Mani Matter

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mani Matter 1970
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
I'll light it up
  CH 7th 01/24/1993 (283 weeks)
Why are you so sad?
  CH 29 11/17/2002 (12 weeks)
Mani Matter and The Beginnings of the Bernese Chanson
  CH 67 06/12/2011 (2 weeks)
Ir Ysebahn
  CH 64 08/21/2011 (5 weeks)

Hans Peter “Mani” Matter (born August 4, 1936 in Herzogenbuchsee ; † November 24, 1972 in Kilchberg ZH ; resident in Basel and Kölliken ) was a Swiss dialect - songwriter and lawyer .

Life

Mani Matter was born on August 4, 1936 in the Herzogenbuchsee hospital. His father Erwin Matter was an advocate , his mother, the Dutchwoman Wilhelmina Matter-de Haan († 1953), secretary, and his paternal grandfather head of operations at SBB . Mani had a sister, Helen Matter, who was two years older than him.

Hans Peter Jan (Dutch for Hans ) was named by his mother . Jan became Nani in the mouth of his sister Helen . Mani was then slightly changed to his boy scout name . Only French was spoken within the family.

He spent his childhood and youth in Bern . He attended the primary school Enge (1943–47), the Progymnasium am Waisenhausplatz (1947–51) and the Gymnasium Kirchenfeld , where in 1955 he passed the high school diploma . During his high school years he wrote his first chanson , Dr Rägewurm , to the melody of Ballade des dames du temps jadis by Georges Brassens .

Since he had suffered two convulsive disorders after the death of his mother, he was declared unfit for service and was able to go straight to the University of Bern after high school . He first studied a semester German , but then switched to jurisprudence . In 1963, after an internship at the Interlaken District Court, among other things, he acquired the Bern advocate's patent.

In 1963 he became an assistant to the constitutional law professor Richard Bäumlin , and in 1965 he received his doctorate from Hans Huber with the top grade “ summa cum laude ”. In 1967/68 he spent a year with his family - his wife Joy Matter and their three children (Ueli, Sibyl and Meret Matter ) - at the University of Cambridge , where he worked on his habilitation thesis , which he completed except for the footnotes, but never submitted. In 1969 he took up the newly created position as legal counsel for the city of Bern; from 1970 he got beside of the University of Bern - meanwhile as a senior assistant - a lecturer in state and administrative law .

Matter was heard on the radio for the first time in 1960 with his Bern German chansons. He made public appearances from 1967, initially always together with the Bernese troubadours . He started his first solo program - urged by Emil Steinberger - in the autumn of 1971 with a performance in the small theater in Lucerne . In 1965 the first three lyrics were published by him: in the anthology Ballade, Lumpeliedli, Chansons à la Bernoise by the Bern Benteli publishing house. His first studio record was released in 1966; his fifth and last he put together himself from live recordings. We only know some of his chansons from later recordings made by his friends Jacob Stickelberger and Fritz Widmer , published by them under the title Dr Columbus , as well as the Kriminalgschicht composed by three of them in 1972 for the planned new program .

On Friday evening, November 24, 1972, on the way to a concert in Rapperswil , he collided with a truck on the highway and died on the spot. He was 36 years old. His grave is in the Bremgarten cemetery in Bern . His estate is kept in the Swiss Literary Archives in Bern.

Songs

Mani Matter wrote the texts of his songs himself, composed the melodies and performed the songs, following the example of French songwriters or auteurs-compositeurs-interprètes such as Georges Brassens . The melodies are like folk songs, in his later songs the emphasis shifts to minor keys .

His lyrics are often based on everyday situations that are philosophically questioned or drawn into the absurd . Based on the question What is it Sändwitsch ohni meat? N ust as bread , he comes to speak of “Considerations about nes Sändwitsch” on the dialectic of the sandwich. In the song Bim Coiffeur bini gsasse , the narrator is gripped by a “metaphysical shudder” when looking in the mirror, which shows another mirror. In I han es Zündhölzli aündt he describes the possible destruction of the world based on the lighting of a match that accidentally falls on the carpet, which is reversed in the last verse. Absurd stories can be found, for example, in the Nüünitram or in Us emene lääre Gygechaschte ("From an empty violin case").

Aftermath

Matters songs are still popular songs in German-speaking Switzerland . Numerous Swiss musicians were inspired by him and copied his songs, such as Stephan Eicher , Polo Hofer , Bligg , Dodo Hug and Züri West .

A collection of cover versions by various artists appeared on the 1992 album Matter Rock . Ueli Schmezer's cover band “MatterLive” deals exclusively with the reinterpretation of Matter's songs.

Stephan Eicher made the song Hemmige so popular that even French-speaking listeners at his concerts sing along with the Bern German text by heart. Dr Sidi Abdel Assar vo El Hama , an oriental ballad in the form of a limerick , was published as a picture book by Oskar Weiss in 1994 and reinterpreted as a video by Guillermo Sorya in 2011 .

Reinhard Prenn and Gerhard Ruiss translated some Matter songs into Viennese in the 1990s and released them on two CDs: Gö (1994) and Öha (1997).

In 2002, Friedrich Kappeler portrayed Mani Matter in his documentary film - Why are you so sad? the life of Mani Matters and traced the influence of his chansons.

The Bernese dialect rap duo Lo & Leduc named a title published in 2011 - a homage to Mani Matter - Why do you feel so happy .

In the summer of 2003 a small street at the town hall in Bern was named “Mani-Matter-Stutz” in honor of Mani Matter. On his 80th birthday in 2016 in Wabern (municipality of Köniz ), the place at the valley station of the Gurtenbahn was named after him. He had lived nearby with his family for a number of years. Also in Herzogenbuchsee, where Matter was born, a square in the village center was named after the musician in 2017.

In 2016, the songwriter Jan Řepka published 36 songs by Mani Matter in Czech adaptation together with a bilingual 160-page booklet .

He received the Tribute Award at the Swiss Music Awards 2017. Emil Steinberger gave the laudatory speech .

Works

Books

  • The legitimation of the community to appeal under constitutional law. Diss. Iur. Stämpfli, Bern 1965.
  • Us emene läär Gygechaschte. Bern German chansons. Candelabra, Bern 1969; Zytglogge, Oberhofen 2011, ISBN 978-3-7296-0828-3 .
  • Why are you so sad? Bern German chansons. Edited by Joy Matter. Benziger, Zurich 1973; Zytglogge, Oberhofen 2011, ISBN 978-3-7296-0826-9 .
  • Mani Matters Sudelhefte. Benziger, Zurich 1973.
  • Junk book. Edited by Joy Matter et al., With a "buddy" word from Peter Lehner . Benziger, Zurich 1976.
  • Histoire du soldat - The story of the soldier. Translated into German by Mani Matter. Edition Lesabéndio, Bern 1991; Zytglogge, Oberhofen 2012, ISBN 978-3-7296-0844-3 .
  • Sudelhefte - Rumpelbuch. (In one volume). Ex Libris, Zurich 1978; Zytglogge, Oberhofen 2011, ISBN 978-3-7296-0829-0 .
  • Participation in a great Twitter. Bern German chansons. Edited by Joy Matter. Benziger, Zurich 1992; Zytglogge, Oberhofen 2011, ISBN 978-3-7296-0827-6 .
  • Dr Sidi Abdel Assar from El Hama. Pictures (by Oskar Weiss ), text and score. Zytglogge, Gümligen 1995, ISBN 3-7296-0497-X .
  • The Cambridge notebook. Diary 1968. With an essay by Urs Frauchiger . Zytglogge, Oberhofen 2011, ISBN 978-3-7296-0830-6 .
  • The pluralistic state theory or the consensus on disagreement (1967/68). Edited by Benjamin Schindler. Zytglogge, Oberhofen 2012, ISBN 978-3-7296-0852-8
  • What can one alone against Zen Buddhists . Philosophy, poetry, politics, narration and drama. Zytglogge, Basel 2016. ISBN 978-3-7296-0942-6 .

Records

  • I invented a watch. Berner Chansons by and with Mani Matter ( EP ), Zytglogge (zyt 1), Bern 1966.
    with the song Si hei dr Wilhälm Täll ufgfüert
  • Everything where I'd chun my fingers. (EP), Zytglogge (zyt 4), Bern 1967.
  • Inhibited ones. (EP), Zytglogge (zyt 12), Bern 1970.
  • Consider about nes Sändwitsch. (EP), Zytglogge (zyt 20), Bern 1972.
  • Ir Ysebahn. (LP), live from the Théâtre Fauteuil in Basel. Zytglogge (zyt 21), Bern 1973, with the songs about Bernhard Matter and Karl Tellenbach .
  • I han es Zündhölzli aündt (double LP with the chansons of the first four records). Zytglogge (zyt 24), Bern 1973.
  • Mani Matter and the beginnings of the Bernese chanson. Radio broadcast from February 27, 1970 (CD), Zytglogge (zyt 4324), Oberhofen 2011.

literature

TV reports

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mani Matter in the Swiss hit parade
  2. ↑ Martin Huber: Where Mani Matter was killed. In: Tages-Anzeiger from August 30, 2016.
  3. ↑ This is how “Dr Sidi Abdel Assar vo El Hama” sounds today. In: 20 minutes from January 19, 2011.
  4. ^ Adrian Schräder: Clear rhymes for a confused world. , Berner Zeitung of May 14, 2012, accessed on March 3, 2017
  5. ↑ Christof Gertsch: Where is dr Walter? , The magazine N ° 8 of February 25, 2017, accessed on March 3, 2017
  6. ↑ Köniz honors Mani Matter. Website of the municipality of Köniz, August 4, 2016.
  7. ↑ Place at the Gurtenbahn is named after Mani Matter. In: Berner Zeitung. Retrieved March 3, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Now Mani Matter has his place . In: bernerzeitung.ch/ . ( bernerzeitung.ch [accessed on November 13, 2018]).
  9. ↑ Urs Bruderer: SRF News: Swiss cultural export - Mani Matter in Czech - no problem. November 25, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Jan Řepka: Rozjímání o sendviči - consider about nes sändwitsch. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on June 6, 2017 ; accessed on March 12, 2017 . 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.janrepka.cz
  11. ↑ Katharina Kilchenmann: And again and again this gap [book review] . In: Journal B . ( journal-b.ch [accessed November 30, 2016]).
  12. ↑ Christoph Bopp: Instead of making people think, Mani Matter put them in a marquee mood. Interview in: Aargauer Zeitung from April 13, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Matter, Mani
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Matter, Hans Peter (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss dialect songwriter and lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH 4th August 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Herzogenbuchsee
DATE OF DEATH November 24, 1972
Place of death Kilchberg ZH