For festivals, universities, schools, and cultural players, I offer Lectures, Teachings, and Panels on: 1. On various aspects of Sampling as a ground-breaking method of musical production. Topics such as History of Sampling, Sampling & Politics, Sampling in Experimental Electronica, Intentions & Motivations behind Sampling 2. «World Music» 3.The History of Popular Music To explore collaborations, reach out to agency@norient.com! Hannes Liechti lives in Bern, Switzerland, as a popular music scholar/lecturer, curator, cultural producer, and content editor. He is the head of KULT Student Agency at Bern Academy of the Arts HKB. Since 2021, he is part of the executive board of the concert organizer bee-flat and in 2024 he was elected as a member of the Cultural Commission of the City of Bern. Liechti teaches history of popular music at Paderborn University, Germany. From 2013–2024 he worked as a producing manager and as a curator/editor for Norient. He co-published Seismographic Sounds: Visions of a New World (2015) and co-curated the corresponding exhibition on global pop. He edited the digital publication Sampling Politics Today (2020) and published his PhD on the culture of sampling in experimental electronica with Norient Books (2022).

Liechti studied musicology and history at the University of Bern (CH) and the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich (D). He finished his studies in 2012 with a thesis on the world music scene in Bern («Eine Stadt voller Menschen, Kulturen und Klänge: Musik der Welt in Bern»). In this thesis he was exploring different musical styles and genres from all over the world which are played in Bern, and he approached a new definition of the controversial term «world music».

In 2019, he graduated with a doctoral thesis on creative strategies of sampling in experimental electronic popular music at the Bern Academy of Arts HKB and the University of Bern. The PhD project asked what material is sampled, how it is manipulated, and, most of all, what kind of motivations and intentions lie behind the sampling of material with strong political or cultural connotations. The project aimed to contribute a small part to a greater Ethnography of Sampling in (popular) music. The project was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNF (project overview and series «Sampling Stories» on Norient). He was a graduate of the Graduate School of the Arts GSA, and, from 2016–2021 he was part of the board of IASPM D-A-CH, the German-speaking branch of the international association for the study of popular music as the national representative for Switzerland.

For years, Liechti has worked as a freelance journalist. He has written articles (among others) for the magazine for culture Ensuite, the Swiss Music Revue SMZ, the daily newspaper «Der Bund», and the magazine for religion and society Aufbruch. He did some internships in Switzerland (reformiert.) and Germany (Donaukurier).

Liechti was leading the Theaterensemble Johannes for more than 12 years (2009–2021). With this theater ensemble consisting of children and young adults, he is co-producing well respected biennial plays in Swiss German on subjects around religion, church, and society with critical views on ideologies such as antisemitism and racism.

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Articles

2021, with Anja Brunner. «Pop–Power–Positions: Engaging with the (Post)Colonial in Popular Music Studies. An Introduction.» In Pop–Power–Positions: Globale Beziehungen und populäre Musik, edited by Anja Brunner and Hannes Liechti (~Vibes – The IASPM D-A-CH Series 1): 9–20. Berlin: IASPM D-A-CH. Link.

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Academic Activities (Selection)

2022 (ongoing), University of Paderborn (D), recurring seminary on the history of popular music in two parts, lecturer.

2021, February–June, University of Bern (CH), BA/MA Seminary «Sampling in der Popmusik: Geschichte und gegenwärtige Praxis einer prägenden Kultur- und Produktionstechnik», lecturer.

2020, September–December, Zurich University of the Arts (CH), Seminary «Einführung Musikethnographie 3», lecturer.

2018, September–December, University of Bern (CH), BA/MA Seminary «Pop – Power – Positions: Popmusik in einer postkolonialen Welt», lecturer.

2018, October 18-20, University of Bern/Bern University of the Arts (CH), Biennial Research Conference by IASPM D-A-CH «Pop – Power – Positions», organizing committee.

2017, July 14, TU Berlin (D), PhD Workshop: «Cut’n’Paste Culture – Sample-based Pop Music and its Analysis» feat. Bonaventure & Kabuki, organization and paper.

2016–… (ongoing), National Representative Switzerland for IASPM D-A-CH, german-speaking branch of the international association for the study of popular music.

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Media Coverage / Reviews

→ Radio SRF 3, Sounds!, 10.01.2024, Interview on Sampling (Link)

→ Neural, IT, 27.12.2023, book review (Link)
→ Dancecult: Journal for Electronic Dance Music Culture 15 (1), book review (Link)
→ Cine Bulletin, CH, 23.11.2023, «Wir sind auch Filmemacher» (Link)
→ Gonzo Circus, NL, 1.5.2023, Issue #175, book review (Link)
→ Radio RaBe, Subkutan, CH, 29.3.2023
→ Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Kompressor, DE, 3.2.2023, «Wann ist Sampling politisch?» (Link)

→ WDR 3 open: World, DE, 10.10.2022, «Der beunruhigende Sound von Beirut» (Link)
→ Schweizer Musikzeitung, CH, 3.10.2022, Publication Note This Track...
→ Jazz Thing & Blue Rhythm, DE, 30.9.2022, Publication Note This Track... (Link)
→ Radio Bern RaBe, Der Dienstag Morgen, CH, 27.9.2022, Interview Hannes Liechti (Link)
→ Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Kompressor, DE, 29.8.2022, «Beirut und seine Musikszene» (Link)
→ Deutschlandradio, Corso, DE, 23.5.2022, Interview on NCS Nairobi (Link)

→ Radio Bern RaBe, RaBe Info, CH, 18.10.2018, Interview on «Pop–Power–Positions» (Link)

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Book Trailer

Video Portrait

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Cultural Activities (Selection)

2024–... (ongoing): Member of the Cultural Commission of the City of Bern, Switzerland

2021–... (ongoing): Member of the executive board of the concert organizer bee-flat in Bern, Switzerland

2018–2024 [Production]: Norient Festival NF, editions in Bern, Lausanne, Neuchâtel, and St. Gallen

2013–2024 [Curation]: Curator and Editor Norient Space

2021, October 31–November 14 [Direction]: Theaterensemble Johannes, «Greta: Genug geredet, steht jetzt auf!»: theater play

2019, October 27–November 10 [Direction]: Theaterensemble Johannes, «Exodus»: theater play

2018 [Project Management]: «Sonic Fiction – Concerts and Audiovisual Performances that Shape the Future»: a concert series at Schauspielhaus Zürich, curated by Norient and Rewire Festival (Den Haag, Netherlands).

2017, October 22–November 12 [Direction]: Theaterensemble Johannes, «Lied einer neuen Welt – Luther & Co. proben den Aufstand»: theater play to mark the 500^th anniversary of Reformation.

2015–2017 [Curation]: «Seismographic Sounds – Visions from a New World». An exhibition by Norient, presented at Forum Schlossplatz Aarau (CH), Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie ZKM (D), CTM Festival Berlin (D), Castelgrande Bellinzona (CH), Base Milano (I), Kornhausforum Bern (CH).

2015–2016 [Project Management]: 1+1 – a recording project by Norient and Sound Development conducted in Cairo (Egypt), Honolulu (Hawaii/USA), Lome (Togo), and Zurich (Switzerland).

2015, October 11–November 8 [Curation and Direction]: Theaterensemble Johannes, «‹Da draussen bei den Heiden› – Szenen zu Mission, Rassismus und Sklaverei»: theater play and event series to mark the 200^th anniversary of the Basel Mission.

2014, August 15–October 10 [Curation]: Norient @ K-eck-Kiosk Basel, invited by H3K, House of the Electronic Arts Basel.

2013, October 13–November 13 [Curation and Direction]: Theaterensemble Johannes, «Allen Gewalten zum Trotz – das Leben der Sophie Scholl»: play and event series around the German resistance fighter Sophie Scholl.

2012, November 24–December 2 [Curation]: event series to mark the international Korczak year 2012, proclaimed by the Polish government. Collaboration with the embassies of Israel and Poland in Switzerland.

2011, October 16–November 13 [Curation and Direction]: Theaterensemble Johannes, «Geranien im Ghetto. Janusz Korczak – ein Leben für Kinder»: play and event series around the Jewish-Polish pediatrist, educational reformist, and director of orphanages Janusz Korzcak.