End of page

Heinz de Specht

Heinz de Specht
Heinz de Specht
© BAK/Gneborg

Heinz de Specht

Short musical therapies

Nominated for the «Schweizer Kleinkunstpreis» 2016

Heinz de Specht is a multi-instrumental trio consisting of one member from St. Gallen and two from Zurich that has been touring Switzerland’s small theatres with its own dialect song compositions for more than a decade. Christian Weiss, Daniel Schaub and Roman Riklin have created four full-length evening stage programmes to date (“Lieder aus der Vogelperspektive”, “Macht und fertig”, “schön” and “Party”). All have worked in a number of musical line-ups: Christian Weiss was the lyricist and songwriter for the Zurich-based dialect band Lucky Hiob and, together with Daniel Schaub, made up the Beatles cover act Beatlemania. Weiss also works as a songwriter and co-author for Michael Elsener. Daniel Schaub played guitar in the Zurich-based crossover band Artofex and has performed with live acts including Baschi and IVO. Roman Riklin first came to public attention in the early 1990s with the dialect rock group Mumpitz, later heading up bands such as Paul’s Diary and Q & the exeQtive Orchestra. Riklin has composed numerous theatre scores and was the author, arranger and musical director of the musical “Ewigi Liebi”.

The style of Heinz de Specht is almost impossible to define: “songwriters” is too old-fashioned; “dialect songs” too worthy, “musical cabaret” too classical. Terms the trio have used to describe themselves have included “songs from a bird’s eye view” and “short musical therapies”. Whatever we call them, the three are masters of their art. With a selection of instruments and witty wordplays, they tell stories both great and small. The songs are cleverly arranged, catchy melodies that cover a wide range of styles and themes, both musically and in terms of content. They include love songs made up of brand names or the titles of Swiss dialect hits, but also ironic questionings of social norms. For Heinz de Specht, there is much enjoyment to be derived from springing unexpected twists on their audiences – or a flat-out refusal to come to the point.

www.heinzdespecht.ch

Top of page