Swiss Review 3/2020

Swiss Review / June 2020 / No.3 12 Culture Amultilingual artist of many colours During his 40-year career, Stephan Eicher has crossed the linguistic di- vide with a number of hits in French, despite the language not being his own. Eicher also loves using his native Bernese dialect in francophone set- tings. In particular, his Paris street version of “Hemmige” during the “Fête de la Musique” – to which the crowd sang along –will live long in the memory. Eicher is the most popular Swiss singer in the French-speaking world. In France, Eicher has workedwith singer Miossec, whom he greatly ad- mires, and with ‘le dandy du rock’ Alain Bashung – not to mention Ser- bian filmcomposer and recording art- ist Goran Bregović, who is a devotee of gypsy culture. Eicher experimented with sound loops and synthesisers as part of Grau- zone, the band he founded with brother Martin. In 2015, during his barren spell, the Swiss toured Europe with nothing but automatic musical instruments for company. In 2019, he played with a brass band. Eicher has also experimentedwith an array of in- struments unusual for a rock singer. For example, he used a cimbalom, a hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes on his al- bum“Carcassonne” – possibly a throw- back to his father’s cellar, which over- flowed with instruments. (SH) A young Stephan Eicher at the 1988 Paléo Festival in Nyon Photo: Keystone Martin Eicher, Stephan Eicher and Ingrid Berney formed post-punk band Grauzone in 1980. Unknown photographer Stephan Eicher at Grauzone’s last-ever Zurich concert (1981) Photo: Arnold Meyer, sams-colletion.ch Eicher the maestro – Avo Session, Basel, 2011 Photo: Keystone The Matterhorn disguised as Africa – Eicher designed his own postage stamp in 2005. Photo: Keystone Eicher performing in Interlaken during his “Backstage Concerto” tour in 1997 Photo: Keystone