Christoph H. Müller (born 1967) is a Swiss musician, composer, producer and audio engineer. He is best known as a co-founder of the electronica/neotango band Gotan Project. He is currently a founding and active member of Plaza Francia Orchestra & Müller & Makaroff, both with long time collaborator Eduardo Makaroff.
Biography
As a teenager, Müller was part of different bands, including Touch El Arab, whose song "Muhammar" became a top 5 hit in Switzerland in 1987.[1][2][3]
After studies at the Universities of Basel and Zürich he moved to Paris to study at "Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales". At the same time he continued music and founded together with Paris-based American singer/songwriter Gabriela Arnon the band Ten Mother Tongues. They released one album in 1997, called The Listening Tree.[4]
In 1995 he started a close collaboration with French label Ya Basta records. He released tracks under such names as "The Boyz from Brazil" with his future colleague Philippe Cohen Solal, "Stereo Action Unlimited", and "Fruit of the loop" and worked on music for short films, TV jingles and advertising.[5]
In 1999 he co-founded, together with Argentinean musician Eduardo Makaroff and French producer Philippe Cohen Solal, Gotan Project, whose new form of Argentinean tango has had huge success all over the world. They released three albums: La Revancha del Tango (2001), Lunatico (2006) and Tango 3.0 (2010), and did three successful world tours, until the fall of 2011.[6]
At the same time, Müller founded his own production company, March:Music, in 2004 to develop his other musical projects, like his solo project Roy Dubb and – together with Afro Peruvian musicians – the project RADIOKIJADA, whose first album Nuevos Sonidos Afro Peruanos was released in 2009 on Wrasse records. The album garnered rave reviews in the UK, and the band played at the WOMAD festival in Reading, being one of the highlights, according to The Guardian.[7][8]
In 2005 he co-composed with Eduardo Makaroff the original music for Not Here to Be Loved, a film by Stéphane Brizé, and in 2007/2008 the soundtrack for El Gaucho, a documentary fiction film by Argentinean director Andres Jarach. The composer/producer duo Müller & Makaroff was thus born.[9] During 2012 & 2013 Müller & Makaroff wrote music for the short film Reencuentro by Argentinean director Pablo Giorgelli (Camera d’or in Cannes for his film Las Acacias) and for Evita, a radio lecture written by Pablo Agüero starring French actress Jeanne Moreau.
Also in 2012 he started a collaboration with electronic music icon Hans-Joachim Roedelius (from Krautrock band Cluster). They played live together in Paris and in Lunz (Austria).
In 2014, Müller & Eduardo Makaroff together collaborated with vocalist Catherine Ringer to form a new band called Plaza Francia. This resulted in their 7 April 2014 release A New Tango Song Book[10][11] and a subsequent French/European tour which ended in November 2015. [12]
In 2018 Plaza Francia changed its name to Plaza Francia Orchestra' and released a self titled album featuring Catherine Ringer, Lura and Maria Muliterno on vocals. They also collaborated on this record with Argentinean musicians Pablo Gignoli and Sebastian Volco. The album cover was designed by Argentinian artist Antonio Segui who was based in Paris. They started a new tour during Summer 2018 which ended in Abu Dhabi in Autumn 2019.
Also in 2018, Müller released the second album of his collaboration with Roedelius, Imagori II.
Müller & Eduardo Makaroff have also re-started touring, recording & performing under the moniker Müller & Makaroff. In December 2019, they collaborate with visual artist Ian Kornfeld for a new project ANTROPOCENO! which was released for the first time at COP25 in Madrid.
The first single Antropoceno (atentas al) featuring Fémina, Hilda Lizarazu and Mia Folino was released in the Autmumn of 2020 which was performed at the 2020 UN Global Climate Action Awards. This single was followed by Ahora featuring the voices of Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough. In May 2022 they released Todo puede suceder featuring Kevin Johansen in a joint operation with Brian Eno's EarthPercent organisation. [14]
^Overview (9 December 2015). "Touch el Arab". MusicBrainz. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
^(Hg.), Marc Krebs ; unter Mitarb. von Andreas Schneitter. Rockförderverein der Region Basel (2009). Pop Basel. Basel: Christoph-Merian-Verl. ISBN978-3-85616-477-5. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
