Martin Suter & Stephan Eicher in Basel

Martin Suter is a Swiss novelist and screenwriter, born in Zurich in 1948. He is known for novels including Small World, The Dark Side of the Moon and A Perfect Friend, as well as the crime stories featuring art dealer Johann Friedrich von Allmen. The Song Book stage programme brought Suter into theatres for a literary and musical collaboration. He reads his texts during the production, while songs whose lyrics he wrote are performed by Swiss musician Stephan Eicher.

Stephan Eicher is a Swiss singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, born in Münchenbuchsee in 1960. After recording with the new-wave group Grauzone, known for “Eisbär,” he built a multilingual solo catalogue of chanson, pop and rock. The album Engelberg includes two of his best-known French-language songs, “Déjeuner en paix” and “Pas d’ami (comme toi).” The Tour Taxi Europa documented his early-2000s concerts and was issued as a live album, presenting material from across his French- and German-language repertoire in a band setting. He later toured Hüh! with the Swiss brass ensemble Traktorkestar, extending the collaboration heard on the album of the same name. He has returned for multiple editions of Paléo Festival in Nyon, while Francofolies de La Rochelle has also featured his French-language repertoire.