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 NorbertLenginstorp 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.
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.
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’.
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