I spent September 2015 in Lucerne (or Luzern), Switzerland via the CLAER Program, as a Cultural Ambassador for Chicago Sister Cities International (CSCI). I returned twice in 2022 —April, as part of my Euro Grand Tour— and September again, to collaborate with resident Jonas Raeber for the program’s 20th Anniversary celebration, pairing Swiss and US artists (see slideshow and videos).
About an hour before showtime, I ran over to check-in with “my dude”, The Lion of Lucerne for good luck (below). I made that background beat not long after my 2015 visit (originally intended for the soundtrack of my TOWNIE program). It’s called A-YO! for the traditional Swiss alphorn and yodel samples (the Busta/Dilla vocal was a logical afterthought -iykyk).
On a sidenote, I suspect Jonas and I inspired a 2023 Switzerland Tourism ad with Roger Federer and Trevor Noah. The optics and banter —“we are brothers”— are just too coincidental. See @ 2:35 in our recap video (below) and @ 2:57 in their fun promo spot.
Jeff Baraka's Planet Boom! 