Detlef's report from Folk Club No. 145 on 5 April 2024

 Folk Club in April 2024 - Fascination through virtuosity

"A musical journey through different countries" was the motto that the evening's featured artist, Simon Wahl, had asked for and got. Simon, born and raised in Bonn and now based in Vienna (like Ludwig van Beethoven back in the day), fully lived up to the motto he had chosen. But as always - first came other musicians, traditionally our chief John Harrison to open the evening.

John likes to use the Folk Club in April to write his own poems in praise of his beloved dandelion ("dandelion" in English, a corruption of the French name dent de lion), which is now in bloom everywhere, but which many a gardener has shown much less sympathy for. Your chronicler is one of those who love the yellow flowers but fight year in, year out against the enormous vitality and proliferation of the monster herb. However, John's poems are worth listening to and reading. John has a considerable number of the "Dandelion Psalms" at his disposal. He performed the poems "Vitamine A  And Dandelion" and "Dan D Lion". If you "scroll" down in this blog to the Folk Club in May 2023, you will also find them printed there.

With another poem (even in German!), John reminded us of the magnolias, which had unfortunately already faded at the time and which delight us with their exuberant flowering splendour for around a fortnight in early spring, but are rather unspectacular the rest of the year. It is not only the blooming magnolias that inspire, but also John's wonderful poem, which we have already heard several times. The magnolia poem can also be found here, in the report on the Folk Club in May 2022.

John's "1001 Protest Song" about the injustices in various corners of the world, travelling through Chicago, via India and the Ho Chi Minh trail, fitted in well with the theme of the evening.  

As in a real folk club, there were once again musicians who appeared spontaneously, so-called walk-ins. Konstanze and Joshua had been made aware of the Folk Club at a demonstration some time ago. Their contribution was the song "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette, which Konstanze sang with her powerful and carrying voice to Joshua's beautiful guitar accompaniment. The yodelling-like change of register in her voice was also effortless. The two of them are a wonderful discovery for the Folk Club, hopefully you will come back soon.

Holger Riedel is a loyal visitor to the Folk Club and also writes songs himself. One of them is Schranken-Blues, in which Holger expresses his despair about the railway barriers that are always closed in Bonn. On this occasion, our piano, which is otherwise not used very often, was also used. Yes, Holger's railway barrier blues are wonderfully weird, and the audience visibly and audibly enjoyed themselves.

Jermexicana, the band that only discovered the Folk Club last year, has since provided the audience with a lot of fun on several occasions. This time they came with a slightly different line-up. Guitarist Benedikt Neikes was on holiday. Instead, Michaela Stief came as a guest with her accordion and Martin Franzen, who normally plays the accordion, switched to guitar. "Take me with you" was the title of the first song. In keeping with the motto of the evening, the song took the audience to the land of longing. The somewhat wild Bonn song with the refrain "You are my home, you are my city" is a declaration of love to Bonn. The audience was able to sing along to the chorus thanks to the lyric sheets distributed. In "So ist das Leben", on the other hand, there was a little nod to the Caribbean with a reggae melody. Jermexicana gets full marks for fulfilling the motto of the evening!

Peter Bachmann was also drawn to a particular region. This time it was the Italian coast: "The Coast Of Amalfi" is the title of the song by Steve Harley, who died around three weeks before the Folk Club. Peter had chosen the song from various options because of this. He presented the song with a soulful voice to beautiful fingerpicking on the guitar.

Ulrike Hund (flute) and Stephan Weidt (vocals and guitar) alias "Zwei von Zwei" are also old acquaintances in the Folk Club. Stephan, who also occasionally performs solo in the Folk Club, writes many of the songs himself. However, they began with an instrumental from Armenia. Ulrike played the part on her flute, which was actually meant to be played on the Armenian instrument duduk. The song "Donna, Donna" comes from Yiddish culture and is familiar to many in the versions by Donovan and Joan Baez. The instrumental version of guitar and flute was also used here. The song has a dark history, as the original version is called "Dos Kelble", meaning "The Little Calf". It was composed in 1940 and alludes to the helplessness of the people who were caught up in the annihilation. Stephan penned the song "Nichts, was dir bleibt" ("Nothing left for you"). People have brought nothing into the world and take nothing with them when they leave. Stephan's poetic text, which he sang to a wonderful melody, is a real gem! The finale was another instrumental, this time from Renaissance France. "Tourdion" is the title, actually a general term for a fast dance that was popular at the beginning of the 16th century. Many people who sing in choirs know the melody named Tourdion here as a lively drinking song ("Qand je bois du vin clairet, ami tout tourne, tourne, tourne, tourne"). Stephan showed here that, in addition to his guitar, he also masters the art of whistling.

Simon Wahl, the featured artist of the evening, had a fully composed travel programme in store, which he began, how could it be otherwise, in his home town of Bonn with the piece "Am Rhein". He revealed that he had written it as a pupil. The virtuosity of the piece indicates that he must have been an expert even then. Artfully interwoven flageolet passages and the melody played in the descant are certainly not for beginners. Simon's arrangement of the piece "Minor Swing" by Django Reinhart then brought us the change to Paris. Many visitors still had the version from March in their ears, presented by Thomas Monnerjahn and Eric Linfoot. Simon managed to play the fast-paced piece all by himself like a one-man band with drums and bass - marvellous! We continued to England with the Beatles song "All You Need Is Love" in an incredible arrangement. The first set ended with Simon's version of "Chan Chan" by Compay Segundo, which became famous worldwide thanks to the great film "Buena Vista Social Club". Simon borrowed John Hay's flamenco guitar for this, as his own was a little quiet. Simon said that he couldn't find a prefabricated guitar version of the melody and therefore wrote an arrangement himself. Yes, I don't want to hurt the Buena Vista troupe, but Simon's version is almost more impressive than the original. Guys, I'm running out of words for more superlatives. That's why I'll leave it at less bombastic expressions in the following. Just think of the greatness and virtuosity. If you weren't there, it's your own fault, but you can make up for it on 9 June by visiting the Trinitatis Church in Bonn-Endenich. Simon will be performing there. My recommendation: save the date and get there!

In the second part of the evening, he delighted the audience with eight more pieces plus an encore. The titles were: "Reise mit der Bahn" (with a built-in train signal whistle), Tagträume (composed for his guitar students), "Take It Easy" (composed to relieve the stress of travelling by train), "Jahrmarkt" (a trip to the Old Vienna Prater in ragtime style with alternating bass), "The Wellerman" (mixed with elements from "Drunken Sailor"), "Der Tanz" (again with flamenco guitar with Spanish techniques and harmonies and alternating between 3/4 and 6/8 time), "Keep Going" (in the style of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers). The last song was supposed to be the Austrian lullaby "Es wird scho glei dumpa", with which Simon has to play his son to sleep every night. However, the audience did not fall asleep, but loudly demanded an encore. "Let's go" was the title.

Uff, now I have to get my act together again to find words for the report on the songs that were played and sung between the break and Simon's second set.

Robert Hrubes, who played the piano masterfully, John Harrison on vocals and guitar and Christoph Thiebes on harmonica kicked things off after the break. The blues "Stormy Monday" sounds great in this combination. During "House Of The Rising Sun" there was understandably polyphonic choral support from the audience - great fun for everyone.

It is always an honour to have Tom Kannmacher, the old master of German and Irish folk music, as our guest. This time, unlike last time, he presented us with no sung songs, but exclusively instrumental pieces on his uilleann pipes, an instrument based on the technique of the bagpipes. Unlike the traditional bagpipes, the "wind" is produced with the elbow and the instrument allows for polyphonic playing. "Only gentleman pipers could afford such an instrument," explained Tom. It is expensive, complicated to play and therefore rare to find. If you would like to find out more about the instrument, we recommend the following page on Tom's website: https://www.kannmachmusik.de/deutsch/die-musik/irish-uilleann-pipes/.

Tom is one of the few musicians in this country who has mastered the uilleann pipes. Although the instrument originates from Ireland, Tom says that he only brought melodies with him from England. He began with a gavotte, which was a courtly dance but, according to Tom's assurance, was considered folk music at the time. "A Goblet Of Wine" and "Push About The Jug" are two drinking songs. "Mrs Lundi's Minuet" is actually a minuet in measured 3/4 time. Here, however, your chronicler has to rattle Kannmacher's authority. The piece is not from England, but from Scotland. Without my intervention, I might get into trouble with our long-standing and regular December guest Simon Kempston from Edinburgh. The final piece of Tom's marvellous set was "The Hen's March (Through The Midden)" which Tom played as a combination of both the Irish and English versions. In this respect, the choice of pieces didn't quite match Tom's announcement ("all from England"), but that doesn't really matter. As always, Tom's performance was a pleasure and also a real enrichment for the audience in terms of further education - great!

John Hay's flamenco guitar has already been mentioned here before. Now it was also allowed to perform with its owner. "In the tram" is John's self-written song about people you meet by chance, e.g. in the tram. It's about how people on the tram often look rather grumpy and absent-minded. In his song, John asks what is hidden behind the faces that don't return the gaze - a nice idea for a song and finely realised.

Yes, and then Simon Wahl was supposed to come next for the second set, but he had to wait a moment. For such occasions, John Harrison always has something in his luggage that he can present off the cuff: With "The Beggars Song", he gave the beggars a knighthood, because according to the lyrics, "Of All The Trades In This Country The Begging Is The Best". Begging is a trade, so to speak, and according to John even the best, as it can be carried out extremely flexibly and with little cost and effort. Yes, that's a good way to sing your bitter lot.

You've already found out what came after John's a capella song above. At the end of the evening, as always, the bouncer "Jock Stewart" could not be missed, which was sung fervently by the entire congregation.

On Friday 3 May, the Folk Club will meet again, this time as Singers' Night, i.e. without a single featured artist, but featuring numerous interesting artists from the region. The theme of the evening is "Birds, Strange or curious". As always, let us surprise you.