(for English scroll down)
Liebe "Folkers!"
In November veranstallten wir am Freitag, den 5ten ein “Singers’ Night”, d.H., dass wir keinen “Special Guest” haben werden, damit unsere sehr vielfältige und talentierte “Floor Singers”, die nicht wie üblich, entweder zu kurz, oder manchmal leider gar nicht daran kommen, die Chance haben, uns etwas mehr von ihrem Können zu zeigen.
In Oktober hatten wir Besuch von Edvard Grieg, George Gerschwin, Mozart & Listz, Leonard Cohen, Robert Johnson, und all das war nur im Publikum, ohne die Namen der Komponisten zu nennen!
Unser "Special Guest" war
Reiner Weiss, ein Musiker mit unfassbarem Talent, ist einmal nach New York gereisst, hat ein "upright" Klavier und ein Oldsmobile Station Wagon gekauft und reisste durch die Staaten als "musikalische Botschafter". In Graurheindorf hat er uns nicht nur zur schönen Stille beim Anblick eines magischen Sonnenaufgangs an einen See in Norwegen teleportiert, sondern auch mit dem "Warschau Concerto" zur Ehrung von Polens Vergangenheit uns positiv gewaltsam wachgerüttelt.
Er spielt wahrhaftig mit Leidenschaft, wenn es sein muss, und mit "passion" wenn es so ist.
"Um sonst" gibt es nicht mehr in Köln, sagte er, aber in Graurheindorf dürften wir es erleben. Trotz so vielen offenen Munden im Saal, gab es so eine Stille während des Spielens aber desto mehr Applaus am Ende.
John Harrison & Barry L. Roshto et al.
"Folk is great - Bier ist gut - and people are crazy"--- ENGLISH ---Belated greetings dear "Folkers" !
The October folk club was a veritable patchwork quilt of different music styles. We had Edvard Grieg, George Gerschwin, Mozart and Listz, Leonard Cohen, Robert Johnson, and that was just amongst the audience, without mentioning any of the composers' names!
"Special Guest" was
Reiner Weiss, a musician of immense talent, who once travelled to New York, bought an upright piano and an Oldsmobile station wagon, and toured around the States as a roving musical ambassador. In Graurheindorf he managed to both teleport us to the serene magical stillness of a lakeside Norwegian dawn and frighten the living daylights out of us with Poland's war-torn volatile tears in the "Warsaw Concerto".
Now one can understand why mere "passion" in English is called "Leidenschaft" in German.
A tremendously intense performance which moved and inspired everyone in the room, particuarly as it was not what many of them expected to hear in a folk club.
I remember the very first folk club evening we had in February when the wonderful surpise of bagpipes (which I have never heard before in an English folk club) were taking a while to tune up, so I slipped outside for some fresh air, to find upon returning not just the bagpipes in full swing but also half a dozen people dancing. I anticipated then that this was going to be a rather extraordinary folk club, and I am pleased to say, this has certainly turned out to be the case.
So thanks again to Reiner Weiss for remembering to not forget, what has, in his opinion, been long forgotten in Cologne, that there is sometimes still something good for nothing. We wish you much success Reiner with your latest musical project..." Die Hexe Katherina" (" Catherine the witch") which deals with a mediaeval topic in his home city of similar fanatical religious intolerence which engendered the gunpowder plot on 5th November 1605 in London.
Many thanks too deserve all our floor spots, who included
Kate and Peter Ferrow who regaled us in typical English folk club fashion with Kate's wonderful dulcet singing tones and Peter whose accomplished accompaniment required him to tune an average of 10 strings on each of three different instruments. Both are very welcome guests and Peter has threatened to hit us with his agèd English button concertina in the very near future.
Muriel Paris, who sings equally well in her mother tongues of English and French, and fronts the regional jazz band "Oldies GmbH" visited us for the first of hopefully many times, showing us that she knows "no fear and no danger" but certainly knows "how to sing" and sang totally impromptu and unrehearsed versions of "I can't give you anything but love" accompanied by
Günter on piano, and "Kansas City Blues" accompanied by myself on guitar. Rumour has it that she is coming again in November but accompanied by her usual pianist and our piano doctor Gerhard.
We are really so blessed with both the number and quality of our floor spots, that we are heeding the astute advice of our most avid and learnèd reviewer, John Hurd of the "Bonn English Network" that we oft times have " in truth too many riches on offer for one evening" and so we are holding the November folk club as a "Singers' Night" without any "Special Guest" in order that our wealth of home spun talents, who often come too short, have more time to play and sing. It is not always easy to reconcile all the floor spots we have of an evening with often an hour and sometimes more from a "Special Guest" and yet still comply with the strict 22:00 hours curfew which is imposed upon us. So with a Singers' Night we wish to right an acknowledged wrong.
So what's exactly in store for you all on "Fireworks Night"?
Well, to be honest, until John Hurd has checked all the incoming musical baggage, we don't really know the full details ourselves. We've dropped a few hints already, and doubtless Barry and I as the residents will be playing, as usual, a mixture of songs from the deep south of Louisiana, Derbyshire and Texas, but Susanne Phillips, who you have heard before with brother Peter, has undertunneled us all and come up with an even deeper southern set of tunes from Mexico. So don't be surprised, if you find amongst several guitars, many accompished pianists, pipes of all hues, breathing instruments with knobs on, acappelo voices, many different harps, perhaps a blanket and a pair of spoons, and a couple of fiddles and maybe even a saxophone?
At the end of the evening all the singers can stand up and sing "Jock Stewart" also known as "So be easy and free, when you're drinking with me" and we can all go home happy and exhausted.
If anyone has any sparklers, please bring them along!
So you are more than welcome to come along sing, listen and/or play, and we would be most grateful if you did, and please feel free to broadcast this fact! So we'll look forward to seeing you on "Guy Fawkes" night, and in December we will revert to having an esteemed "Special Guest" with the much acclaimed trio " SilverSigh".
John Harrison & Barry L. Roshto et al.
"Folk is great - Bier ist gut - and people are crazy"
