‘Birds – Strange or Curious’. That was the theme of Folk Club #146. More curious was the fact that everyone seemed to mention the theme – only to then explain that their set didn’t include any of our feathered friends, strange, curious or otherwise. But that was the least of our problems on what was an early Spring night at Dotty’s Sportsbar. Of more concern was that Natalie was at a wedding. As with many a pub/restaurant/Cafe post-Covid, Dotty’s has seen it’s staff levels drop – and Natalie has somehow managed to do the job of three people and not only stayed sane – but managed to smile right through to 11 pm on occasion without cracking anyone over the head with a tray of beer. The solution for her absence was to take a leaf from the theatre book and turn the evening into a three-act ‘play’ with two breaks, and dignified queues at the bar. We survived. But come back soon Natalie!
John Harrison did of course manage to stick largely to the bird theme, and his tale of ‘Zeppelina’ the female duck, along with John Clare’s poem ‘The Skylark’ and John’s own ‘Swift’ got the bird evening off to a flyer (pun intended). No birds in the lyrics of his last number of the evening ‘San Francisco Bay Blues’ I have to report, but I guess the Bay would have some seagulls flitting about the waves.
Caroline Bernotat and Jens Kneese kicked off with a Love Song that mentions the birds singing at least. ‘You crept into my Life’ tells how love grows slowly and gradually (and also it transpired, birdlessly). ‘Waiting by the Phone’ was lively but why not combine telephones with birds and sing instead, Leonard Cohen’s ‘Bird on a (telegraph) wire’? At any rate, three enjoyable songs from the enchanting duo and one bird mention.
Cuicatl introduced some Mexican Aztec vibes, appropriately directed at Bird Gods. They also get points for a Cajon with a distinctive bird symbol. It’s always fascinating to hear and see the emotion that Miguel from Jer Mexicana brings to his sets, and his World Music with violin and Cajon accompaniment did not disappoint.
No birds at all that I could detect in the three songs presented by Gerald Löhrer and Martin Riedel, but an enjoyable sing-along set of familiar tunes with The Stones’ ‘Ruby Tuesday’, Cat Steven’s ‘Wild World‘ (maybe a wildcat in there?) and my favourite of the evening so far, CCR’s ‘Looking out my Back Door’. A favourite as it was sung with such exuberant pleasure by both Martin and the audience alike. Maybe there was even a bird flying outside that backdoor?
Thank heavens for Hans Ihnen. Two songs on the bird button with Neil Young’s ‘Birds’ on piano and McCartney’s ‘Blackbird’ on guitar which is not the easiest of pieces to both play and sing to at the same time. I’m sure Sir Paul multi-tracked it!
Mario Dompke is a man of many songs and therefore probably managed to find two bird-themed ones with consummate ease. ‘Vogelzwitscher’ (Birdsong) was evidence of Mario’s strong guitar picking style. But for his second number, he confidently picked up a bodhran, only to immediately apologize that he couldn’t actually play it. However, not only did he play it, he simultaneously also sang at a challenging tempo and conducted the audience in two harmonic sections singing ‘The Wren‘ – all with consummate ease. Who said men can’t multi-task?
Kai Hofstetter has only been a visitor to Folk Club in the past, but took the plunge to reserve a floor-spot for the first time with a song reflecting on a rather different aspect to May. Eight decades ago, May 8 1945, was VE Day, and Kai’s song reflected the experience of two teenagers at a German railway station in 1944 and the train they saw there that had a chilling cargo. Only the one-song spot – but a deep one to be sure.
When it comes to singing with emotion then Lothar Prünte is definitely a go-to man. His raw voice is somewhere between Joe Cocker and Rod Stewart, which is a pretty good place to be when you are singing rock songs. His short set tonight took a nod in the direction of ‘Rod the Mod’ with everyone singing along to ‘Sailing’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk About It’. The sing-along was guaranteed to continue when he presented ‘Horse With No Name’. Would the song still be a classic had we been singing “I went through the desert on a horse named Mr Ed”? We will never know. A set with ships and horses then – and even feathered friends “Like a bird across the sky”. He doesn’t miss a trick our Lothar. Great stuff as always.
Andreas Kulik is immaculately dressed and plays immaculately too, with a hypnotic fingerpicking style. You could literally hear a pin drop on his ‘You’ve Got a Friend’. I closed my eyes to take it all in and I can’t imagine that James Taylor could have played/sung it better. A magic moment in the evening for certain.
Helge Kirscht is always a bit special to hear. He has an arsenal of witty songs and delivers them with just the right balance between irony and seriousness. How else do you present a song about poisoning pigeons? At least it was on-topic. Kim Bonnick on piano makes a perfect musical foil to Helge’s presentation. They must think so too, as on that very day they gave their new duo project a name – ‘Spuren im Fels’. Which makes Folk Club Bonn their debut concert. The first of many I suspect on today’s evidence.
Marco Wrobel it must be said had an advantage when it came to tonight’s bird theme – his name. Wrobel is Polish for sparrow. No birdy songs needed then from Marco, and also no mention of them in the final all-ensemble number that brought our three-act ‘play’ to a close – ‘Jock Stewart‘. Next month we will, all things being equal, be back to a good old, working-class, ‘beer break’ rather than two short pauses for ‘refreshments from the bar’. The theme will appropriately therefore be ‘Starting all over again’ and Canada’s David Blair will be making his sixth visit to Bonn Folk Club. No songs about birds are necessary.
