In 1979 and 1980 a recording team from Télévision Suisse Romande (Swiss French Television) headed by producer Philippe Grand and journalist Claude Schauli visited hundreds of musicians and instrument specialists throughout Switzerland in order to document the construction, performance and traditional uses of more than 60 Swiss music instruments. The resulting television film, Balade à travers la musique populaire suisse, has since been broadcast numerous times, translated into German and Italian, and released as a video.

Concurrently with the release of the film, Claves Records released a special boxed edition with two LP recordings and a booklet in four languages with extensive iconographic material which featured and documented musical excerpts from the film. The release of this recording, Die Volksmusikinstrumente in der Schweiz [Folk Music Instruments of Switzerland], earned immediate national and international resound. Claves is pleased to release this fascinating document about traditional Swiss music instruments now on compact disc with a revised text and additional illustrations and photographs.

Brigitte Bachmann-Geiser received the Premio Giuseppe Pitrè-Città di Palermo, a internationally renowned ethnological award, for her scholarly direction of this project and for her book Die Volksmusikinstrumente der Schweiz (Leipzig, Zürich 1981).