Stephan Eicher & Imany in Basel

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.

Imany is the stage name of Nadia Mladjao, a French singer-songwriter born in Martigues in 1979. Her music is rooted in soul, folk and blues, carried by a low, distinctive voice. Her debut album, The Shape of a Broken Heart, included “You Will Never Know”; “Don’t Be So Shy” later found a dance audience through the Filatov & Karas remix. Her catalogue also includes The Wrong Kind of War and the covers collection Voodoo Cello. Imany toured songs from The Shape of a Broken Heart and The Wrong Kind of War in theatres and at festivals across Europe before developing a new concert format for Voodoo Cello. The production features her voice and an ensemble of eight cellists, and its repertoire includes her arrangements of songs associated with Radiohead, Madonna and Bob Marley.