High up in the Swiss Alps, a hundred Alphorn players assembled on a windswept pasture Sunday to make the mountains ring in gentle harmonies at the 22nd International Alphorn Festival.

The players formed a wide semi-circle at Tracouet above the ski resort of Haute Nendaz in southern Switzerland for the country's annual Alphorn competition, which celebrates the musical instrument in its native landscape.

Several hundred spectators made the cable car trip or trekked up the mountainside to sit amongst the wildflowers at 2,200 metres above sea level and experience the mass gathering of the country's top players.

The alphorn is a straight wooden instrument around 3.4 metres long with a cup-shaped mouthpiece. It was first documented in the 16th century and was reputedly used for communication in the mountains, with the clear sound echoing through the valleys.

A 10-strong team of giant cowbell ringers paraded onto the pasture to start Sunday's festivities. Many of the alphorn players dressed in traditional costume, wearing hats adorned with badges, while flag twirlers performed to the music.

The cool mountain breeze -- an antidote to the summer heat in the Rhone valley below -- blew the sound and the smell of grilled cheese down the slopes.

- Soft, velvety sound -

"The sound is round, it's soft, it's velvety when there are a lot of horns. The music envelops us," said Francoise Dillon, 66, from Bulle, next to the cheese village of Gruyeres in western Switzerland.

"There are more and more young people and women and girls who play folk music. It was very masculine 50 years ago," she added.

In the competition, the players, identified by a number, are judged by a four-person jury who are screened off inside a tent so they do not know who is playing.

Besides Swiss competitors, nine French, two German, six American and one Canadian player took part. The youngest participant was 11, while a third of the players were women.

Around 100 horn players entered the first round on Saturday, with the adjudged best 10 called back to compete for the title on Sunday.

The grand final was won once again by Adolf Zobrist, 58, from Brienz in central Switzerland. He claimed the title in 2016, 2019 and 2021.

"It's my hobby and it's my passion. I've been playing since I was 12. My father passed it on to me," he told AFP.

"It's a special, natural instrument and it's important to play it with feeling. For me it's really important that you are one: the instrument and yourself.

"It's the sound of the mountains."

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