aren’t actually to blame for being here”, he shot a large number of film reels and recorded some 160 soundtracks full of the sounds, stories and conversations of Uri mountain families, as well as thematic interviews with a number of Uri personalities. He produced all of those with a view to the film he was to make thereafter. Some of the recordings were made outside, but most of them in Uri itself, over a 4-year period. In the final 108-minutes film, only a small portion of all that could be used.

Today these extensive sound recordings have become valuable historic documents of mountain life in Uri at the time. They offer a privileged look into the fortunes of farming families in the Göschenen valley, Schächen valley, at Urnerboden and in the Maderaner valley, presenting their daily lives and views, which differ greatly from one valley to another. These differences also appear in the accents and vocabulary of each valley’s dialect. On the recordings, the farmers and their families share their lives, work, hopes and fears, often referring to their forbears and the ancient traditions practised in their harsh mountain valleys.

The recordings thus contain dormant treasures in sound of the life memories, legends, school essays, tales of the poverty and sufferings of Uri inhabitants, as well as of the so-called ‘Alp dweller’s oath’. There are also recordings of sounds and background noises that one hardly hears today.  

To make available the recordings for future generations and scientific research, at the beginning of 2021, Peakfine Studio (Paul Avondet, Sophia Murer) digitised the recordings and made them available online. Peakfine Studio and Cultures of the Alps plan to hold a series of work sessions during which the recordings with be studied, analysed and contextualised along with students. The outcomes of these sessions will then also be published on the website.

Digitisation of the sound recordings was made possible thanks to the support of Dätwyler Foundation and the Canton of Uri’s Lottery Fund.