Roger Siffer

Alsatian folk music is the traditional music of Alsace, a borderland region between France and Germany where French and Alemannic dialects coexist. It is dance‑centered, village‑based music closely tied to wine festivals, processions, and community celebrations. Typical ensembles feature diatonic button accordion, fiddle, clarinet, brass (trumpet/trombone), guitar or zither, and simple percussion, playing waltzes, polkas, schottisches, mazurkas, and local round dances. Songs are commonly strophic, sung in Alsatian dialect (and sometimes French), and celebrate everyday life, viticulture, seasonal rites, and regional symbols such as the stork and the Rhine. Stylistically it blends Central European dance forms and Germanic melodic idioms with French chanson sensibilities. The performance practice ranges from intimate “Stubemusik” (parlor music) to lively outdoor bands for village squares and fête days.