The fifth Bonn Over The Border Festival promises to continue its success story into 2020. Musical diversity has always been a key part of the Festival and this year is no exception. Regulars will be delighted that the Local Ambassadors will kick off the Festival on 20 March at the Pantheon. That concert alone will see 17 different musicians from 13 different Countries playing together. Between then and the closing high-energy Harmonie Concert of Sven Hammond (above with Jared Grant) ten days later there will be some great, and very unique, World Music to enjoy.
Israeli singer/songwriter Yasmin Levy is an internationally acclaimed world music singer, with all of her seven album releases hitting the top of music charts around the world. Along the way, she has received many prizes and awards, including an International Songwriting Competition (with her song “Me Voy”), the BBC World Music Award and the Edison Award in Holland. Many of her songs are sung in Ladino, the language of the Sephardic Jews, described by UNESCO as one of the world’s most endangered languages. Her appearance at the Telekom Forum is sure to be a highlight of the festival.
It’s great to see the Ortszentrum Dottendorf, a burgeoning Jazz location, has also been added to the event locations this year. Noëmi Waysfeld established her Jazz Quartet in 2008 and now offers a repertoire incorporating Yiddish, Portuguese, French and Russian roots, combining jazz with Shtetl-Hinterhof, oriental and Mediterranean sounds and the blues of the Siberian steppes. If that isn’t enough diversity in one evening, special guest is Portuguese fado singer Suzana Pais with her guitarist Ivo Guedes.
Congolese Cult-band Jupiter & Okwess (Harmonie 26 March), Caribbean Jazz instrumentalist Jowee Omicil (Pantheon 27 March) and Eze Wendtoin from Burkina Faso with a show eye-catchingly titled ‘Burkina Faso meets Goethe’ (Rheinbühne, 24 March) are further highlights – but honestly, ALL the concerts are likely to be highlights.
If that hasn’t convinced you that Bonn’s reputation as a Multi-Cultural Centre in Germany is well founded (did I mention that Festival Sponsors include the UNCCD, one of many United Nations Departments in the City?) then take a look at the full programme (in English and German) HERE
Tickets available from BONNTICKET.DE