The Gospel of Beat-Man

Portrait

Reverend Beat-Man is a mad trash rock’n’roll artist and owner of the label Voodoo Rhythm Records. Norient visited him on their quest for sonic traces in Switzerland.

Norient met the Swiss trash blues legend in the Voodoo Rhythm Records headquarter in a warehouse in an industrial area of the Swiss capital city of Bern.

Voodoo Rhythm Records headquarter in Bern.

Beat-Man told Norient the story how it all began:

Beat-Man first started to go on tour with his band The Monsters:

Touring with The Monsters, but also working as a stage hand and a one-man-sideshow for better known bands he started to build up a network around the world:

Beat-Man lost his voice and got serious back problems. So he couldn’t jump around on stage as he used to. So Lightning Beat-Man became Reverend Beat-Man:

Even though in Switzerland he is not a pop star he is probably one of the best known Swiss musicians abroad. He regularily tours in the U.S., in Japan, in Russia and all over Europe. At the moment he plans a tour to New Zealand. His music is global, a global kind of trash blues rock’n’roll, but Beat-Man somehow sees himself as a typical Swiss guy:

Swiss are being seen as perfectionist. Whether or not this is just a cliché Beat-Man believes that this is a true Swiss thing about him and his way of being a record label owner:

The Voodoo Rhythm label exists since 1992. Since then Beat Zeller a.k.a. Beat-Man has released dozens of records from bands or musicians such as King Khan and His Shrines, Zeno Tornado and the Boney Google Brothers, Bob Log III, Delaney Davidson, Dead Brothers, The Watzloves, Pussywarmers, Roy and the Devil’s Motorcycle, Mama Rosin just to name a few.

Reverend Beat-Man also has a lot of followers from other arts than just music. Such as lovely burlesque dancers, crazy silk print artists or passionate filmmakers who keep contributing video clips for the growing Beat-Man worshipping community:

Beat-Man can barely survive by running his record label. But he can rely on a fanbase in every corner of the world. There are fans who even tattoo the logo of the Voodoo Rhythm label in their skin. Sometimes he is surprised how far his fans go to show their admiration:

Beat-Man hopes one day to play in Africa where he says the roots for his music come from. Yeah… that’s rock’n’roll…!!!

The interview with Beat-Man is part of the Norient series Sonic Traces: From Switzerland.

Biography

Dr. Thomas Burkhalter is an anthropologist/ethnomusicologist, AV-artist, and writer from Bern (Switzerland). He is the founder and director of Norient and the Norient Festival (NF), co-directed AV-performances and documentary films (e.g. «Contradict», Berner Filmpreis 2020 + Al-Jazeera Witness), and is the author and co-editor of several books (e.g., «Local Music Scenes and Globalization: Transnational Platforms in Beirut», Routledge, «The Arab Avant Garde: Musical Innovation in the Middle East», Wesleyan University Press). He teaches regularly at universities, and runs workshops for arts institutions. Since 2022 he produces the Norient Mixtape for Swiss National Radio SRF3. Currently, he is working on his new music duo «Melodies In My Head», and on the podcast series «Long Take: Life as an Artist». Follow him on Instagram, Research Gate, Academia.edu, Bandcamp, Spotify, or Meta.

Biography

Michael Spahr (VJ Rhaps) is a historian MA, journalist, and media artist. He was on the board of Norient from 2008 until 2014. He developed the website norient.com. He was the co-founder and co-director (2009–2014) of the Norient Musikfilm Festival. He contributed with his video art to the audio-visual scientific media performances of Norient. He was the host and DJ of Norients monthly radio show Sonic Traces on Radio RaBe. He works as a freelance artist, film maker, and journalist in Bern (Switzerland). Follow him on his Website.

Published on May 02, 2011

Last updated on April 29, 2024

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DIY

Music Business

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Sonic Traces: From Switzerland

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«Tant pis pour les Étiquettes»

Interview

by Thomas Burkhalter,

Michael Spahr

Freie Improvisation, Komposition, Experimentelles Musik-Theater, Hörspiel und Elektro-Akustische Musik: Jonas Kocher spielt sein Akkordeon in vielen Kontexten: zwischen Biel, Berlin, dem Balkan und anderswo.

Arbeiten mit dem Klang: Darum geht es Jonas Kocher ganz besonders... Als 7-Jähriger begann Jonas Kocher mit dem Musizieren. Sein Vater spielte Akkordeon, immer öfter aber übte der Sohn auf dem Instrument. Am für die Schweiz so wichtigen Taktlos Festival hörte Kocher zum ersten Mal frei improvisierte Musik und Free Jazz. Der Bieler Free-Jazz-Pionier Hans Koch ist im damals besonders aufgefallen. Neben ihm fühlt er sich heute auch inspiriert von den Arbeitsweisen und vom Denken des Musiktheater-Regisseuren Ruedi Häusermann und dem Komponisten Daniel Ott.

Um musikalische Gattungsgrenzen schert sich Jonas Kocher nicht – genauso wie seine musikalischen Vorbilder. Er wertet das Denken über musikalische Gattungsgrenzen auch als typisch für den heutigen Zeitgeist. Bloss ausserhalb seiner Generation sei die starke Trennung zwischen komponierter und improvisierter Musik weiterhin meistens von Bestand. Die E-Musiker kümmerten sich bis heute wenig um die Improvisation und experimentelle Musik-Szene. Kocher kommt auch kurz auf den brissanten und viel diskutierten Artikel zum «Ist die freie Improvisation am Ende?» von Thomas Meyer zu sprechen.

Pt. I

Wie sieht ein typischer Tagesablauf dieses Bieler Musikers aus – das fragten wir Jonas Kocher beim Interview.

Pt. II

Jonas Kocher ist nicht nur als Musiker sehr aktiv. Er ist Mitveranstalter beim Festival Rue Du Nord in Lausanne, und beim Insubordinations Microfestival. Und er engagiert sich im Schweizerischen Tonkünstlerverein (STV). Wir wollen aber von ihm hören: Wie übt er auf dem Akkordeon? Wie findet er diese experimentellen Klänge, mit denen er musiziert? Wie entscheidet er, welche Klänge er verwendet oder verwirft?

Pt. III

Uns interessiert auch die Frage: Wie hängt das zusammen: Die Vorliebe für bestimmte Klänge, und die eigene Biographie? Gibt es da Verknüpfungen?

Pt. IV

Die Stadt Biel: Wo sieht Jonas Kocher die Vor- und Nachtteile davon, als Musiker in Biel zu leben? Es zieht ihn heute immer stärker in Richtung Berlin – und in andere Grossstädte Europas.

Pt. V

Kocher hat auch auf dem Balkan gespielt – mit verschiedenen Formationen. Wie sieht er die Situation für experimentelle Musik auf dem Balkan? – auch im Vergleich zu der Schweiz.

Jonas Kocher über die Situation für experimentelle Musik auf dem Balkan

Audio

Die Audio-Beispiele in den Podcasts stammen aus den beiden CDs Jonas Kocher Materials und dem Duo Blank Disc with Jonas Kocher XY.

Dieses Gespräch fand im Rahmen des Norient Projektes Sonic Traces: From Switzerland statt.

Biography

Dr. Thomas Burkhalter is an anthropologist/ethnomusicologist, AV-artist, and writer from Bern (Switzerland). He is the founder and director of Norient and the Norient Festival (NF), co-directed AV-performances and documentary films (e.g. «Contradict», Berner Filmpreis 2020 + Al-Jazeera Witness), and is the author and co-editor of several books (e.g., «Local Music Scenes and Globalization: Transnational Platforms in Beirut», Routledge, «The Arab Avant Garde: Musical Innovation in the Middle East», Wesleyan University Press). He teaches regularly at universities, and runs workshops for arts institutions. Since 2022 he produces the Norient Mixtape for Swiss National Radio SRF3. Currently, he is working on his new music duo «Melodies In My Head», and on the podcast series «Long Take: Life as an Artist». Follow him on Instagram, Research Gate, Academia.edu, Bandcamp, Spotify, or Meta.

Biography

Michael Spahr (VJ Rhaps) is a historian MA, journalist, and media artist. He was on the board of Norient from 2008 until 2014. He developed the website norient.com. He was the co-founder and co-director (2009–2014) of the Norient Musikfilm Festival. He contributed with his video art to the audio-visual scientific media performances of Norient. He was the host and DJ of Norients monthly radio show Sonic Traces on Radio RaBe. He works as a freelance artist, film maker, and journalist in Bern (Switzerland). Follow him on his Website.

Published on May 09, 2011

Last updated on April 09, 2024

Topics

Experiment

Performance

Sound

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Sonic Traces: From Switzerland

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The Value of Listening

Podcast

by Thomas Burkhalter

Charles Hirschkind, author of the book The Ethical Soundscape: Cassette Sermons and Islamic Counterpublics, talks about Cassette Sermons, YouTube-Clips and the value of Listening in Egypt. With a Quran recitation by Abdul Basit Abd us-Samad, a Nasheed by Imad Rami, and field recordings by Seth Ayyaz.

Check this post by Charles Hirschkind on the Egypt Demonstrations of 2011.

Sheikh Abdul Basit Abd us-Samad

This Podcast was produced for the project Global Prayers.

Biography

Dr. Thomas Burkhalter is an anthropologist/ethnomusicologist, AV-artist, and writer from Bern (Switzerland). He is the founder and director of Norient and the Norient Festival (NF), co-directed AV-performances and documentary films (e.g. «Contradict», Berner Filmpreis 2020 + Al-Jazeera Witness), and is the author and co-editor of several books (e.g., «Local Music Scenes and Globalization: Transnational Platforms in Beirut», Routledge, «The Arab Avant Garde: Musical Innovation in the Middle East», Wesleyan University Press). He teaches regularly at universities, and runs workshops for arts institutions. Since 2022 he produces the Norient Mixtape for Swiss National Radio SRF3. Currently, he is working on his new music duo «Melodies In My Head», and on the podcast series «Long Take: Life as an Artist». Follow him on Instagram, Research Gate, Academia.edu, Bandcamp, Spotify, or Meta.

Published on April 11, 2011

Last updated on April 02, 2024

Topics

Listening

Religion

Soundscape

All Topics

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