Danny Becher

Danny Becher was born in Braunschweig, Germany in 1953. In 1973 he moved to India, where he lived and worked in Auroville and Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. There he studied vocal Hindustani music with Sri Mohan Mistry, Hindi with Miss Hero Vashishtha, and tabla with Sri Tarun Das and Sri Harit Kumar Bhattacharya. During this time he developed overtone chant in combination with breathing exercises drawing from Pranayama, Hatha Yoga, Kyokushinkai Karate and other disciplines.

In 1981 Becher moved to the Netherlands. Since 1982 he has taught overtone chant and musical awareness at conservatories, music schools, yoga centers, theaters, institutions for mentally and physically handicapped people, hospices, and spiritual organizations. He has performed concerts with gongs, singing bowls, and overtone chant, and has given seminars on the healing qualities of music. His work has been broadcast on radio and television, and he has recorded studio albums and various projects.

Becher studied Western classical music theory and history, graduating from conservatory, and trained in classical voice with Meta Bourgonjen at the Conservatory Tilburg and Felix Schoonenboom at the Conservatory Zwolle. He also studied Gregorian chant with Lida Dekkers, completed a short study of counterpoint and practical harmony, and earned a diploma in choral conducting from the SNK in Utrecht, where he has conducted five permanent four-part choirs. He has performed and taught in Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Great Britain, Sweden, Turkey, and India.

Becher has conducted research into making sound visible through cymatics photography and film documentation. His work has been featured in radio and television interviews and documentations in the Netherlands and Sweden.