Folk-Club-Bonn

Folk Club in March 2025 -

TheWaldzither (forest zither) takes centre stage

When you hear the term ‘zither’, you might first think of the inimitable Harry Lime theme from the film ‘The Third Man’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oEsWi88Qv0

(This is a link to the Harry Lime Theme, played by Anton Karas, showcasing the Viennese Zither a typical instrument used in Alpine folk music in the iconic 1949 film "The Third Man") This is not however the iconic instrument the Waldzither which was the feature of the March folk club.

The ‘Waldzither’, however, is an instrument that is more reminiscent of a mandolin or a mandola or a bouzouki. The instrument, which was developed in Thuringia around 1900, is a type of box lute. There are numerous designs and stringings. I don't want to bore you with technical details here. There is plenty of information about the instrument on the Internet.

But why is the Folk Club dedicating a theme evening to the forest zither? One reason is that our late co-organiser Steve Perry once brought the instrument to the Folk Club. Another reason is that Wolfgang Schriefer found a Waldzither in the attic and passed it on to Mario Dompke. Mario learnt the instrument and at the same time went in search of other players, and lo and behold, there were some. This gave rise to the idea of a themed evening, which has now been realised.

But as usual, the evening started with contributions from our impresario John Harrison, without the forest zither but with his resonator guitar instead. ‘Police Dog Blues’ by Blind Blake was the first song of the evening. The hero of the song is a traveller - presumably a tramp who has fallen in love with a girl. But the poor chap is afraid of her police dog, so he prefers to go his own way. Michael Chapman's sad ballad ‘Rabbit Hills’ is also a song about futile endeavours at love. However, the lyrics are far more poetic than the rather woodcut-like content of Police Dog Blues. ‘Feeling Happy (Oh Well, Oh Well)’ is the title of Big Joe Turner's song, and how could it be otherwise, it's also about a man who adores a pretty girl. But the girl he adores has too many suitors, so the wise man advises him to keep his hands off her!

This is the featured Waldzither held by Norbert

Lenginstorp is an old name for what is now the Bonn district of Lengsdorf, and this is where the six-piece group called Lenginstorp comes from, which is dedicated to folk music with a particular focus on Irish folk music. Among the instruments played is a forest zither, which is played with virtuosity by Norbert. The contact between Norbert and our co-organiser Mario Dompke also led to the idea of making the instrument the focus of tonight's event.

The mandobass played by Thomas, a mandolin in bass format, is rarely seen or heard. The other four members of the group are Hildegard (flute/guitar), Rolf (bodhran/vocals) and two gentlemen named Markus (concertina and violin). Well-equipped with various instruments, they went into the musical full swing. ‘Archibald McDonald Of Keppoch’ is the title of an instrumental from Scotland which, according to the all-knowing internet, was intended to celebrate the then Chieftain of the McDonald clan. The song ‘Galway Girl’ then took us to Ireland. However, the song was written by an American named Steve Earle. We then returned to traditional Irish sounds with the song ‘Eleanor Plunkett’.

Norbert explained to the audience that a forest zither in classical tuning was used here. The special tuning makes it easier for less experienced players to handle the instrument. The instrument used also has a very special tuning mechanism. It requires a special key. Funnily enough, a vent key is also suitable for bleeding radiators. Hearty applause for the six musicians who introduced the evening's theme with wonderfully performed pieces.

The duo with the curious name Muckenpensel (a combination of their two surnames) also used a forest zither to play songs they had composed themselves. Katja Muckenschnabl and Christian Pensel started with the ballad ‘Little Light’. Christian's virtuoso fingerpicking technique and their sensitive two-part singing were marvellous. Another original composition is Mazurka, an instrumental piece in which Christian prepares his skilful fingerpicking on the forest zither with wonderful flageolet passages in the intro. The ingratiating melody contains beautiful changes from

minor to major.

There is also a connection between the two and Norbert from the group Lenginstorp, because Katja, who met Norbert ‘round the corner’, wanted to buy an octave mandolin from him. In the end, she went home with a forest zither.

There is also something to report about Christian's guitar. Christian has obviously added two bass strings to his instrument himself. The result (acoustically) can certainly be heard and can be admired (visually) in the series of pictures for this evening.

The third piece presented by the two was the Scottish (or Irish?) folk song ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’, which is well known to the audience, but has not yet been presented in the Folk Club in the distinctive version by James Taylor. Katja and Christian's marvellous two-part singing and the virtuoso instrumental accompaniment from both instruments - this time Katja with the forest zither - created a real goosebump atmosphere. Big applause for Katja and Christian, who from the Folk Club's point of view are a great new discovery.

Not a new discovery, but always inspiring is the group Fomiander, who this time had to make do without their guitarist Manfred Möhlich. But the sound of the group was also respectable with the existing line-up: Sonja Daniels (vocals and ukulele), Mario Dompke (vocals and forest zither), Biggie Meyreis (double bass) and Karin Thomas (flute).

The forest zither played a special role in the piece ‘Steve's Polka’. Mario had composed the melody while our late co-organiser Steve Perry was still alive. In the current version, the quartet added a quodlibet of several folk songs in three-four time to the instrumental polka in four-four time - very original! Mario's own composition ‘Spring’ is also a combination of a song (sung by Sonja) in three-four time with a dance in four-four time. Fomiander concluded with the song ‘Sailing To The Far Side Of The World’ which, according to Mario, it is not clear whether it is a traditional or whether Tom McConville can claim authorship. Either way, the piece put everyone in a good mood, the forest zither was honoured and Fomiander

received great applause.

A rare but very welcome guest at the Folk Club is the Godesberg music dealer and head of Baum's music emporium on the Plitterdorfer Strasse, Norfried (called Bill) Baum. Bill, who is a great friend of the blues, apparently also owns a forest zither, which he was able to use here to prove that blues also works on this instrument - even with a bottleneck. With the blues ‘It Hurts Me, Too’ by Tampa Red, he was able to demonstrate his outstanding virtuosity. Accompanied by John Harrison on the harmonica, it was a really bombastic mini-blues session. The two of them should play a special blues evening at the Folk Club. No less iconic was Bill's interpretation of ‘Let's Work Together’ by Canned Heat from 1970, which brought back memories of Beat Club evenings in front of the TV! Lots of applause for Bill - and for John too.

Kai Hofstetter is always good for original lyrics and melodies. ‘Cassandra’ describes coming back from far away to the strange Main region. The mysterious woman called Cassandra, who once lived here, has disappeared and only the crooked house remains, but it is empty. Kai had previously encouraged

Bill Baum to accompany him. Bill mastered this with flying colours and off the cuff. ‘Der Deifl hat ‘n Blues gespielt (und keiner hat's mitgekriegt)’ is Kai's musical interpretation of a circumstance that could also be paraphrased differently: ‘Der Prophet gilt nichts im eigenen Land’ - a beautiful idea and finely realised! Kai sings about his own night-time ghosts in the song ‘Nachtprogramm’. Voices in the night apparently torment him and only give him peace when the sun rises. It's bitter, but the material for a wonderful song! Applause for Kai and improvisation artist Bill Baum.

John Harrison opened the second half after the interval with the poem ‘Wait For Me (in the original Russian: жди меня; schdi menja)’, by Konstantin Simonow, which describes, indeed conjures up, the waiting for someone who might not come back after all. How many people are currently waiting for their loved ones and don't know whether they are still alive. Despite the poignancy and relevance of the lines, your reporter will be left breathless, because despite his poetic empathy, Simonov was also a political agitator in Stalin's time and afterwards.

Wolfgang Schriefer, who has already been mentioned here, presented a poem that was less conflict-laden but was written by himself: with his poem about the forest zither, he also created a poetic monument to the instrument that is nowadays praised musically. What is also remarkable about Wolfgang's poem is that it takes the form of a pantun. In this form of poetry, which originally comes from the Malay language area, the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next stanza. It sounds very unconventional, but makes it easier to memorise passages of text.

The two guitarists Rafael Cereceda and Thomas Monnerjahn, together with singer Eric Linfoot, had announced themselves as the Rehab Trio. The trio's unconventional name is due to the fact that Eric can only use his hands to a limited extent following a serious illness. He can no longer play the guitar (he was still here at the Folk Club in March 2024) and has since turned to singing - and with great skill.

But before the Rehab Trio performed, Rafael and his friend Nadir Houboub started an improv jam with flamenco guitar (Rafael) and voice (Nadir).

Spanish flamenco melodies combined with Moroccan vocal melodies - we've never had anything like it at the Folk Club. To summarise: It was fantastic and gives us hope that the two will perform again.

The following performance by the ‘Recovery Trio’ can also be summarised as truly remarkable. Two extremely virtuoso guitarists from different styles (Rafael - flamenco; Thomas - gypsy jazz) play jazz standards, which are sung with great mastery by Eric:

‘All Of Me’ by Seymour Simons and Gerald Marks, ‘Out Of Nowhere’ by Johnny Green and ‘Blue Skies Smiling At Me’ by Irving Berlin. You can hardly describe it, you have to hear it! Thunderous applause for the three and for Rafael and Nadir's

improvisation.

Peter Bachmann, who doesn't play the forest zither but has dedicated a song to it, took things a little easier - he had a similar idea to Wolfgang Schriefer. Peter took the opportunity to wink and say that he had ‘big brother GPT’ write the lyrics for him.

Well, that's modern times, but you have to have the idea! Peter then said that he could have teamed up with Wolfgang. Now we have two separate works for the forest zither. The song sounded really good to the melody ‘Cocaine’ by Reverend Gary Davis. Peter then took a huge step back into music history with the song ‘The Three Ravens’ by Thomas Ravenscroft. The song from the early 17th century - Ravenscroft was a contemporary of Shakespeare - vividly describes a scene in which three ravens discuss whether they should feast on a knight who has died for breakfast.

But the knight's faithful hound, his hunting falcons and the man's pregnant bride prevent them from doing so - a hymn to fidelity.

To round off the evening, the duo Butterfly Moon, alias Ashleigh (Ash) Edwards and Gareth (Gaz) Price-Baghurst, took to the stage. I know them, wondered your reporter. And yes, that's right, exactly one year ago they were at the Folk Club for the first time. And just like then, they set off a firework display of melodies, magnificent voices and virtuoso guitar playing.

But first they won the hearts of the audience with a few compliments to Bonn and its inhabitants. Apparently, it's not such a bad thing to play street music in Bonn, despite the city council's policy on licences and fees, which John Harrison sometimes criticises. The Folk Club is obviously a little treat for the two street musicians to round off the evening after a gig in the pedestrian zone. ‘Feels Like Home’ was the pair's first song - all of their compositions are original - a song full of longing that gave Ashleigh's voice a chance to warm up. ‘How Am I Gonna Know’ deals with life on a houseboat, which is their home when they are not travelling. ‘Sometimes, living on a boat is amazing, and other times it is really, really shit’, is how Gareth describes this kind of dwelling.

Now a little digression: If you want to see how Ash and Gaz turned an original ‘narrow boat’ into a habitable houseboat on their own, you can do so at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6_yn5tNuBc - very entertaining and instructive!

Back to the song: But actually the lyrics are more about the relationship between the two, wonderfully realised by Ashleigh's powerful and voluminous voice and Gareth's sensitive guitar playing and his perfectly fitting vocal support in the two-part passages - wonderful to listen to.

The climax was the song ‘Intertwine’ about the memories of a past affection and the hope of being together again soon. Ashleigh built her voice into a huge pyramid with a tone that seemed never-ending and completely enveloped the song - magnificent, and the applause that followed was just as magnificent.

Well, if you weren't there, you missed something. We hope that the two will honour us again soon on their tours through Europe.

With this musical firework display, another remarkable Folk Club evening came to an end, but as always, not without the musicians of the evening singing Jock Stewart's song (A man, you don't meet every day) with fervour together with the audience.

See you again on 4 April at the Folk Club with Johannes Epremian as the featured artist and the theme of the evening: ‘Women's names’.