Mani Matter (4 August 1936 in

Herzogenbuchsee Herzogenbuchsee is a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The population is 7055 (2011), counting the villages in the Oberaargau. The traditional name was ''Buchsi''. History Herzogenb ...

– 24 November 1972 in Kilchberg, Zurich, officially Hans-Peter Matter) was a popular Swiss singer-songwriter.

Biography

Mani Matter was born on 4 August 1936 in Herzogenbuchsee,

Canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

. His father, Erwin Matter, was an advocate, his mother, the Dutch woman Wilhelmina Matter-de Haan, was a secretary. He had a two years older sister, Helen Matter. Growing up in

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

, he started to perform his own chansons in contemporary

Bernese German Bernese German (Standard German: ''Berndeutsch'', gsw, Bärndütsch) is the dialect of High Alemannic German spoken in the Swiss plateau (Mittelland) part of the canton of Bern and in some neighbouring regions. A form of Bernese German is spoke ...

at local venues and on the radio; he accompanied himself on the guitar. He was an active

Boy Scout A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...

in the Pfadicorps Patria in Bern and he performed his first own songs during Boy Scout evenings. He also performed together with the Berner Troubadours (Bernese

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...

s). He was killed in a car accident on his way to a concert and is buried in the Bremgartenfriedhof in Bern. Mani Matter's literary estate is archived in the Swiss Literary Archives in Bern.

Legacy

His

songs remain very popular in the Swiss German speaking part of Switzerland, and Matter is a great influence on the

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

music scene in Bern, and his songs are frequently

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

. A collection of cover-versions was published in 1992 on the album ''Matter Rock.'' Mani Matter's

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic s ...

s are often taught at school (including classes for adults wanting to learn

) and are famous for their soft irony.

Discography

*1966 ''I han en Uhr erfunde'' (EP, "I invented a watch") *1967 ''Alls wo mir id Finger chunnt'' (EP, "Anything I touch") *1970 ''Hemmige'' (EP, "Inhibitions") *1972 ''Betrachtige über nes Sändwitsch'' (EP, "Contemplations on a sandwich") *1973 ''Ir Ysebahn'' (LP, "On the railroad") *1973 ''I han es Zündhölzli azündt'' (double-LP, "I lit a match")

References

External links

*
Official website
of his family
Mani Matter
(information about the film) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matter, Mani 1936 births 1972 deaths People from Oberaargau District 20th-century Swiss male singers Swiss singer-songwriters Road incident deaths in Switzerland Scouting and Guiding in Switzerland