The Grand Prix der Volksmusik (English: Grand Prix of Folk Music) was an annual regional song contest for folk music, held from 1986 until 2010. The countries taking part were Germany, Austria, Switzerland and, from 2000, South Tyrol.[1]
The competition, established by Hans Beierlein[2] (Hans Rudolf Beierlein), began with Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 1986, and the first year it was held in Vienna. In 1989, the German singer Stefan Mross won the contest competing for Austria. In 1990, the South Tyrol group Kastelruther Spatzen won the contest competing for Germany. In 1995, Géraldine Olivier won the contest for Switzerland after having won the Swiss national contest for the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest[3] with Soleil, soleil, which was disqualified before the contest was held. South Tyrol competed from 2000, when they won at their first attempt.
The program was produced by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft zur Förderung der musikalischen Unterhaltung (English: Working Group for the Advancement of Musical Entertainment) as a coproduction of ZDF, SF DRS, ORF and Rai. The target demographic of the production was adults aged over 40.[1] Each of the four countries competing sent in four entries.[4]
