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Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Cupid fati   CH 73 March 26, 2000 (6 weeks) Labyrinth (with Linard Bardill & Max Lässer )   CH 92 06/01/2003 (1 week) Tales of the Wind   CH 32 09/05/2004 (7 weeks) walker   CH 49 09/28/2008 (3 weeks) Shoreline   CH 17th 02/25/2018 (3 weeks)

Mich Gerber (* 1957 ; born Michael Gerber ) is a Bernese composer and musician . Mich Gerber was one of the first to use a live looping system on stage: together with his bass violin and the live sampling system, he forms a solo acoustic bass orchestra. In addition, he has redefined the status of the double bass by using the instrument as a lead instrument. Mich Gerber goes his own musical path and composes new music that is difficult to classify.

Life

Mich Gerber comes from a family of musicians. His mother is an organist , his father a violinist . His first profession is a theater painter. His musical career began at an early age, but it was not until he was a student at the Bern University of Music that he turned to the double bass. In search of different musical forms, he not only plays in many different formations (including Stiller Has , which is popular in Switzerland ), but also travels through different continents and is inspired by the music of different cultures. Back in Switzerland, he starts realizing his solo project. Today Mich Gerber lives in Bern.

music

Mich Gerber's first solo CD Mystery Bay was released in 1997 and received strong international attention. Shortly afterwards, the collaboration with drummer Gert Stäuble begins, first on stage, then in the studio . Me Gerber discovered that his sound paintings could also be condensed into atmospheric songs and invited the English singer Imogen Heap for the CD Amor Fati . With the album Tales of the Wind (produced by Gert Stäuble and the electronics technician Oli Kuster) Mich Gerber spins his musical story further. In addition to the atmospheric, there is a narrative element, which is particularly evident in the two songs sung by Jaël ( Lunik ). Guests like the Egyptian oud player Ahmad El Sawy and the Indian bansuri flute player Sujay Bobade enrich the album.

The album Wanderer is a musically reduced work: in addition to the double bass, drums and percussion, the human voice is used in all its diversity, from spoken chants to Gregorian chants to rap. Mich Gerber is approaching, step by step, a world music that is shaped by his personality and combines natural and electronic sounds, technology and craft, local and cosmopolitan.

Another cooperation existed with Al Comet (aka Mahadev Cometo ) from the Young Gods , who plays the sitar . The sound became impulsive and even ecstatic. They gave a few concerts in 2013. Together with two other musicians, Wolfgang Zwiauer and Andi Pupato , they form the All Star Jam Band. With the latter, Gerber recorded the album Shoreline , which was released in 2018 and will be presented with a tour.

technology

In his own live sampling technique, Gerber finds the ideal opportunity to accompany himself on stage and thus be able to implement his solo ideas live without "foreign" musicians. He has developed a system with which he records and reproduces layers over layers live until a dense, rhythmically and melodiously rich soundscape is created. He uses the entire body of his instrument: Mich Gerber creates sounds with a plucked bass riff, with bowed harmonies, through the world of overtones, with percussives and noises. In short, the expanded sound world of modern double bass playing.

Discography Mich Gerber

• Mystery Bay (1997)
• Live (1998)
• Amor Fati (2000)
• The Endless String (Best Of, 2003)
• Tales of the Wind (2004)
• Wanderer (2008)
• Shoreline (2018)

swell

1. ↑ Mich Gerber in the Swiss Hit Parade

Web links

• Works by and about Mich Gerber in the catalog of the German National Library
• Web presence of the artist