Turning misfortune into something positive – was it
luck, solidarity, just business as usual, or a miracle?
The theme of the evening’s concert was
‘Wonders/Miracles’ – was this title also a sign of things to come?
The Folk Club Bonn thrives on its versatility, drawn
from a mix of professional, semi-professional and amateur musicians, and so
so-called ‘featured artists’ are often present, some of whom travel from
distant lands not only to give the audience a special treat, but also, not
infrequently, to enjoy the unique atmosphere of the Folk Club Bonn. This
focused attention on the artistic performance is always present, even with soft
sounds – although, as you know, electric amplification is never used. Last Friday,
too, professional support was once again on the cards – the Italian duo Serena
Finatti and Andrea Varnier, who had already been celebrated twice with great
applause at the Folk Club, had announced their appearance – but unfortunately,
due to unforeseen circumstances, they were unable to keep this promise.
Moreover, the reason had arisen at such short notice that it was no longer
possible to give advance notice of the cancellation, and so the organisers
waited for the duo to appear that evening – unfortunately to no avail.
But the Folk Club wouldn’t be the Folk Club if the
evening hadn’t been turned into an unforgettable experience all the same –
artists already on stage extended their sets, and others, not scheduled for the
evening at all, stepped in spontaneously and without preparation – but with
total professionalism. How lucky that everyone is so flexible – a great sense
of solidarity amongst them, without any airs and graces – at the Folk Club,
that sort of thing is simply normal, and all in all, it (or the Folk Club) is
simply a miracle – the miracle of Bonn?
But first things first – still hoping that Serena and
Andrea would walk through the door at any moment, John Harrison, as always in
his role as master of ceremonies, began the evening with the loudly proclaimed
and thus hall-silencing “Läääddddiiieeeeees an Gentlemen, Mesdames et
Messieurs…”. As always in May, John then paid musical homage to the forces of
nature, symbolically represented by the ‘Green Man’, the goblin responsible for rebirth and all growth in nature. What would the start of May be without a sing-along? And
so Mr Harrison encouraged the audience to join in, and together, with some 70
voices, the May song ‘Hail! Hail! On the first of May, to the hall. Traditionally, the 1st of May in Bonn is also the day of ‘Rhein in Flammen’ /Rhine Aflame, and so it always fits in
well and is a lovely addition when John tells the story of a wild mallard duck that fled the
fireworks, chose the Harrison family’s balcony as a makeshift birthing room,
and hatched her eggs there. John’s daughter named this figure, which resembled
a Zeppelin in both form and activity, “Zeppelina”, from which John then turned
the story into a song that delights us in May.
After John, it was the turn of the Molitones – a trio
featuring the wonderfully sensitive guitarist Carsten and the singers Iris and
Steffi, both blessed with great voices. Together they treated us to their
versions of the songs “Can’t Help Falling In Love”, “Make You Feel My Love” and
“Tommi” and, as is easily discernible from the titles, they clearly paid homage
to love, which is traditionally associated with May (of course, love lives all
year round, but it often just begins in May).
With the last song, the theme
isn’t quite so obvious from the title, but the song is about love for Cologne,
a city that, once experienced, tells a lifelong love story. It was wonderful
how the interpretations, with their crystal-clear intonation in two-part
harmony, blended with the sensitive guitar playing mentioned earlier.
Caroline Bernotat and Peter Bachmann now seem to have
formed a lasting musical partnership and once again delighted us with their own
songs and interpretations of well-known classics. I think the two of them
harmonise better and better each time, and so they encouraged the audience to
sing along to the song ‘Puff The Magic Dragon’, made famous by Peter, Paul
& Mary, guiding them through the song with their vocal lead.
/ After that,
they took up a song by Caroline Bernotat, ‘You Crept Into My Life’, and performed
it beautifully, partly in two-part harmony. They concluded their set with
“Scarborough Fair”, thereby also sending a message against war to a world that
is, sadly, once again in the process of self-destruction, as Caroline wove the
song “The Side of a Hill” into the lyrics in fine Simon & Garfunkel style.Kai Hofstetter – scheduled for the last Folk Club, but had to pull out due to illness – celebrated his
return with the Annette “Drunt am Mee” in his characteristic Rhine-Main Delta
dialect. A spring song that describes a ritual gathering on the Main to
celebrate the arrival of spring. As a reminder: an ‘Annette’ is the performance
of just one song – in contrast to a ‘Floorspot’, which comprises around two to three
songs.
Volkskapell, a dream that I – your chronicler on this
occasion – have been pursuing for many years, has come true – and I hope it can
continue for a long time to come. In my view, German folk songs have an
undeserved bad reputation. Just like songs sung by the people of other
cultures, they describe cultural events, express social and political
grievances, and highlight the social conditions that prevailed at the time of
their creation.
We try to
incorporate both polyphonic singing and various instruments. This evening, we used the guitar, the zither, and the banjo as instruments.
The featured artists were due to play after us, but as
they were not present, it became clear that unfortunate circumstances had
prevented them from appearing. A short break was taken, which was used to
quickly reorganise the evening. After the break, John brought the audience back
together with his little poem by Edward Lear about the owl and the cat, “The
Owl & The Pussy Cat”, and handed the musical baton to John Hurd,
who
indulged his love of Western films with the song “The Last Round Up”.
Tom Kannmacher is always a welcome guest at the Folk
Club, because – and I personally find this particularly wonderful, as you can
imagine – he also has a great love for German folk songs. And he delves even
deeper into the annals of German culture than I do – treasures emerge whose
origins most people knew nothing about – but once discovered, they wouldn’t
want to be without them. And so Tom began with a musical account of the lament
of a farmer’s life, of the burdens and hardships of daily life, which often
fail to lead to even the minimal prosperity of a secure existence – does that
sound familiar to anyone? Although we all, even if poor, live today with a
relatively greater security in our lives than the farmer in the song ‘Auf Erden
der Bauer keinen guten Tag hat’ (On Earth, the Farmer Has No Good Day). The
song “Der Müller der Dieb” (The miller and the thief) rails against the thieving machinations of the
millers, who, thanks to the necessary infrastructure, usually held a monopoly
in agricultural production. “In Bohemia there is a little town” is a tribute to
a garrison town where civilians and the military lived together in close
harmony until, yes, until war broke out and the ruling powers demanded that the
soldiers take up arms. Many did not return, and the pretty little town became a
field of mourning. The floor spot was actually supposed to end after three
songs, but then it turned out that Tom, of course, had even more songs up his
sleeve and, out of solidarity with the Folk Club, naturally performed these as
well.
And then came yet another show of solidarity. Thomas
Monnerjahn and Eric Linfoot were in the audience and, on the spur of the moment
and without any preparation, took to the stage for an impromptu performance –
what else could you expect when there was no chance to prepare? From these two,
EVERYTHING. On a borrowed guitar with steel strings (Thomas has been playing
exclusively on nylon strings for some time now), they conjured up a jazz magic
whose professionalism others (myself included) cannot match even after years of
practice.
Coupled with Eric’s wonderful voice and song interpretation, the
audience was treated to a real treat. With ‘All Of Me’, ‘Stormy Monday’ (during
which John Harrison spontaneously stepped in on the harmonica) and ‘Manha de
carnaval’, they filled a gap without being mere stopgaps.
As planned, though slightly extended, Rick Fines then
once again showed us his skills. A Canadian professional musician who ended up
in Bonn due to family circumstances, he has now become an integral part of the
Folk Club and repeatedly demonstrates a wide variety of styles on the guitar,
ranging from blues to jazz and ragtime. He also repeatedly makes it clear how
simple and effortless playing the guitar is (or can be, if you know how), once
the fear is gone and the principle of finger movement and the correct
fingerings are understood – in other words, it remains a science :-). Rick
treated us to both songs he had composed himself and interpretations of other
musicians’ works.
“Laundry On The Line” was his opener. Whether the freshly
dried laundry was immediately soiled again by coffee stains remains a mystery
in the song “Coffee, One Cream”, but his remark that it is a great joy on earth
to wake up in the morning, but an even greater one to hold a freshly brewed cup
of coffee in your hands, so that by savouring it you can refocus all your
senses on the new day, was certainly understandable. “My Mistake” is a story
about a love that, fortunately, turned out not to be a mistake after all, but a
stroke of luck. “Half Full Cup” is a song (if I’ve understood everything
correctly) that was actually meant to be written about a girlfriend. But at
some point, Rick realised that his mother had suddenly appeared in the lyrics
too, and to top it all off (or did it complicate things?), his sister as well –
during the performance, I simply listened to the music, and it completely
satisfied me. The set concluded with a rendition of the Chuck Berry track “No
Money Down”, which describes a love for a car.
Here, Rick was once again able
to prove that, even though both hands are occupied with the guitar, he can
still play the trumpet – with your eyes closed, you could actually get the
impression that a soft trumpet was playing in the background – even though it
was just a mouth-played tune without an instrument. Rick will certainly delight
us many more times, and just as certainly, we’ll never get bored listening to
him.
Well, what could possibly come next? You guessed it: a
tribute to our patron Jock Stewart – because without this act of solidarity,
supported by everyone, a Folk Club would never cease to exist. And now?
Remember, after the Folk Club is before the Folk Club. We’ll see you again on 5
June 2026. With that in mind,
Out of the bedroom,
Yours, Mario
