Denise Walser: singer (lead, backing, harmony vocals)

Even as a child, music and dance were my passion. Back then already, I loved to experience the joy of the audience. One of my first vocal appearances (backing) was at the MAAG Halle in Zurich in front of some 700 guests. Fun factor and positive feedback led me to further refine my voice. Since 2004, I have been taking weekly voice training in the singing school Patricia. With this school I also had various performances; for example, I took part in their anniversary show at the KUK (Culture & Congress House) in Aarau.

Through the many appearances with Skarabaeus I was able to grow on myself. I love the live atmosphere. There is nothing more motivating than an audience that has fun and may even be drawn to shake a leg to our faster dance songs. Whether romantic pieces with beautiful harmony singing or vibrant songs from the rock and country music fields: feeling live the enthusiasm of the audience is what I most enjoy.

I really appreciate making music with Karl. We are very well attuned to each other – we rehearse together every week, always work on a fine vocal blend, practice the extensive repertoire, regularly have a go at new songs and refine our own compositions.

This is how my vocal declaration of love to my cat "My Sweet Little Cat" came about. I suspect it's the only love song for four paws of this kind.

In all this variety, singing remains exciting – may it continue for a long time to come.

Karl Weber (singer, guitarist)

At the age of 15 I received a classical guitar as a gift. I've never had a teacher – but tolerant neighbours who somehow got along with my endless rehearsals of hit parade songs... I sang a lot with my brother; we practiced intensively in two-part singing. There was nothing bigger than the thirds and fifths in the songs of Simon & Garfunkel, the Everly Brothers, Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and many other 1960/70s pop bands.

I made my first appearances in Basel as a solo entertainer in cafés and on small theatre stages. Under the slogan "from Bach to Beatles" I mixed classical guitar music with pop and folk songs. People enjoyed these unplugged (purely acoustic) concerts. I created my own songs and had the one or the other appearance on radio and television.

The Swiss preliminaries for the Eurovision Song Contest in Zug remain unforgettable. My hotel room had a noisy heating that drove me crazy. In the middle of the night and with nerves on edge, I called a cab to get home for some sleep. It was bad luck that the car hit a stone and had a flat tire. I could only catch two hours of sleep before I had to go back to the TV rehearsal in Zug. (That evening, my song "Reisefieber" ended in fifth place after all.)

In the 1990s, I lived for five years in London where I performed with a small band in numerous pubs. It was the time of the hits of Brian Adams, Oasis, Robbie Williams, Westlife and others. We have included some of these songs in the Skarabaeus repertoire, as they are always well received by a broad audience.

Scarabaeus – where does the name of our duo come from?

The name is under a good star: the word Scarabaeus can be translated from the Greek to "lucky beetle". In the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics it is used for the shape of the sunrise of the sun god Re.

The positive mythical power of the scarabaeus derives from three observations:

1. The Scarabaeus appeared to feel the Nile high-water early. Even before the river crossed the banks and thus irrigated the farmland around the shore, these beetles migrated away from the water to the houses. They therefore served as an early warning system. At the same time, these beetles signified the announcement of the life-giving water.
2. The scarabaeus rolls dung into round balls – round like the sun – which it rolls in front of it, following a straight line despite all obstacles. Thus, there is a symbolic connection to the sun god Re. The scarabaeus receives the sun at night after setting in the west and rolls it underground (which was still considered flat) to the east, where it lets it rise again in the morning.
3. Scarabaeus beetles propagate very quickly. This led among the ancient Egyptians to the believe that the beetle comes into being without procreation and that it could multiply from itself. Thus, the scarabaeus became a symbol of creative power.

In short, the term scarabaeus stands for a lucky charm from ancient Egypt. Scarabaeus beetles are therefore still very popular symbols of jewellery that are supposed to bring protection and prosperity. The German name "Mistkäfer" [“dung beetle”] unfortunately arouses far less attractive associations...

Sometimes we call ourselves in the English short version: "the Scarabs"