SonntagsBlick: Jane Mumford, you will be performing at the Arosa Dialect Festival next weekend, the day before in Thun at «Reading for Beer». Do you have to drink your courage for the Grisons mountains?
Jane Mumford: No, Arosa gives you enough courage because you are in good company there. But “Reading for Beer” is something like an uninhibited slam poetry evening, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.
And that’s all for beer? Otherwise slam poets fight and
-Poeten for a bottle of whiskey!
But as the main prize! There’s a beer here for every good performance – that wouldn’t go well with whiskey.
In the mountain restaurant on the Aroser Weisshorn there will be a summit meeting between you and Sarah Elena Müller and Fatima Dunn on Saturday. What can you expect?
I gave 20 minutes of the best entertainment in the mountain air that was far too thin – that probably meant that everyone was dizzy anyway and that the performance was five percent better.
And what is your contribution to the dialect?
I choose topics that have to do with Swiss German. And I will build in my second home England.
Are there dialects as pronounced in England as in Switzerland?
Oh yeah!
Does a person from Liverpool speak differently than someone from London?
Completely! And within London there are again differences.
What area is your father from?
From London, but he never wanted to speak dialect. He deliberately taught me and my two younger siblings the most neutral English.
Why?
In England, dialect is a status symbol: you can tell by where a person went to school. Because of the lack of an aristocracy, we in Switzerland cannot speak as if we have money.
Can you still speak English dialect?
A little cockney accent. But I find it more exciting to talk about the principles behind it than to imitate dialects.
But you must have a favorite word from the English dialect.
«Nosh». That means snack in the south of England. That sounds onomatopoeic like a pig that is eating: noschnoschnosch!
Your favorite dialect word in Swiss German is “schampar”. Will you incorporate that into your performance?
«Schampar schüli beautiful dazsi»: Maybe that will be the greeting.
What do you like about «schampar»?
It sounds so warm and reminds a little of champagne.
Do you know that “schampar” actually means shameful, that is, shameful, hideous?
Now I like “schampar” even better, now it’s the perfect word. Now it gets something decadently Viennese: “I drink a shameful amount of champagne.”
With the word you will come out as a Zurich citizen in Graubünden. No fear?
You will already have security there – I assume I will be escorted.
Well, you are used to being an outsider in two ways: Both Switzerland and England are not members of the EU.
I was always proud of the English passport and thought: This is my ticket to Europe. It expired two years ago and I haven’t had it renewed yet.
How come?
I am still angry with the British about Brexit. At the moment I don’t find anything cool that happens on the island, I’m ashamed of this mini-Trump.
Do you have relatives in England?
Yes, and very old family friends with children my age – there will be two weddings next year: My oldest friends from England are getting married. Both are indignant about the situation on the island.
If you compare the arguments of the Swiss and the British as to why they do not want to belong to the EU, are there any differences?
The scare tactics are amazingly similar: It’s too expensive, our culture will be wiped out, all cows will speak High German! Help! In the negative we are very similar, unfortunately.
Your first full-length program will premiere on November 4th in Zurich. Does the lack of an EU passport make it difficult for you to tour Europe?
No, because these are usually only short guest appearances.
Are you planning to appear abroad?
I have a regular theater in Austria, in Salzburg: the small theater. I already had a premier date, but there were postponements due to Corona – we’ll try again next spring.
That sounds like an old love.
Yes, in Austria I’m probably in the right place with my sense of humor. Because the mixture of England and Switzerland is somehow Austria: black humor mixed with a bit of understatement and always getting ready for yourself.
A good relationship with Austria is always good for you as a stage artist, because the cabaret award Salzburger Stier comes from there.
That’s correct! If I stay on stage for another 20 years, then hopefully at some point I’ll get it purely for reasons of space, because everyone else already has it. But now my first program has to be on stage.
It is called «reptile». What’s the matter?
Despite the title, the program deals with man’s attitude towards nature, feelings and fellow human beings.
That sounds like a presentation.
Looks like a small zoo! When I started solo performances, I just wanted to pick up a microphone, stand on stage and talk, in other words: be Hazel Brugger. But nobody buys that from me, I move too much for that. I guess I watched too many Jim Carrey films as a kid.
“Cabaret, comedy and snake dancing” is the announcement. Do you use real snakes or do you imitate a snake?
If you feel like I’m giving away! Everyone who is curious should come to the demonstration.
To put it another way: Are you afraid of snakes?
I have a healthy respect for animals that can kill me.
Do you have a cat, a dog or a reptile at home?
No, I have no need for a pet. And if I had to choose between a cat and a reptile, the cat would win: cuddling is important! But maybe life as a reptile would be easier. Mammals have a lot more strife and war.
Which reptile would you like to be?
There are these little lizards that live and scurry around in stone walls. In contrast to other reptiles, they seem very sociable. They take everything a little more calmly, that’s why they are my role models.
There are conspiracy theorists who claim that the world is ruled by lizards.
This is what the program is about too: it is a desperate attempt to find a reason why something is the way it is without having to understand why it is so. These are excuses to avoid the hard work of understanding connections.
Which ones, for example?
For example, that in our society very many serve capitalism without being able to benefit from it, and that this could be changed with the help of democratic means instead of insulting the richest as lizard people. Conspiracy theorists have no plan to fix problems. They are satisfied with supposedly knowing what the problems are – I blame them for that.
Do you know what a “Quatterpertsch” is?
Is that a German word?
Yes, but in dialect.
Quatter, that sounds a bit like Romansh: Maybe a four-legged friend?
Yes, four legs are correct, but it is not Romansh, but a dialect word from the St. Gallen Rhine Valley for lizard.
Oh, nice!
And do you know where the lizard is called Lattuechi?
That sounds like from the Zugerland.
No, from Graubünden.
Thank you so much, I can use it to advertise my “Reptile” program in Arosa.
Mumford, the daughter
Mumford & Sons, once upon a time, now Mumford, the daughter, is hip! Jane Mumford was born near Zurich in 1988, the oldest of three children to a Swiss and an Englishman. After school, she trained as an animator in Lucerne, is the drummer of the folk band The Dead Brothers and half of the satire duo 9 Volt Nelly. On October 8th and 9th she will perform at the Arosa Dialect Festival and will premiere on November 4th with her first full-length solo program “Reptil”.
Mumford & Sons, once upon a time, now Mumford, the daughter, is hip! Jane Mumford was born near Zurich in 1988 as the eldest of three children to a Swiss and an Englishman. After school, she trained as an animator in Lucerne, is the drummer of the folk band The Dead Brothers and half of the satire duo 9 Volt Nelly. On October 8th and 9th she will perform at the Arosa Dialect Festival and will premiere on November 4th with her first full-length solo program “Reptil”.
Jane Mumford live:
At the Arosa Dialect Festival, October 8, in the Kursaal, 8.30 p.m.; October 9th in the Weisshorngipfel panorama restaurant, 5:15 p.m.
In Miller’s Studio Zurich, November 4th, premiere of her first full-length program “Reptil”, 8 pm
Cabaret artist Hazel Brugger means business: women, become comedians!