Wenn die
Elisabeth............/
Women per se, but especially women's names, have always been
a source of song creation - as was the case at Folk Club Bonn, because the
theme of the 156th evening was - women's names. It could be assumed that around
50% of the audience could contribute their own names to this theme, but the
evening wasn't quite that long after all. Does the English name for women also
count as a name? I don't know, but our master of ceremonies John Harrison opened
the proceedings as usual with an expected call of “Laaaadiieees an Gentlemen,
Mesdames et Messieurs......”. Once the necessary calm had returned, however, he
did not leave it at the ladies, but turned his attention to a very special lady
- namely “Alberta, Alberta”. This is the title of the blues about a woman who
is sung about but is not there, or was? The lyrics don't explain exactly, but,
as is usual with the blues, the singer is not happy, but sad - so I assume that
Alberta is still not back. Also sad was “Zeppelina”, a brooding duck who fled
from the ruckus of a Rhine in Flames night and sought refuge on John's balcony.
There she laid one egg after another and - hopefully happily again - provided
new ducks. John ended his opening gig with the “Green Man”, indicating at the
same time that spring has nature firmly in its grip and that the Green Man is
waking everything from hibernation. It should also be mentioned that John was
accompanied very professionally by Christoph Thiebes on the harmonica and also
opened the second half of the evening - unfortunately somewhat forced, as our
house poet Wolfgang Schriefer was ill. (See Poetry Corner * below) John offered to recite his poem “Ode to
Brigitte”. And because he's good at it, John immediately followed up with a
poem by Lord George Gordon Noel Byron about the Drachenfels - “The Castled Crag
Of Drachenfels”. It was probably a female dragon - because of the female names
:-)
But back to the first half, where the à capella quintet Pentarmony
from the Westerwald now took to the stage.
Partarmony
They first sang the song “Can't
Help Falling In Love With You” to the audience in wonderful, polyphonic
singing. The applause showed the choir how well they had done. And the
Pentarmonies proved that the first song is also always a sing-along by making
the second song “Ebony and Ivory” even more beautiful. (Ebony and Ivory are
women's names, by the way). In this song, the voices took turns to introduce
themselves with short solo passages, only to dive back into the community of
polyphony. It was shown here that Katrin Waldraff, Alex Haag, Sonja Daniels,
Jutta Spielmann and Edgar Kind not only know what they are doing, but can
do it.
They concluded their brilliant performance with the song “Words” by the
Real Group. Need I say much more about this? Anyone who dares to tackle a
rather difficult piece and receives thunderous applause - well, they've done a
good job.
The next artist seems to be doing well in his retirement
because, in my unbiased opinion, he is getting better every time - and that's
saying something, as he started this stage of his life with a high level of
musicality. Hans Ihnen brought many female names to the stage.
Hans began on the guitar
“Annie's
Song” by John Denver describes the man's longing for his Annie, whom he thinks
about with all his senses, feels with all his senses and with whom he wants to
stay together forever. “Suzanne” also describes its own kind of longing, which
simultaneously calls into the distance and yet listens in one place to the
various passing elements of nature.
Hans then took to the piano As we all know, everyone can interpret
their own meaning into Leonard Cohen songs, and Hans did a great job of inviting
the audience to do just that. Now the six strings were put aside and many keys
(black and white) were brought out - i.e. by opening the piano lid.
With Easter approaching, he was soon caught in the crossfire hares of photographers Messrs Michael Schmiedel and Detlef Stachetzki!
“Hey Jude”
was not only sung by Hans, but also by the entire audience. Thank goodness Hans
didn't lose himself in the many women's (names) despite the great
interpretation, but returned to his Birgit with a properly filled applause bag.
And now there was a youthful-looking, always cheerful man on
stage who, as he told us himself, had already been “scolded” by the audience
before his performance. Johannes Epremian - announced as a featured
artist who also wanted to present his guitar-accompanied music - didn't
actually have a violin with him. I was pleased to hear what some considered
blasphemy, because I already knew some of the pieces he accompanied on the
guitar and find this kind of interpretation wonderful - especially in an
acoustic setting like the Folk Club. And Johannes not only met my expectations,
but exceeded them. Whether well-known Le Clou songs such as “Corsaires Du
Soleil”,
Sans son violon, mais prouvant néanmoins que la voix humaine est l'un
des instruments les plus anciens et les plus puissants au monde.
“De France En Amérique” or “Petite Etoile”, pieces by his trio Austin,
Weller, Epremian such as “Vers Le Ciel” or cover songs by Tom Paxton “Leaving
London”,
by Jackson C. Franck's “Blues Run The Game” and Don McLean's ‘Vincent’
or well-known traditional pieces such as “Lisa Jane” and “Jambalaya” - Johannes
managed to make something new, something of his own out of them.
Johannes taking his National steel guitar walkabouts!
With clear
vocal intonation and simple but enormously effective accompanying riffs, he
leads the audience into a world that makes you forget everyday life. And even when
the lyrics are suddenly no longer there, Johannes manages to cover it up with
extremely friendly comments so that everyone thinks it's part of the show. For
me, Johannes was once again a real treat that evening.
Now I've jumped back into the second half with Johannes and
this time I'm staying there. As already written, this half was opened by John
Harrison and two poems.
*Poetry Corner
1) Wolfgang Schriefer's poem as a hommage to Brigitte:
Frauennamen
Ich liebte die Frauen Und die Frauen liebten mich
Es gibt so viele Namen Weltweit für die Damen
Erst liebt ich die Katrin Sie war schlank und rank
Ich gab mich ihr völlig hin Bis sie 'nen anderen fand
Und dann kam Yvonne Ja die war echt nett
Sie war eine Nonne Heimlich war'n wir im Bett
Doch lasst euch sagen Sie war nicht nur nett
Hatte zu viele Fragen wurde mir bald zu keck
Frauen gibt's viele und Namen Das ist wirklich wahr
Alle kann man nicht haben Aber vielleicht ein paar
Dann traf ich Brigitte In der Bonner Stadtmitte
Sie wurd meine Kleine Wollte nicht nur das eine
Wir hatten Vertrauen In uns und die Welt
Darauf konnten wir bauen Hofften das für immer es hält
Und das tat es, ja das tat es Liebe Leute, es hält bis heute
Viele Frauen viele Namen
Doch nur DIE eine willst du wirklich haben
©WolfgangSchriefer,04.2025
2) This was a poem written by Lord Byron over 200 years ago about the Drachenfels, the ruined castle originally built in the 12th century above Königswinter and it helped to establish the concept of the "Romantic Rhine". The Drachenfels overlooks one of the most northerly vineyards in Germany, but it is doubtful if Lord Byron ever left the left bank of the river Rhie and actually visited the right bank.
The castled crag of Drachenfels — George Gordon Noel Byron
(1816)
Frowns o’er the wide and winding Rhine,
Whose breast of waters broadly swells
Between the banks which bear the vine,
And hills all rich with blossom’d trees,
fields which promise corn and wine,
And scatter’d cities crowning these,
Whose far white walls along them shine,
Have strew’d a scene, which I should see
With double joy wert thou with me.
And peasant girls with deep blue eyes,
And hands which offer early flowers,
Walk smiling o’er this paradise;
Above, the frequent feudal towers
Through green leaves lift their walls of grey,
And many a rock which steeply lowers,
And noble arch in proud decay,
Look o’er this vale of vintage-bowers;
Bur one thing want these banks of Rhine, -
Thy gentle hand to clasp in mine!
I send the lilies given to me;
Though long before thy hand they touch,
I know that they must wither’d be,
But yet reject them not as such;
For I have cherished them as dear,
Because they yet may meet thine eye,
And guide thy soul to mine even here,
When thou behold’st them drooping nigh,
And know’st them gathered by the Rhein,
And offered from my heart to thine!
The river nobly foams and flows,
The charm of this enchanted ground,
And all its thousand turns disclose
Some fresher beauty varying round:
The haughtiest breast its wish might bound
Through life to dwell delighted here;
Nor could on earth a spot be found
To nature and to me so dear,
Could thy dear eyes in following mine
Still sweeten more these banks of Rhine!
John then introduced us to Evgeny Nesterenko,
who performed two very beautiful songs from the Ukraine - and “best” can be
taken literally. According to Evgeny himself, he hasn't sung for 10 years - but
in the Folk Club Bonn he sang all the more beautifully. Unfortunately, I can't
give you the names of the songs as they were either not mentioned or my
Ukrainian wasn't good enough to understand them. In any case, I was moved by
the melancholy inherent in the songs - unfortunately, in these times we always
think of the terrible war in this country when we hear Ukrainian songs. I am
very glad that performances like this show again and again that it is not an
anonymous war, but that people are affected who are just as connected to music
and beauty as we are. Let's hope together that this madness will finally come
to an end soon.
We already got to know Moustafa Osh & Saico Balde
at the last Folk Club, and these two musicians with rhythm in every pore of
their bodies and an irrepressible zest for life naturally had to come back
quickly.
They did (We are here again - Moustafa's welcome to the audience) and
almost brought the room to a boil with their African music. Like many African
songs that thrive on rhythm, the first song performed, “Kizomba”, was very long
- but the audience didn't notice, as Moustafa said he had shortened it so that
the evening wouldn't end too late.
With “Zambe”, the audience got to know a new
peace song - here Moustafa had a lot of peace wishes to express, so that the
shortened time of Kizomba was put to good use. Then it got sporty. True to the
motto “When the artists work, the audience should also do something”, Moustafa
asked the audience to stand up and do some gymnastic exercises to his song
“Zimbole”. Always great fun, which also helps to learn a difficult chorus
quickly.
I don't need to
introduce Gerd Schinkel, everyone knows him and, as is one of his
characteristics, he likes to remember deceased artists on current occasions.
On
March 16, the musician Jesse Colin Young passed away, and Gerd paid homage to
him with his song “Get Together”, for which Gerd wrote the German lyrics. I
think it's good to remember the artists, and often many listeners find new
listening impulses as a result. Thank you Gerd.
There's one more - even at the Folk Club and that one was Daniel
Habermann. Daniel was at the Folk Club for the first time and with a great
charisma and beautiful music. He started the show with his own piece, which he
wrote several years ago for a woman (Anja) who was present. Even though the
piece is called “Bookcovers”, it also fulfilled the theme of the day: women's
names.
With “Masters Of War” by Bob Dylan, Daniel showed that he is also very
good at presenting covers. Daniel concluded his set with another song of his
own. “Vital Questions 2” is, as the name suggests, a sequel to Vital Questions.
So, the important questions are probably now taking up a significant amount of
Daniel's time.
I admit it - the initially very positive feeling about the song
was (for me) slightly dampened by its length. But firstly, that's a matter of
taste and secondly, the overall performance made up for it.
Well, since I've already described Johannes Epremian's
second part of the gig, that's the end of it - right? Of course not, because as
always there was a collective hymn of praise to our patron saint “Jock
Stewart”. And it's not over yet - just a break - until May 2, 2025, when it
will be “Laaaaadddiieeees............” again
