December, presents, America, illness - the December Folk Club 2024
December 2024 - not really cold (sometimes more like spring), not really warm (even frost a few times) - in other words, real weather for becoming ill. Which some people were. I myself have three friends who couldn't come due to illness. It wasn't quite as full as usual (but that didn't detract from the atmosphere). If we relate this situation to the motto (gifts, America), many allegories are conceivable (allegory = figurative explanation of an abstract concept). On the one hand, that the election result in America is a sign of becoming ill (or that the result itself is ill?). Or that it is a gift to become ill and be cared for during this time - but we don't want to get political, so let's emphasize it out loud: “It was good not to be ill and to experience FCB 152.”
As always, and yet always surprisingly, John Harrison
opened the event with his invigorating call “Laaadieees and Gentlemeen......”,
only to then explain that, as every year, special guest Simon Kempston had once
again arrived with a new CD in his luggage. Yes, the Folk Club Bonn is special
for several reasons - one of them is the loyalty of returning artists, and
Simon is probably the most loyal of all. But of course John didn't stop at
explanations, but once again demonstrated his musical talent very skillfully.
With the songs “Walking Blues” by Son House and “Crossroads” by Robert Johnson,
John wrapped his gifts in bluesy melodies as usual. However, he addressed the
second theme of the evening - America, as the first two pieces originate from
this region. With a self-composed song “Albert McShah”, John switched back to
the theme of gifts, because Albert had two souls in his body - on the one hand
the soul of a shah with the desire to found a harem and on the other hand the
soul of a Scottish musician who loved the blues. Unfortunately, the blues
singers in his harem were unable to intonate the notes correctly and so the
intended gift turned into a lifetime of torment. But there is one consolation -
real blues can only come from a tortured soul.
Antje ten Hoevel - known to us all as part of the harp duo Harfenlicht - showed us the result of imagination and craftsmanship combined. This time solo, she showed us a special kind of harp sounds - namely those from a small music box. The sounds are produced by striking the reeds and the striking is realised by perforated strips that are pulled over a roller by means of a hand wheel (if you want to know more:
https://www.ma-boite-a-musique.com/mag/en/home.php
Antje makes the
perforated strips herself and can therefore also produce polyphonic passages.
Manual work and imagination combined. Antje first performed the Bee Gees song
“Ellan Vannin” for us - in an atmosphere of complete silence, because the music
box is - despite the resonance amplifier (an old wine or apple crate) - yes,
here too the Folk Club Bonn shows its uniqueness again and again - the music is
always followed very attentively, mostly quietly, but sometimes also by singing
along intensively. With the other pieces “Vorfreude” composed by her husband
Uwe Jendricke, who was certainly thinking of the next Folk Club when he
composed it :-), the English traditional Christmas carol “God Rest Ye Merry,
Gentlemen”, the piece “Bei Resia” written for harp by André and Lara Schubert
or the “Gloria in Excelsis Deo”, she not only showed her craftsmanship in
punching holes in the stripes at the right musical intervals, but also
encouraged the audience to sing and hum along quietly. To anticipate, Antje
brought a special gift to the Folk Club when she climbed onto the stage once
again at the end of the Folk Club and played Jock Stewart on her music box.
This time we were able to welcome Lothar Prünte almost
as often as we had to cancel due to illness. Known to everyone as a Tina Turner
interpreter with a powerful voice, he took to the stage today with quieter
songs. He started with the BAP song “Eins Für Carmen Un En Insel”.
Unfortunately, it was already apparent here that these rather quiet songs to a
strummed guitar are difficult to master without a microphone. As a result, the
melody and lyrics faded into the background, which didn't do the music any good
overall. But Lothar wouldn't be Lothar if he didn't quickly internalize this
remark and next time either come up with more vocally powerful songs or adopt a
new guitar playing technique that allows both parts of the music (vocals and
accompaniment) to have a better effect. So as not to give the wrong impression.
Overall, the interpretations of the songs performed were very good and skillful
- oh yes, after the BAP song mentioned, there was also “An Tagen wie diesen” by
Die Toten Hosen and a declaration of love to his wife, who was present at the Folk
Club, “Frau, ich freu mich” (also by BAP) to sing along to.
What do Annette and Cecilia have in common - nothing really, except that this time Cecilia sang an “Annette” at the Folk Club Bonn (a single piece as a spontaneous idea). “Oh, Holy Night (Original: Cantique de Noël)” was performed a cappella with a super voice and very balanced intonation. A gift for us all at Christmas time.
But now - the special guest Simon Kempston. Not only
do we know him well, he also knows the Folk Club inside out by now and knows
how to quickly captivate the entire audience. A special voice, a constant
change between clear intonation, tremolo singing and also suitable individual
sounds to accompany or as an accompaniment to his strong guitar playing, which
is mostly designed as fingerpicking and knows how to transform soft tones into
powerful chords almost seamlessly - a pleasure that is far more than just
background music. That's why the entire audience listened to him attentively.
For my part, I regret to say that my knowledge of the English language is not
sufficient to understand the fine poetry that lies in Simon's lyrics directly
with the enjoyment of the music. I usually look at the lyrics separately from
the music, absorb the poetry and the messages they contain, and then listen to
the songs again to complete the whole work. There are various ways of doing
this. Many of the songs can be listened to on YouTube or Spotify - but the
easiest way is to buy Simon's CDs and internalise the songs piece by piece. Now
I've gone a bit into raptures without telling you which songs he sang - you who
were there know, and the others can wait a bit, because now I'll tell you.
Simon opened the show with “Run With You Darling” from the CD Broken Before.
“Vulnerable Man” from Vanishing Act followed. Simon introduced his new CD My
Dreams Are Theirs with “The Normal Life”. “Man Of Peace”, also from Vanishing
Act, is just as familiar to the Folk Club audience as the instrumental ‘Till
Death Does Us Part’ from the CD Onwards She Travels. Simon loves the FCB, which
is why he performed two more pieces in the first half. “The Time For Talking
Has Passed” is another piece from his latest CD and refers to the crises
currently unfolding in the world. And this time Simon performed it on the
piano. The last track of the first half, “Where My Love Belongs”, a song about
Simon's love for his child, also comes from this album. You'll notice that I'm
not really going into the content of the songs - that wouldn't do them justice.
To express Simon's lyricism and poetry with my words would distort everything -
so do as I say and let yourself fall into the gift of Simon's music. Here I'll
jump ahead and list Simon's tracks from the second half. “Broken Before” from the CD of the same name,
‘Never The Bride’ and ‘A Tale Of Two Unions’ from You Can't Win Every Time and
the instrumental ‘Moonrise Over Mostar’ from the CD of the same name. In the
next piece, Simon once again made a special reference to the Folk Club Bonn -
he played his “What Led You To This” from the new CD together with John
Harrison, who accompanied him on the harmonica. Even though this section is
dedicated to Simon, it has to be said that the admiration for John cannot be
great enough, as he always supports his fellow musicians spontaneously and
skillfully on this instrument. But back to Simon. Also from this CD is his
piece “Don't Let Her Hear You Say That”, also performed at the Folk Club on the
piano. Simon wanted to end his concert with “The Bus To Nairn” from A Fine
Line, but the audience demanded an encore, which he gladly granted with the
song “Derry Walls” from the CD Impasse. I am sure that the December tradition
will continue in 2025 and that Simon will give us the gift of himself.
A slight break in style at this point. Since the second half
of the Folk Club was opened by the group Fomiander (this time in the light
version), I myself belong to this very formation and we tried out a few new
songs that I was reluctant to comment on myself, I asked Birgit to write this
part for you. I am including it here without having read it myself yet. I won't
be making any corrections or changes to it - but I would like to thank Birgit
warmly in advance. P. S. If - as I assume - you like Birgit's writing style,
please encourage her to take up the pen more often at the next Folk Club:-)
After the break, Fomiander-light take to the stage. Sonja (ukulele, vocals), Karin (flute) and Mario (bouzouki, guitar, vocals) presented new songs from their repertoire. The special thing about it: the pieces are performed almost unrehearsed (you can hardly believe it). The first song is due to the theme of the evening “Gifts”: Karin and Mario were recently gifted with grandchildren. Mario dedicates this song, “Geh deinen Weg”, to his 2nd grandson “Thilo”. A wonderful, encouraging ballad, performed as a world premiere. The second song, “Dein eigenes Leben” (Your own life), sings about being aware of the 'gift of your own life' and accepting it accordingly. A catchy, beautiful melody with great accompaniment on the flute. Mario 'threatened' to play the song every time at the FCB until everyone could sing along to the chorus. According to Mario, the 3rd song may not be suitable for young people under the age of 16. It becomes political. “Jan der Fischer” begins cheerfully in waltz time and the audience is encouraged to sway along. Jan lives in a 'high-rise tenement' and enjoys the freedom at sea. He goes to the Mediterranean with his younger colleague Ole and saves a number of refugees from drowning. But alas, out of the frying pan into the fire, the rescued are immediately locked away again and instead of gratitude, hatred sometimes arises. So the funny song becomes a serious matter that has lost none of its topicality. With the sentence: “So many died at sea”, the time-critical and haunting piece came to an end.
So now I continue writing again. After Fomiander, Hans
Ihnen conquered the stage. Some time ago I asked Hans to play the piano
more often. He did me this favor again, and I can say - he earned his applause
with flying colours. Hans began with John Lennon's “Imagine”. This time he had
mastered the right volume distribution between voice and piano. Naturally, the
audience sang along to this song and not only was the idea of peace a gift, but
so was Hans' interpretation. “Before The Deluge” by Jackson Browne was the next
piece, and Hans also mastered this one very professionally. But Hans really
stepped up his game with the foxtrot “It Don't Mean A Thing” by Duke Ellington.
Wow, I'd like to be able to do that :-). The way he didn't let little slip-ups
upset him also shows that Hans is not only good, but also feels at home with
the FCB audience.
Our resident poet Wolfgang Schriefer now had his say.
In keeping with the time of year, his poem “The Christmas Tree” dealt with the
tradition of putting up Christmas trees at Christmas time and showed the
contradiction between the birth (new life) and the killing of a tree that
symbolizes this. Successful, without spoiling the joy of the Christmas tree.
“Old becomes new” is a thought-provoking story to mark the turn of the year.
Hopefully everything will be better in the coming year. And once we get there,
everything will be better (especially the tinsel).
So, I've already reported on Antje's gift of “Jock Stewart” on the music box, so all that remains for me to say, as always, is that “Jock Stewart”, sung together as a tribute to our patron saint, formed the finale of the Folk Club. But this time too: after the Folk Club is before the Folk Club, so make a note of the date January 3, 2025, when you can experience Ismael de Barcelona & Thomas Monnerjahn as featured artists or, to put it another way, jazz meets flamenco.
With this in mind, out of the bedroom,
(and into the folk club!)
Your Mario
Your Mario
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