Marcel Lang was born in Basel into a family in which the East European Jewish tradition of chazanut (cantorial art) was cultivated.
After first training as a commercial clerk, he studied singing with Kurt Widmer and Hans Riediker at the Music Academy of Basel and the affiliated opera studio.
He produced a number of CDs featuring recordings of Yiddish songs and synagogal music accompanied by choirs, piano, chamber ensembles and klezmer bands.
Among other things, he worked at the Institute for Jewish Studies in Heidelberg as an instructor of “chazanut” and, from 1999, introduced members of the Jewish-pluralist Basel association “Ofek” to the liturgical structure of prayer-leading.
He introduced many young people to Judaism as part of their preparation for confirmation and presented Jewish religious practice in tours of the Basel synagogue and in lectures throughout German-speaking Switzerland.