Little Venus

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Little Venus is a Swiss, acoustically playing crossover trio from the Bern region that has been in alternating line-up since 1995 .

Band history

The original formation of the same name by Little Venus consisted of four and was voted the best rock band in the canton of Bern by an independent jury of music critics and media representatives from 55 bands when it was founded at the end of 1995 . The cast included mastermind Marc Rossier, singer Rusche Keusen and Nik Rechsteiner on cello and bass. The first album release in 1996, Drops Of Inspiration , had a positive, broad media response. The TV channel DRS presented the CD in the program Next . Swiss Radio International chose one of the titles for their compilation CD, which was sent to hundreds of radio stations around the world in order to make Swiss music better known. According to the history of its origins at laut.de, there were extensive tours between 1996 and 1999. There were also appearances with the next album A Letter For You on German-speaking Swiss television DRS ( Risk on May 12, 1997, Taflife on May 26, 1997). The gig at the Gurten Festival in Bern on July 20, 1997 was one of the highlights. Was involved Little Venus in December 1999, also in a multimedia spectacle Venus in Motion in collaboration with the dance company running out and the photographer Luke Batt.

After this formation broke up with the last concert on March 3, 2000 in the traditional Bernese club Mahogany Hall, Marc Rossier forged a new one in 2002 with largely similar instrumentation. The singer Irina Simoneta , from the northern Italian industrial and port city of Trieste , joined the group, as did the classically trained cellist Andreas Kühnrich . Occasionally, such as on the Thun Cabaret Day on September 13, 2006, the combo also appears expanded to include musicians friends such as Irish girl Shirley Grimes.

As a songwriter of most pieces operates Marc Rossier, who as an experienced dialect rock - producer is also active here in their own right. In 2001 he worked with the American lyricist and singer Shelley Martin to create new song material for the band. His six-month stay in 1998 introduced him to roots rock songwriter and guitarist Hank Shizzoe . In February 2005 there was a concert together with the saxophonist Weg Wüthrich and Dodo Hug in the mill Hunziken in Rubigen near Bern.

The little combo is largely unknown outside of Switzerland. In northern Italy they toured from 2003, in Germany, apart from individual appearances, not until 2005. In Switzerland the album Volcano was released on February 17th, 2006, in Germany in October. The invitations to the 27th Leverkusener Jazz Days 2006 and the Freiburg International Culture Exchange in January 2007 increased their level of awareness outside of Switzerland.

The current musicians and their instruments:

Music and lyrics

Their acoustic crossover music, which is somewhere between jazz, folk, classical and rock, cannot be categorized. The focus on song structures is borrowed from the chanson and the singer-songwriters , while the folk has a clear focus on handmade, acoustic music. The rejection of pop gadgets put together on the computer actually distinguishes them most from the mainstream of today. The cello , which is rarely used in pop, folk or rock ambience, and its educational background comes from the classical music scene . Andreas Kühnrich brings out vividly lyrical, sometimes very earthy sounds from his cello without using electronic effects devices. His cello shapes the unusual sound of Little Venus . His playing style of the instrument, which emphasizes the rhythm, as well as the rock ballad structures add the rock music mood. Hard inlays by Rossier with the bottleneck on the sheet steel Dobro reinforce this. Then he takes up the sitar guitar again and gives the sound an Indian-oriental undershoot. The basic, open approach to the musical material is recognizable as typical of jazz.

The versatile, roughened voice of Irina Simoneta brings English-language rock ballads, French chansons, Italian, African and Swiss dialect - folk pieces equally to intensity . As an instrumentalist, she expands the range of the trio on the flute.

In the texts, everyday situations ( Watermelon Top , excerpt: "Work is the curse of the drinking class ..."), as well as erotic ( Ringing , Marie ) and other great feelings ( Diavolo in me ) are recorded.

Discography

Albums

  • 1996: Drops Of Inspiration , Zytglogge Verlag
  • 1997: A Letter For You , Sound Service
  • 1999: Ithaka , Hear We Go, COD
  • 2004: Florence Or Berne , Zytglogge Verlag
  • 2006: Volcano , plans

Singles

  • 1999: Book Of Adventure

Awards

  • 1995 Best Rock Band of the Canton of Bern named
  • 1996, 1997 and 1999 inclusion of one title each in the selection of Schweizer Radio International
  • 2006 Invitation to the 27th Leverkusen Jazz Days 2006

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Report on sonny1968.de
  2. ↑ Brief presentation with photo ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the Wetziker SCALA, April 16, 1999 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.scala-wetzikon.ch
  3. ↑ Report at laut.de
  4. ↑ Thun Cabaret Day, September 2006
  5. ↑ Dialect rock with Peter Reber, producer Marc Rossier
  6. ↑ Appearance in January 2007 at the 19th International Culture Exchange Freiburg im Breisgau
  7. ↑ Review of Volcano in the jazz / online music magazine omm
  8. ↑ Musikfachblatt Folker 03/2006: Chris Elstrodt's review of the 2005 album Florence Or Berne