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The accordion is a knob and keyboard instrument, but also an air instrument. Mario Batkovic, winner of a Swiss Music Prize 2023, makes it breathe.
The accordion is an instrument of the street, from where it gets its musical and stylistic agility. It can easily turn to different genres: chanson, classical music or even ambient, minimal music or metal. With Mario Batkovic, this is palpable at all times. As an instrumentalist, composer and inventor of his own instruments, he can hardly be categorised. He should have been known to the Bernese public for a long time: as a member of the Kummerbuben or Stiller Has. He has written music for films and video games and created sound worlds for Parisian fashion houses. In addition, he caused a sensation with his solo debut in 2017. This year, he will receive a Swiss Music Prize for his wide-ranging work. “The multi-instrumentalist – apart from the accordion, Batkovic plays ‘pretty much everything that’s needed’ – is at the same time a composer, an impulsive hothead and a charismatic doer full of infectious verve,” wrote Der Bund and also described him as a “master builder of wonderful madness”.
