At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Stephan Eicher experienced two successive dramas. In the space of a few weeks, the singer lost both parents.
For Stephan Eicher, as for many people, the coronavirus has been synonymous with drama. At the start of the pandemic, the Swiss singer returned to his country of origin where his parents lived. “Went back to Bern to assist his parents”as told by Liberation this Thursday, April 7, the interpreter of No friend like you experienced two successive tragedies. First, the death of his mother, suffering from dementia. Then that of his father, taken away by the Covid-19 at the age of 84. Because of the pandemic, Stephan Eicher could not bury his parents as he wished. “I lost my father to this virus, I couldn’t bury him”, regretted the singer, devastated, with franceinfo. His father, a jazz violinist, transmitted to him the love of music, as to his brothers.
“My mother died of loneliness, because we could not visit her for three months. My father had the virus and he followed her six weeks later”he told the Swiss media. And to add: “I buried my mother on my own. We couldn’t bury my father, it was not possible due to the measures in force. I don’t want anyone to have to go through this”. Two dramas for Stephan Eicher, who owes so much to his parents. At the start of the pandemic, moreover, it was in the Camargue that he confined himself. Before leaving France to join them and help them. “It was horrible. At the time, we could only move within a radius of one kilometer around the househe remembered. My parents in Bern were not in good health, so I quickly thought: ‘We will go to Switzerland and sell the house’.”
Stéphane Eicher, his music, “a return to family sources”
If he had a long career as an article of French songs, Stephen Echer has turned in recent years to Balkan folklorewhich is similar to “a return to family roots”as he told AFP. A logical choice for this son of a father of Yenish Gypsy origin. “It’s the music that my father listened to, who was Yenish. He hid it, especially since on my mother’s side we are very bourgeois, confided the singer. But it was also the result of fear: until the 1970s in Switzerland, a foundation, Pro Juventute, took children away from the trip to place them with other families. It is in music, as often, that Stephan Eicher will honor the memories of his parents.
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© Guillaume Gaffiot
3/12 –
Stephen Echer
“Going up to Bern to assist his parents”, as told by Liberation this Thursday, April 7, the interpreter of No friend like you has experienced two successive dramas
© Guillaume Gaffiot
4/12 –
Stephen Echer
First, the death of his mother, suffering from dementia. Then that of his father, taken away by the Covid-19 at the age of 84
© Maks Lui
5/12 –
Stephen Echer
Because of the pandemic, he could not bury his parents as he wished
© Maks Lui
6/12 –
Stephen Echer
“I lost my father with this virus, I could not bury him”, regretted the singer, devastated, with franceinfo
© JLPPA
7/12 –
Stephen Echer
“My mother died of loneliness, because we could not visit her for three months. My father had the virus and he followed her six weeks later”
© AGENCY
8/12 –
Stephen Echer
“I buried my mother on my own. We couldn’t bury my father, it was not possible due to the measures in force. I don’t want anyone to have to go through this”
© AGENCY
9/12 –
Stephen Echer
Two dramas for Stephan Eicher, who owes so much to his parents.
© AGENCY
10/12 –
Stephen Echer
At the start of the pandemic, moreover, it was in the Camargue that he confined himself
© AGENCY
11/12 –
Stephen Echer
Before leaving France to join them and help them
© ALAIN GUIZARD
12/12 –
Stephen Echer
“My parents in Bern were not in good health, so I quickly thought: ‘We are going to go to Switzerland and sell the house’.”