In the early days of Bonn Folk Club ‘Singers Night’ was usually a euphemism for “No
one booked to play in advance”. Thankfully, that circumstance has long since ceased to
be of concern. The opposite is now true – everyone wants to play! That made for
a rather ponderous-looking list on paper – but, to (mis)quote football legend Brian
Cough after his highly regarded team had a bad result – “we weren’t playing on paper”.
And our result was a good deal better than Mr Clough’s.

The initial list of musicians did indeed give the impression we would still be here at
midnight. The good news was that despite tram strikes there was a capacity audience.
It’s possible though that this in itself was down to the amount of musicians down to
play (some 20+ by my reckoning). I could almost feel the spirit of dear Bob Marabito
collecting chairs and directing late arrivals. You are sadly missed Bob.

There was a theme this evening: Flirting. There was also a special guest: Sam Robb.
Enough said – there was a lot to listen to so I had better get started…
John’s poem ‘H looks for W’ was an excellent opener, being both on theme and short. It
also needed time to think about though which we didn’t have as John, aided by Christoph on
blues harp, moved on to ‘Geoffrey my lovely’ from Jonathan Ole Wales Rogers (which
again needed time to think about) and finally a run through of ‘Beeswing’ which should
need no time to think about since all Folk fans should know this Richard Thompson
classic. (please feel free to google and come back here afterwards…)

Hans im Groove is a new name for familiar faces including Robert Fontani. Their set
picked up momentum rapidly from Neil Young’s ‘Motorcycle Mama’ through Hendrix’s
‘Little Wing’ which worked surprisingly well having the Fender Strat replaced by an
accordion. No instruments were set on fire this time around though although the
closing ‘Sauna Boy’ was pretty hot.

With the applause of the last number high on the decibel list, Winifried Bode found
himself with not an easy act to follow. Winifried though has a super calm persona and
immediately got a sing-along going with the chorus of ‘Champs Elysees’ that took him
through his own ‘Ernte 2006’ and Roy Orbison’s ‘Oh Pretty Woman’. All very much on
theme (could there be a flirting theme without something in French I ask myself?)
Rafa Cereceda with Bonn Choro continued the high musical quality and enthusiasm
with their set that included a melodic flute driven ‘All of Me’ replete with bass solo.

I mentioned ‘surprises’ in the title of this review. It seems that a young English duo were busking in Bonn City Centre earlier in the day and someone had mentioned that there was a folk club in the City that very evening. So here they were, out of the blue. Total unknown quantities wanting a floorspot on a very busy night. Would they be the straw that broke the camel’s back where fitting in musicians was concerned? Was Mr Harrison making an egregious error in finding them a slot? Would he be praised or pilloried afterward? (John’s Nightwatchman persona is probably feeling his skin itch in trepidation here). All was, however, not just well but even better than well…

With a barnstorming set, Gareth Price-Baghurst and Ashleigh (Ash) Edwards aka Butterfly Moon left the stage to the evening’s most deafening applause (possibly THE most deafening applause ever even). The main reason for this being Ash’s amazing vocal performance. Remember that moment when a guitarist holds a note seemingly endlessly? That was Ash at the end of ‘Intertwine’. Amazing stuff. Also three excellent self-penned folksongs too, so I was taken aback to find out at the break later that the duo are not seasoned folk club veterans but actually jobbing actors just taking time off to explore Europe together. Suffice to say that FCB is hoping that the talented and sympathetic dynamic duo will be back this way exploring again before long. If you were gobsmacked by the talents of street musicians in Bonn City on Saturday then now you know…

Featured musician for the evening was the quietly contemplative Sam Robb who closed out both parts one and two this evening so I will come back to him at the end of the article. Suffice to say at this point that he needed all of that calm composure inherited from Dad Matthew Robb to follow Butterfly Moon.

Lother Prünte aka ELPI finally managed to be fit enough for Folk Club after a couple of abortive attempts to make it. Even so, he was having throat problems, which can actually be a bonus when you’re taking on Paul Rodgers’ classic ‘Alright Now’. It certainly wasn’t a good condition to be in when tackling the falsetto vocal of 10cc’s ‘I’m not in Love’ though. He managed to steer clear of Eric Stewart’s “It’s because…” part though thanks to the audience joining in. Safer waters were in sight with Climax Blues Band’s ‘Thanks again for being a friend‘ and both Lothar and his voice made it to the end and deserved applause.

There were lots of band names going around on what was in itself, as mentioned, an evening full of musicians and groups. I have it on paper that the next act on was headed by Manfred Weber and were either The 4Tunes, The Fortunes, or even Foru Tunes. I will simply say that Manfred was accompanied musically by Martin Riedel, Jutta Frenkin and Ulrike Warendorf and harmonized beautifully on some interesting songs amongst which were ‘Smooth Operator’ and ‘Forever Young’.

Thomas Monnerjahn with his Gypsy Jazz guitar needs no introduction but his partner this evening does. Not easily to be confused in appearance or name with Thomas’s usual ‘sparring partner’ Ismael de Barcelona, Eric Linfoot is a Yorkshireman ( if you didn’t know it the cap was a dead giveaway). I have to say that he and especially on the night Thomas delivered a blinder. The best I’ve seen Thomas play as his fingers blistered round his fretboard at breakneck speed to Django Reinhardt’s ‘La Gitane’ on a guitar borrowed at the last minute from Eric after a string broke on Thomas’s own gut stringed instrument. Either side of this were Reinhardt/Grappelli’s ‘Minor Swing’ and Lulu Reinhardt’s ‘LuLu Swing’. As always after hearing Django Reinhardt well played, I decided to give up guitar playing forever – or maybe just practice more often.

Mario delivered what was to be the evening’s only song in German, his own ‘Augenblick der Liebe’. Fine fingerpicking as always from Mario and getting us back on theme track – Flirting.

The evening’s main guest spot was held by Sam Robb. My first memories of Sam are of his playing a couple of plain acoustic blues numbers with the conviction usually not found outside of black Americans worn down by plantations and segregation. As the son of regular Club visitor Matthew Robb, born in the UK and based in Cologne, he is of course none of those things. Like his father though, Sam’s own music comes from a deep place within. He is likely to smile more at a concert than Dad, but only just more likely. They share a dry, stony, musical spectrum and a startlingly direct delivery. When Sam Robb sings, he paces back and forth, eyes heavy-lidded, singing as if the words have just arrived out of the ether to be sung.

Springsteen’s ‘The River’ period comes to mind stylistically and not so surprisingly that very song is in Sam Robb’s repertoire tonight. It fits him like a glove. This is not to say that his own numbers are to be ignored, and ‘Starting a Revolution from my bedroom’ was especially well-received. He seems most at home though in a grim, dark lyrical world that brings me back to those old Bluesmen and their more modern equivalents. A perfect choice in that case was Dylan’s ‘Working Man’s Blues Nr 2’. These are early days musically for Sam Robb. There’s a bit of a struggle going on sometimes to connect between musician and audience. A few more of those smiles wouldn’t go amiss. Like Dad though there’s an almost hypnotic weight and honesty to the music of Sam Robb that pulls you into his lyrical universe.

Did I mention that the evening, busy as it was, still managed to squeeze in a collective ‘Jock Stuart’? and we were all home and happy before midnight!