FCB # 161 Friday 03.10.25 with Tim Liebert aka Doc Fritz as featured artist and featuring the Waldzither as featured instrument

 

Dear Folkies and/or Folk Club friends,

October is coming with the last warming rays of sunshine of the year, and with it Folk Club No. 161 on Friday, 3 October 2025. We have dedicated the evening to the theme of golden leaves / golden autumn.

As featured artist, we welcome a master of his instrument: Tim Liebert, alias Doc Fritz from Jena, is the leading specialist for the Waldzither in Germany. For over 40 years, Tim has been performing folk music, mainly in German, both at home and abroad. It is a great honour for us that ‘Doc Fritz’ is paying a visit to the Folk Club. Further information about Doc Fritz can be found here: https://doc-fritz.de/.

As always, the evening will be rounded off with performances by several musicians from the region. The Waldzither instrument will also play a role.
The Waldzither is an instrument that is more reminiscent of a mandolin. Developed in Thuringia around 1900, it belongs to the box lute family, but more often has a flat back lie a cittern. It may have nie, or sometimes ten, steel strings. There are numerous designs and stringings. If you would like to find out more, don't miss the upcoming Folk Club evening. Let yourself be surprised and enjoy the evening!

Here is a summary of the most important details:

Date: 3 October 2025
Start: 19:00 hrs until approximately 22:00 hrs The hall opens at 17:00 hrs, offering the opportunity to enjoy a leisurely meal and drinks before the concert. Those who arrive early can also sit in the front row. (How's that for a WIN/WIN situation?)
Location: Dotty's Sports Bar and Restaurant (public clubhouse of the Bonn Tennis and Hockey Club – BTHV), Christian-Miesen-Straße, 53129 Bonn (Dottendorf)                And as always, admission is free.                                              Preview:- 7 November; FCB # 162, theme of the evening: ‘Frost’; featured artist: Juhana Iivonen from Finland

A quick note:
If you would like to hear Doc Fritz before and after the Folk Club, you have the following opportunities:
- Thursday, 2^nd October from 20:00 hrs at Kater 26, Römerstraße 26, 53111 Bonn. Kater also serves a fine Pilsner Urquell and delicious Czech wines.
- Saturday, 4^th October, from 17:00 hrs at Café Bistro Melody, Werftstraße 5-7, 53117 Bonn-Graurheindorf
Admission to both venues is free, but there will be a hat collection for the artist.
Enclosed, above and below, you will find posters for the evening at the Folk Club and for the performances at the Kater and Melody.

Do come along and enjoy whenever you can.

If required, further information is available from

Your Folk Club Team

Elena, John and Detlef


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Liebe Folk-Club-Freunde,

der Oktober kommt mit den letzten wärmenden Sonnenstrahlen des Jahres und mit ihm der Folk Club Nr.161 am kommenden Freitag, den 03. Oktober 2025. Thematisch haben wir den Abend dem Goldenen Herbst gewidmet.As Featured Artist können wir einen Meister auf seinem Instrument begrüßen: Tim Liebert alias Doc Fritz aus Jena ist d e r Spezialist für die Waldzither in Deutschland. Seit über 40 Jahren ist Tim in Sachen Folk Musik hauptsächlich in deutscher Sprache im In- und Ausland unterwegs. Es ist uns eine große Ehre, dass „Doc Fritz“ dem Folk Club einen Besuch abstattet. Weitere Informationen über Doc Fritz findet Ihr hier: https://doc-fritz.de/.

Der Abend wird wie immer abgerundet mit Auftritten mehrerer Musiker aus der Region. Das Instrument Waldzither spielt auch dabei eine Rolle.

Bei der „Waldzither“ handelt es sich um ein Instrument, das eher an eine Mandoline erinnert. Das Instrument, das um das Jahr 1900 in Thüringen entwickelt wurde, gehört zu den Kastenlauten. Es gibt zahlreiche Bauformen und Besaitungen. Wer mehr erfahren möchte, sollte den kommenden Folk-Club-Abend nicht versäumen.  

Lasst euch überraschen und genießt den Abend!

Hier zusammengefasst die wichtigsten Daten:

Datum: 03. Oktober 2025

Beginn: 19.00 Uhr bis voraussichtlich 22.00 Uhr. Der Saal ist ab 17.00 Uhr geöffnet und bietet die Möglichkeit, vor dem Konzert gemütlich zu speisen und zu trinken. Wer früh kommt, kann zudem in der ersten Reihe sitzen.

Ort: Dotty’s Sports Bar und Restaurant (Öffentliches Vereinshaus des Bonner Tennis- und Hockey-Vereins – BTHV), Christian-Miesen-Straße, 53129 Bonn (Dottendorf)

Ferner das „Allerwichtigste“: wie immer Eintritt frei  

Vorausschau:

-    07. November; FCB # 162 Thema des Abends: „Frost“;                                                  Featured Artist: Juhana Iivonen aus Finnland

Kleiner Hinweis:

Wer Lust hat, Doc Fritz schon vor und auch nach dem Folk Club zu hören, der hat dazu folgende Gelegenheiten:

-    Donnerstag, den 02. Oktober ab 20 Uhr im Lokal Kater 26, Römerstraße 26, 53111 Bonn. Zudem gibt es im „Kater“ ein gepflegtes Pilsener Urquell und leckere tschechische Weine.

-    Samstag, den 04. Oktober, ab 17 Uhr im Café Bistro Melody, Werftstraße 5 -7, 53117 Bonn-Graurheindorf

Der Eintritt in beiden Lokalen ist frei, es gibt eine Hutkollekte für den Künstler.

Anliegend erhaltet Ihr Plakate für den Abend im Folk Club sowie für die Auftritte im „Kater“ und im „Melody“.

Bei Bedarf gibt es weitere Informationen bei

Eurem Folk-Club-Team

Elena, John und Detlef

John -  or is it Elena - or is it Detlef?  or all of them?  :-)

                   - Folk Club Bonn -

http://folk-club-bonn.blogspot.com/

Folk is great - Bier ist gut - and people are crazy!

https://plus.google.com/+FolkClubBonn/posts

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqINGw9frtD9cHpF3MKGzug/videos

https://www.facebook.com/groups/375940232245/?fref=ts

http://3songsbonn.com/2014/09/07/folk-club-bonn-on-the-march-at-50/

http://3songsbonn.com/2015/01/04/a-whole-lotta-folk-2/

 "Man, all music is folk music. You ain't never heard no horse sing a song, have you?"

Big Bill Broonzy 

Saturday following the September Folk Club in Café Melody in Graurheindorf

 On the day after the September FCB No # 160 our featured artists performed in the delightful café Melody in the north of Bonn in southern Graurheindorf. Midnight Fyre, aka, Butterfly Moon and Gareth and Ashleigh regaled us with a delightful array of melodious songs both from their own pen and covers.

Many thanks to Zema at Café Melody in the Werft Strasse for this wonderful opportunity, and we hope to see some of you there again this coming Saturday 04.10.25 to see and hear Tim Liebert perform

FCB # 160 Poets Corner

 

Poet's Corner

Release the Cudgeon!

It was fine for Dwight D. Eisenhower to base his foreign

policy on the notion that one should,&

„ Talk quietly but carry a big stick!“

but if the person one is talking to is much stronger,

and detects a certain weakness, like a

lack of a „big stick“,

then they tend to stop listening, and take advantage.

There is is an age old

„law of the jungle“,

a „law“ much older than the human race,

and it is based on, initialy the

„survival of the strongest“,

Unfortuately humanity has once more admitted,

that it is still not yet fit enough,

to talk quietly and wisely enough, and to argue convincingly,

without a sufficiently large accompanying stick.

It is to mankind’s disdain,

if we must in future,

come to the Grimm conclusion and

permanently release the cudgeon out of the sack,

in order to win over minds and so prevent future wars.

John Harrison

PS as Detlef quite rightly pointed out, you will not find the word  "Cudgeon" in the dictionary, although you will find the words "cudgel" acnd "bludgeon". Adding the suffix "-eon" indicating timelessness and for eternity onto the word cudgel expressed the desired sense better without the goriness of bludgeon, which was a thick stick sometimes strengthened with lead at its centre. The invented word "cudgeon" conveys, I hope, a more permanent display of Eisenhower's "big stick" than the brief, although effective, brief "cudgel out of the sack" forays in Grimms' fairy tales.

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This one was inspired by the post-Brexit demise of British shops in Germany due to the exorbitant cost of health certificates on food imports. The saving grace of REWE's house brand "JA" introducing a tea blend of Ceylon and Indian tea with a box of  50 teabags costing only €0,99 per box, which actually works out at 1.98 cents per bag, but this was near enough to two cents and has enhanced life for me.

Two Cents A Brew

CHORUS

It’s two cents a brew x 2

And there’s nothing quite like it for

Two cents a brew!

When you’re distraught and full of fear

Your first thought is often to reach for a beer,

But as often as not, there’s much more sense,

If you’re only half as mad as me, to settle down and rest,

With a nice cup of tea!

CHORUS

When you are feeling frail, and it’s wintertime,

And outside there’s just sleet and sheet and hail,

What’s better than a very nice cup of tea?

Well, just count me in, I’ll be glad to join you in

A very nice cup of tea.

CHORUS

If we’d never have had any explorers,

Then we would have perhaps never known of this,

Such a soothing brew from the sub-continent of India,

So simply refreshing and soothing and tranquil, and all a’ that,

For merely a measly two cents a brew!

John Harrison

Sabines Bilder vom Folk Club Nr. 190 im September 2025

 

John Harrison

John Hurd

John Hay und Keyaan

Holger Riedel

Einfach und Kantig

Jakob Sodoge und Klian Krämer

Dennis Krämer

Christoph Wenzel und Michael Markolwitz

Midnight Fyre alias Ashleigh Edwards und Gareth Price-Baghurst

Elena und John machen Ankündigungen in der Pause

Wolfgang Schriefer

Daniel Habermann

The Wash Queens (Miriam Mentel, Bettina Vogel, Ines Schoofs, Ulrike Koll)

Kai Hofstetter

Alle singen zum Abschluss "Jock Stewart"

Regionale Verwurzelung? Dafür! - Weltoffenheit? Dafür! - Deutschfolk? Dafür!

 Regionale Verwurzelung? Dafür! - Weltoffenheit? Dafür! - Deutschfolk? Dafür!

Referent: Dr. Michael A. Schmiedel

Veranstalter: Bonner Institut für Migrationsforschung und Interkulturelles Lernen BIM e.V.

im Rahmen der Interkulturellen Woche in Bonn
Zeit: Montag, der 22. September 2025, 19-21 Uhr

Ort: MIGRApolis-Haus der Vielfalt, Seminarraum im 2. Stock, Brüdergasse 16-18, 53111 Bonn

Inhaltliches: Folk- und Weltmusik spiegeln wie kein anderer Musikstil die Vielfalt der Musikkulturen wider. Deutschfolk zeigt dabei die Vielfalt regionaler und überregionaler Musiktraditionen in Deutschland und im deutschsprachigen Raum, sowie die Kreativität von Musikschaffenden, zumeist abseits des Formatradio-Mainstreams. Zugleich ist er offen für Einflüsse von überall her. Grenzen zu ziehen ist weniger seine Sache als Brücken zu bauen. Michael A. Schmiedel ist außer im BIM e.V. auch tätig als Musikjournalist für die Zeitschrift folker. Er erzählt von seiner musikjournalistischen Arbeit, von Konzerten und Festivals, von CDs und von den Menschen, die diese Musik machen. Es wird auch Tonbeispiele zu hören geben.

Eintrittspreis: kostenlos

A regular visiter to Bonn Folk Club Dr. Michael A. Schmiedel (here behind the camera preparing a report for The Folker magazine) Do come alongand listen to him this evening in Bonn!

^John Hurd on a State Visit to the UK!

 Yes, you did read correctly, President Donald Trump of the USA was not the only person on a State Visit to the UK in September. John Hurd also had the same honour and privilege as the "Don", albeit in Portsmouth and not in Windsor.

John Hurd thought that this was a sufficient excuse for not penning his usual exquisitely written report on the evening. As far as I know, he did not travel down to the picturesque town of Looe in Cornwall in south west England during his visit, but he did kindly send his wonderful photos, " in Lieu" as it were. 

The fun and pun-loving John Hurd will not have overlooked the fact that both words are pronounced the same in English!

http://johnno.jalbum.net/Folk%20Club%20Sept%202025/

Thank you all for coming, and performing, and listening and thank you John Hurd for all the wonderful photos!

Enjoy!

Mario's report from Folk Club No. 160 on 5 September 2025

 Magic without any electrical tricks

So, do you all remember Catweazle? The wizard from the Middle Ages, transported to the 20th century, described pressing the light switch as an electrical trick (of course, I mean the original with Geoffrey Bayldon, not the German remake with Otto Waalkes). As usual, this electrical trick was not used at the Folk Club, and the music came unamplified from the people themselves using the bio-trick. And, as always, this was mostly at a sufficient volume. This was now determined by the master of ceremonies, John Harrison, who, as always, loudly welcomed everyone with the call ‘Ladies and Gentlemen...’ After ensuring the necessary attention, as usual, he began the evening's festivities with a short poem of his own composition, ‘Release The Cudgeon’ (meaning ‘club’ and John's own word creation). He then recalled the atrocities of the Vietnam War with his somewhat older, but unfortunately still relevant song ‘1001 Protest Song’. The title 1001 was chosen because John felt that there were already 1000 protest songs, but nothing had changed, so an additional one still made sense. John then returned to unaccompanied poetry with his song ‘Two Cents A Brew’ – a kind of spoken song with a chorus that the audience was allowed/could/should sing along to. The song is about how tea used to be a great luxury and now, thanks to supermarket own brands, costs only about 2 pence a cup. John concluded his musical contribution (he continued to host) with ‘Trouble And Strife’, also penned by him. A song that denounces another war, namely the Yugoslavian War. And once again we see that humanity learns nothing, whether it's climate destruction or wars (which of course also contribute enormously to climate destruction) – unfortunately, it goes on and on: Ukraine, Gaza, Africa, Asia – small or large-scale destruction is raging everywhere.

As a photographer and reporter for many other music events in Bonn, John Hurd has been quite busy lately, so he was unable to attend the Folk Club a few times. It was all the more gratifying that this time he was not only present but also actively participating musically. With the Bob Dylan song ‘If You See Her, Say Hello,’ he once again demonstrated his musical versatility.

Next, a surprise guest came on stage, whom John Hay had brought with him and accompanied on his guitar. Thirteen-year-old Keyaan thrilled us all with his saxophone playing and his voice. First in the song ‘Careless Whisper’ – known to everyone from the great George Michael – and then with the sing-along song ‘Let It Be’ by the no less great Beatles. Unfortunately, Keyaan is not from Bonn, but was only visiting, so it remains uncertain whether we will be able to listen to him again.

But we will certainly be able to listen to John Hay more often, who now played and sang Leonard Cohen's ‘Hallelujah’ on his own. He felt the need to do so after he was unable to play the song in full at Folk Club No. 150 due to the 2-minute rule :-).

Holger Riedel announced his short performance with the words ‘Holger practises piano’. Well, Holger has practised piano quite well – it worked quite well with the chosen piece ‘Currywurst’. But he needs to practise a little more, because he still has to concentrate very hard on playing the piano, so that he doesn't have enough concentration left for singing. But as we know Holger, he won't give up, so we're sure to hear both (piano and voice) in harmony soon. I think it's great that Holger has once again shown us that the Folk Club Bonn is a meeting place for both professional and amateur musicians and that the emphasis of the event is on having fun together.

The musicians Dennis, Jakob, Michael, Christoph and Kilian are simple and edgy. And that's also the name of their band, “Einfach und Kantig“ in German, which first delighted us with the song ‘Flieh'n nach Holland’ (Flee to Holland). Among other instruments, the piano was also used, and here it became apparent that the purely acoustic performance format of the Folk Club necessitates ‘manual volume control’ (Biotrick). The Folk Club is also an opportunity to find out whether and how the volume of individual instruments can be controlled so that all other instruments can also be heard and the voice has enough space without amplification. This is certainly a considerable challenge for bands that have loud instruments in their ranks, such as the piano or cajon – in the case of Einfach und Kantig, both are represented. In other words, the Folk Club Bonn provides further musical education – so if anyone has to work longer at the next Folk Club, just apply for educational leave and visit the FCB :-).

But back to the musical performance. Apart from the difficulty of understanding the lyrics due to the quiet voice (or was it the piano that was too loud?), the songs performed were great. Full of humour and yet critical of the situations described, the song ‘Lachen’ (Laughter) described how the entertainment tax robs the poor of their last free domain of joy. In the instrumental ‘Keep On Gwine’, the pianist didn't have to worry about balancing the volume with the vocals, so he was able to let his excellent dexterity run wild. I admit, my fingers would have been tied in knots by the 12th bar (or even the 2nd?).

The featured artists of the evening this time were Midnight Fyre. Never heard of them? Well, that's probably because the two musicians (oh, didn't I gender that nicely?) were previously known to us as Butterfly Moon. But now they have decided to use their former band name as the title of their first CD and to call themselves Midnight Fyre, which makes them even more mysterious. And the two presented this first CD at the Folk Club (although it won't be available for purchase until next year). To avoid getting carried away with enthusiasm for every song title, I'll summarise it here. Ash and Gaz don't sing songs, they play songs. Each individual song is a story told through voice, guitar playing and physical, theatrical performance, resembling a short musical. The guitar knows how to shine through rhythmic composition without imposing itself, knows how to alternate and combine soft tones with strummed, loud chords through plectrum picking, and knows how to take on a role in the story being told. Gareth (Gaz) directs and, although he is usually the calming influence, is also an essential part of the story. In the foreground of all the mini-musicals, however, is Ashleigh (Ash), who divides herself into an entire acting troupe. With witty and charming announcements and explanations, she introduces the plot. With her versatile voice, she guides us through the sung actions and explains the stories through the modulation of her voice – even if the audience does not understand the lyrics. She emphasises the dramaturgy of the story with her physical accompaniment to her performance. Well, as you can see, I'm still enthusiastic about the two of them. I had the honour of commenting on their first appearance at the Folk Club in March 24, and my enthusiasm has not waned. But now to the songs, which I'll just list here to whet your appetite for the CD that will be released soon.

‘Rotate The Night’ is a song about experiences in Greece, ‘Step Out To The Silence’ is a story about tranquillity without the constant barrage of information, ‘Still Gonna Be There’ is a tale about the beauty of life, ‘Go Your Way’ is billed as a British folk song (and is the only song of the evening not written by the band themselves), ‘How'm I Gonna Know’ is a report about their life on a narrow boat. It should be noted here that ‘Go Your Way’ is a song by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss; so not a traditional song in the true sense of the word – but as they say at the Folk Club Bonn, folk songs are all songs that the folk (people) sing. 

Then, after the interval and performances by other regional artists, the second half continued with the songs ‘Northern Lights’, which the two dedicate to all mothers, ‘Shine Your Lights’, in which they sing about the beginning of their personal relationship, ‘Feels Like Home’, an ode to the feeling of home when looking at the ocean, ‘Second Home’, a description of life in many hotels (here a hostel in Istanbul), ‘Happy Song’, so named because it always makes the two happy when they play it, and ‘Intertwine’, which was written after the TV show The Witch and is very magical, in keeping with the evening. Of course, Midnight Fyre was not dismissed without an encore, which they fulfilled by singing ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ together. Since the two are always travelling, I hope to hear them often at the Folk Club.

But let's jump back to the beginning of the second half of the Folk Club, which was opened by the house magician – er, house poet – Wolfgang Schriefer. He began with his song ‘Die Magie der Ruhe’ (The Magic of Peace) (to the melody of Paul Simon's ‘Sounds Of Silence’). After stumbling a few times, but saving himself with spontaneous comments and making his audience laugh, Wolfgang later commented on his performance with the words, ‘Making people laugh is also an art.’ Wolfgang concluded with his song ‘I'm Happy Just To Be With You’, originally called ‘Afterglow Of Your Love’ and written by Steve Marriott of the Small Faces, who burned to death in his bed in 1991 (again, thanks to the Folk Club's continuing education academy :-) ).

Daniel Habermann discovered his love for the Folk Club, and so he returned to the stage once again to present his own songs. In contrast to the piano described above, he came across as rather quiet, but in the Folk Club this only means that the audience becomes even quieter in order to listen reverently to the performance. In his first song, he described the magic of smiling, and that was also the name of the song, ‘S-M-I-L-E’. ‘Tender World’ is a story – or a hope? – about what our world would be like if it weren't so harsh, but a little more tender. David performed his third song, ‘The Universe’, in which he also describes a world at peace. I really like David's music because he touches the soul with his quiet but nonetheless impressive tones.

We have often been able to enjoy the magic of a cappella singing in folk clubs dedicated to this very theme. But even without an explicit a cappella evening, barbershop music never fails to delight. And so it was at the 160th Folk Club with The Wash Queens (Bettina Vogel, Miriam Mentel, Ulrike Koll, Ines Schoofs). Four great voices, which wonderfully reflect the tonal range of barbershop singing, transported us into a dreamlike world with ‘Everything’ by Michael Boublé, ‘They Just Keep Moving The Line’ from the musical SMASH and the well-known ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’ by Louis Prima. The performance was so brilliant that, of course, one of the rather rare encores at the Folk Club (rare? huh???) was in order. It was performed to the melody and with the same title, ‘Lass mich Dein Badewasser schlürfen’ (Let me sip your bath water) – but with lyrics that made the equality of women clear. To describe this here would only be possible by printing the entire text. Therefore, I recommend that you attend the next Wash Queens concert and listen to the song again carefully. In any case, it was great fun and a musical delight.

Almost every river eventually flows into another body of water, and such estuaries are often settlement sites for different cultures, which establish their own new culture there. This phenomenon is very well known in the Mississippi Delta. But we didn't have to travel that far this time, because Kai Hofstetter took us to the Main Delta as usual to delight us with his Franconian blues. In his songs, Kai selects down-to-earth legends and superstitions from everyday life, which he turns into lyrics in his own words and then performs to bluesy rhythms. This time, however, in his own words, it was rock “n” roll. In the song ‘Der Deifl un der Moust’ (The Devil and the Moust), he described how the devil turns apple wine into champagne.

Was that it? Of course not, because everyone paid tribute to the patron of the Folk Club with the song ‘Jock Stewart’ and remembered that after the Folk Club is before the Folk Club. On 3 October, there will be another nail-biting event – namely, the Waldzither will once again take centre stage to remember our late Steve Perry. Tim Liebert (Doc Fritz) from Jena, who has played a key role in making the forest zither (Waldzither) socially acceptable in music again, has agreed to perform at the 161st Folk Club in Bonn.

So, get out of bed and join us on 3 October!

Yours, Mario