Kunst!Garten is open for business – Summer is on it’s way!

The ‘bouncy Castle’ (Hüpfburg auf Deutsch apparently) is empty of bouncing children, and my favourite wine hasn’t arrived, but Friday saw the Kunst!Garten Season 2015 kick of with the ‘Folk-meets Pop meets Reggae’ sound of Tarakci Salip and Band.

Friday was actually my second visit to the Kunst!garten this year.  The evening before however, instead of being met by music, I was met by a small group still building the stage – and Martin Nötzel who revealed that the required ‘Lärm Erlaubnis’ hadn’t come through for the evening so, as in Bonn, music seems to always equal noise where the authorities are concerned, instead of the thump of a bass drum there was  just the occasional thump of hammer on nail as the last of the wooden furniture went from ‘flat-pack’ to 3D.  Tomorrow would be very different…

So here I am.  today is yesterday’s tomorrow (if you follow?) and there is music about to be performed.  it’s 6.45pm and I’m a bit surprised that things actually don’t get underway until 7.15pm – mainly because cut-off time is 8pm (hey, you can mow the lawn with an industrial mower after 8pm in Bonn but NOT play music it seems.

Tarakci Salip hails from Germany but has roots in Aramaic-Armenia which gives his sound something of a distinctive edge.  There’s an interestingly titled song called ‘The Man of Excited Thinking’  and the Folk meets Reggae description seems to be quite accurate, but whether it’s the small crowd or the sunlight, or maybe the Grauerburgunder in my glass, I can’t get concentrated on the music.  As a further attempt to make the anti-‘noise’ brigade of Bonn happy I notice that the stage sides are no longer open but have been filled with large plastic containers that are in turn filled with water.  There’s a little wooden step plonked forlornly on the ground mid-stage so musicians can actually get on-stage and a lot of them have done so this evening.  Salip’s band hit a groove even if it’s not a loud one.

Down by the tables and chairs I am pleased to see local hero and cabaret man Konrad Beikircher having a quiet drink.  A man who has visibly supported the live music scene here in Bonn, as have a number of familiar faces around him.  Perhaps this isn’t the greatest concert ever staged at Kunst!Garten, but it’s good to see this is a venue that clearly matters as well it deserves to.

I’ve barely had a chance to empty my glass and take a dozen pictures when Salip apologizes that this is the last number and he would love to have played more but they have to finish promptly at 8pm.  ‘Maybe they could have started a bit earlier then?’,  I’m thinking.  This isn’t a venue to visit just for the music though, and when the Puklavec ‘Delicious’ arrives from Slovenia and a hanger with pretzels is sitting on the counter in the evening sunlight it will be ‘home’ for quite a few evenings to come I’m sure.

Click Here for the full Kunst!Garten & Kunst!Rasen itinerary 2015