Returning to a familiar place once a month to meet friends you’ve grown fond of – setting off once a month to explore ever-new musical horizons – however you look at it, it remains a matter of perspective.
Not a matter of perspective, but a recurring ritual, is the boisterous welcome from master of ceremonies John Harrison, when he begins with the words “Laaaadiiieeees and Gentlemeeen, Mesdames et Messieurs…”, first provoking loud laughter and then a tense silence in the hall. Due to the packed programme, John kept his musical contributions to a minimum this time and, in keeping with the warm weather that called for refreshments, paid tribute to his favourite beer, ‘Marstons Pedigree’, with the song of the same name.
A beer that not only disappeared into his stomach as he drank it, but also served as a reminder of the pleasure all evening long, emblazoned on his T-shirt against an orange background – performed a cappella and heartily supported by the audience during the chorus.
Dave Davis then took to the stage – this time not with funny sketches, but with a very beautiful and heartfelt love song, ‘My Baby Sue’, which he had written when he was just 17.
Accompanying himself on the piano, he showed us a side of his extensive talent that was unknown to many.
A new discovery (at least for me) was Milan Thelen. He introduced himself to the Folk Club audience with songs he’d written himself. What really impressed me was that, despite announcing he’d only recently taken up the guitar, Milan truly achieved a perfect balance in volume between the instrument and his voice – and that voice is a real treat.
With a ‘Love Song’ and the track ‘I Guess’, he captivated his audience, securing not only their full attention but also their understanding in advance should his fingerpicking not be quite perfect yet during his third song, ‘Doubts’. Well, the title alone (‘Doubts’) suggests that one can’t always be self-assured – I can only say: even with minor difficulties with the picking, it was a very successful performance.
Petra Sigmund is already a familiar face at the Folk Club, and as she spreads her stage appearances out well over the years, she always makes me wonder how she has developed musically. This time, I can and must say: absolutely brilliant. With a song written especially for the evening, ‘Aufbruch und Rückkehr’ (Departure and Return), she demonstrated that both her guitar playing and her voice are used with great sensitivity and, through the performance alone, are a delight to listen to.
When you also pay attention to the lyrics, which speak of life’s reflections, it all comes together to make for a successful evening. I was already familiar with the second song, ‘Niemals zu spät’ (Never Too Late), from a previous performance, and I must say that it moved me. Petra rounded off her set with ‘So oder So’ (One Way or Another) and allowed – no, encouraged – the audience to sing along, which most people did heartily.
The Trio Nova Bonn (Stephan Westphal, Wolfgang Schmidt, Enrico Klein) is a group of Folk-Club-Bonn regulars who have realised that making music together is even more fun than singing or playing to oneself. Vocals, guitar, violin – it doesn’t get much more folk than that.
The trio’s repertoire includes both secular songs – ‘Rhythmusstörung’ is a love song – and sacred songs – ‘Engel, die uns berühren’, the title of which speaks for itself. Both pieces were written by Enrico Klein. But the trio are also adept at covering well-known songs, turning them into collaborative projects with the audience – such as ‘Blowing In The Wind’ – whilst still giving them their own distinctive character. I’m confident we’ll be hearing more from this trio in the future.
Next up was Hey Polly. Whilst they didn’t perform any original compositions here, their renditions of pop and rock tracks on two guitars were well worth listening to. The audience were once again drawn into the performance; indeed, with these well-known songs, it would probably have been impossible to stop them from singing along.
“Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac, “Sweet Dreams” by the Eurythmics and “One More Time” by Britney Spears are all songs you wouldn’t expect to hear in a folk club at first glance – but performed acoustically, they were absolutely fitting, and as John keeps pointing out, everything the people sing is folk music.
Then came the evening’s featured artist – Delta Danny. Small, wearing a flat cap and rather unassuming amongst the audience, she became a towering presence on stage. Blues without frills, emotion in every note. I felt transported to a smoky pub, where someone is sitting in a corner, expressing their feelings without any melodrama. Danny seems to be rather used to it. Danny seems to be more used to playing with amplification – you could tell when some notes were barely audible because they were played in passing – but this did not detract from the overall performance. Each piece came from the artist herself; it didn’t feel rehearsed, but lived.
But back to the start of the second half – the battle for the language of Bonn wasn’t lost yet, so Gert Müller really gave it his all and skilfully expressed his wish, ‘Ich möschens widder Bönnsch verzälle’, through a poetic interpretation.
Jochen Hiester had been a surprise guest once before and found the atmosphere so good that he decided to return.
With his own pieces on the importance of loving oneself – ‘Die Botschaft’ – and ‘Ab und Zu’, inspired by a poem by Khalil Gibran, he impressed with wonderful lyrics – unfortunately, his piano playing was so loud that much of the lyrics were no longer intelligible – here too, probably due to his habit of usually playing at a higher volume.
Jochen’s sister, Ina Hiester, took to the stage with a small, rather quiet guitar, but with a crystal-clear and compelling voice. She has been living on a sailing boat in the United Kingdom for two years and is quite unmoored, which many mistake for ‘not doing anything proper’. As her first experience, she turned the realisation into a song: that at English open-mic clubs, people expect well-known songs rather than original compositions. With her song ‘Away’, she sang about precisely this situation.
For Ina, the question of ‘doing something respectable’ eventually culminated in the poetic realisation that every kind of life has its pros and cons – a realisation she captured in the song ‘Two Different Lives’. But she then sang of the beauty of her own life by describing how her garden, her ‘castle’, is the whole world – ‘The World Is My Garden’, a wonderful ode to sunrises and sunsets, to the freedom of being able to escape the world for a while.
That leaves the floor spot by the Tresperados. The fact that I don’t understand Spanish and so couldn’t follow the lyrics didn’t matter, because the band’s music is simply beautiful.
During the first song, ‘El Viento del Sur’, Elena whispered to me that it tells the story of a reconciliation in a dream (a departure and a return?). As with many of the songs Miguel performs, his feelings from the world of emotions resonate through the lyrics. The musicians bid farewell with “Camino de Terra” – but certainly not for long, because there was just time for Jock Stewart:
and after the Folk Club is before the Folk Club – even if it takes a little longer this time.
So: Out of the bedroom – and come along to the Folk Club
Mario
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