Rodolphe Burger

Rodolphe Burger is a French experimental rock icon whose most notable achievements include a two-decade tenure as the singer/guitarist of Kat Onoma, plus acclaimed solo albums and a wide range of collaborations. Born on November 26, 1957, in Colmar, Haut-Rhin, France, he first garnered musical fame in the experimental rock band Kat Onoma. The Strasbourg-based band made its full-length debut in 1988 with the independently released album Cupid. The band's popularity steadily increased over the years with successive albums including Stock Phrases (1990), Billy the Kid (1992), Far from the Pictures (1995), Happy Birthday Public (1997), Kat Onoma (2001), and Live a la Chapelle (2002). The band's self-titled album from 2001 proved especially popular, reaching number 29 on the French albums chart. Though Kat Onoma officially disbanded in 2004, Burger had already begun pursuing solo ambitions, releasing the albums Cheval-mouvement (1993) and Meteor Show (1998), the latter of which was particularly acclaimed. Informed by the international electronica movement of the era, Meteor Show was a surprising departure from the jazz-rock experimentation of Kat Onoma. In addition to his solo album output, Burger released several full-length collaborative efforts, teaming up with Olivier Cadiot on On N'est Pas des Indiens, C'est Dommage (2000) and Hôtel Robinson (2002); James Blood Ulmer on Guitar Music (2003); and Chloé Mons and Alain Bashung on Cantique des Cantiques (2003). Moreover, he was featured on the Françoise Hardy albums Le Danger (1996) and Clair Obscur (2000) as well as albums by Alain Bashung (Fantaisie Militaire [1998]) and Jeanne Balibar (Paramour [2003]). After the break-up of Kat Onoma in 2004, Burger pursued a range of activities, including additional collaborations such as Before Bach (2005) with Érik Marchand. Among his post-Kat Onoma solo output, the album No Sport (2008) was widely acclaimed.