Cri du berger was commissioned and premiered by Benjamin Carat who has then performed it many times in Europe and North America. It has also been performed by several other cellists around the world. The piece also exists in a version for cello, choir and live electronics that has been performed in Sweden and on tour in France. The reason this piece exists in two versions is due to Benjamin Carat's and Jesper Nordin's mutual interest in choir music and live electronics and has had a big impact on the compositional process of the piece. The idea was to use techniques that could be applied to both a computer and to a group of singers and then put the cello in these surroundings. The basic material for the cello part of Cri de berger is a Swedish herding tune, originally played on natural cow horn. This material has then been processed in the computer and in the imagination of the composer to become the starting point of the piece. The role of the computer and/or choir is to be the "herd" that follows what the cellist is doing. This is done by getting the computer and/or choir to imitate what the cellist is playing during certain parts of the piece. Apart from this quasi improvised heterophony there is also an element of amplified distortion which comes in to play when the cellist plays louder and noiser sounds.