MICHAEL FEHR & RICO BAUMANN

miniatures seem like abstract paintings of colour, mood and skeletonised narration. They are stories that merge into their own sound until they suddenly disappear. They seem like the complex master trick of a practised magician who presents himself to the audience with incredible ease.

Four hands, two drums, one voice. This is Tom Waits with the mojo but without the booze. This is the ritual music of archaic religions. But it's also quite sophisticated, with tempo changes,

loud/quiet modulation, cymbals crescendi and unexpected silences. Sometimes you feel reminded of incantations from forgotten times, sometimes the beats are amazingly danceable.

Fehr illuminates the spectrum of the all-too-human and the interpersonal with relish but precision: One roasts a cat that has strayed into his apartment. One shoots a full magazine from a machine gun through the window. There is looting, robbing a bank, murdering, smoking and, at some point, drinking a bottle of bourbon. In the end, however, it doesn't take that much in life, as is stated in

«But a man»: «A man needs a chair and a table and a plate and some boiled potatoes».

Highlights are the melancholic pieces such as «roses bloom": «silence and strength are not

contradictory», or the gospel «ocean blue»: «ocean blue is where I belong even though I'm afraid of drowning». The Lyrics show this mixture of courage and fear, of longing and abyss, of destiny and doom, which makes up life.

Music Videos:

predator

roses bloom

green tea corned beef

super liecht

BIOGRAFIEN

MICHAEL FEHR (www.michaelfehr.ch)

Michael Fehr was born 1982 in Berne, visually impaired from birth. He studied at the Swiss

Institute of Literature, followed by studies at the Y Institute at the University of Applied Sciences of

Arts. 2013 he published his first book “Kurz vor der Erlösung”, an outcome of an examination of the

Bible, which tells the nativity story as it never has been before. 2015 follows “Simeliberg”, a gloomy

crime story, and 2017 “Glanz & Schatten”, a collection of tales of metamorphosis. In 2016, his

characteristic voice appears on the album “Bruxelles” from Simon Ho, with chansons in French,

English and German. 2018 his lyrics build the foundation of the raw blues album “Im Schwarm”.

The album, on which Michael Fehr performs a singer and storyteller, was the result of a close

collaboration with the guitarist Manuel Troller.

Michael Fehr refers to himself as being a narrator. He tirelessly expedites his unique art and

presents his works on stages in Switzerland as well as abroad.

He performs on the stage as a speaker, singer and musician and collaborates with artists for

theatre plays, films and campaigns. He gives lectures and workshops on subjects such as

communication, conversation and appearance, but also on storytelling and song writing.

In his newest programm “super light”, Michael Fehr – together with the musician and producer Rico

Baumann – merges the ritual of storytelling with the spirituality of music. Songs consisting of

coarse voice and impelling percussions alternate emotional ballads.

RICO BAUMANN

Rico Baumann, percussion (*1983) comes from a family of musicians in Bern and came into

contact with a wide variety of musical styles at an early age. In 2006 he received a scholarship

from the Friedl Wald Foundation, and in 2013 he was awarded the Marianne and Curt Dienemann

Foundation's sponsorship prize. In 2012 he was selected to represent Switzerland in the European

Jazz Orchestra and in 2015 he received the New York Scholarship of the City of Bern. His musical

activities could hardly be more diverse. He plays in various small and large formations and is a

sought-after drummer for jazz and improvised music (Le Rex, Weird Beard, Der Wawawa, Don Li)

as well as for hip hop, pop and electronic music (James Gruntz, Baze, King Pepe, 2ForSoul, KG &

Morricone). Since 2014, he has been causing a stir internationally with his electro-pop band True.

Tours with these bands have taken him all over Europe, to America and Japan. In 2022 he

received the Music Prize of the Canton of Bern.