>   Ralph Beauvert /       > The Mooncow Project

< Performer of V

> Ralph Beauvert was born exactly 10 years later than Robert Calvert and "had the pleasure to follow Calvert's career from the very beginning."
He was and still is involved in the british underground music scene - having played with a number of people from the Gong family tree.
He released two albums under his own name: Time and Distance, Boy records in 1990, and Rite of Passage 1993, on Voiceprint UK.

"We often used the odd Calvert composition when
playing live and some of it has been recorded.
Needless to say I have been impressed by his output
to this day.

I am very busy in the studio recording the music for my next album tentatively titled "Nandi" and which will be out under the name of The Mooncow Project." Ralph Beauvert got in touch with me via the website you are actually exploring - shortly afterwards he supplied me with a HUGE file containing loads of material he'd collected on Hawkwind and Robert Calvert over the years. A real treasure - parts of this you'll find already digitized in these frames. But that wasn't all....as if he had heard in telepathic ways about some obscure rumours about some plans for a Robert Calvert tribute album, he asked me if I'd be interested in hearing his own version of Calvert's song   Hero with a Wing - a rethorical question, of course... And so, without even asking anyone so far, we already have the first contribution to the Calvert tribute on our hands - and...it's a BRILLIANT cover version. if you have the real-audio player installed - check out an excerpt of it >HERE< Ralph Beauvert on his version of Hero with a Wing and his upcoming musical projects: " hero... is more in the vein of the older beauvert stuff represented on time and distance and rite of passage. the new album should be finished by the end of august now and might be even a bigger surprise for the overall style is going to be something like psychedelic freestyle with a strong oriental flavour. i am right now working with some tibetan musicians who happen to live nearby. they are refugees whose parents had to flee from their homeland together with the dalai lama when the chinese took over in tibet. they also built a monastery here with a huge library. this is a nice place to meet some remarkable men now and again and also a strong source of the spirit. the people i work with sing their songs and play some real weird instruments. i hope i can turn a few of these into mooncowish sounding ditties maybe with a goa -tinched jungle beat juice sweet enough to alarm the aural palate."               Flash-Back.... if - like me - you are getting interested in what Mr. Beauvert did before these most recent undertakings, here's a short summary: He started out in 1977 - first experiments with synthesizers and electronics and 1980 saw him doing first professional work with other local musicians when co-composing a performance opera for City Festival 800 Years of Winterthur. In 1983 / 85 he founded MOONCOWISMS with fellow students in Zürich and toured Switzerland and France. After that he recorded a number of tapes - for his own Mooncow label and for Daevid Allen's 2032 cassette label. In 1989 his first album Time & Distance was released - a year later he toured Switzerland together with Graham Clark and Shyamal Maltra from Gong. Between '91 - '92 he recorded with Shyamal Maltra and Didier Malherbe and did a prestigious gig at the U.K. Electronica Festival with Chris Franke and Tim Blake In 1993 his 2nd album Rite of Passage was released. From 1994-1997 he mainly worked as a studio musician playing for close friends and appeared on a number of CD's - one being Klaus Grimmer's 'Pineiss' project - which was a big live event as well, adapted from a story by the classic Swiss author Gottfried Keller. The CD is available on Aktiv records. Beauvert contributed also his song The Stalker to the Radio Osaka CD by his former guitaist Stephan Thelen (Boy Records). 1995 saw the beginning of Beauvert's collaboration with master peercussionist Enzo Lopardo and the beginning of The Mooncow Project. A number of radio sessions throughout Europe followed - one even in Mo(on)scow. The recordings for Beauvert's new album Nandi are almost finished... ...and this takes us back to nowadays.... I got lucky and Ralph sent me a few demo-tracks of the album - they sound indeed much different to the musical style of Hero with a wing - an intense and new (at least to me) mixture of ambient / trance elements employing strong oriental sound-lines - which I love anyway. Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in expending his musical universe - sideways - crossover - however you like to call it... The lastest report on Nandi is, that the Tibetan element you've heard of before, is featured strongly - and that new recordings with these musicians are ahead - they will probably also include violin virtuoso Graham Clark. It should be clear by now...do keep your eyes open for this release - it'll be noted here as soon as it is out - Ralph Beauvert is also in the process of setting up his own website - watch out for a new link from here - which you'll find below.... LINKS - More on Ralph Beauvert: Ralph Beauvert on his real-life encounters with Hawkwind and Robert Calvert Ralph Beauvert's and the Mooncow Project's homepage