It seems as if, rather like Santa Claus, Simon Kempston has always paid us a visit every December. Such is the allure of applause and the chance to sing ‘Jock Stewart’ at Folk Club Bonn that Simon always has a new CD to offer us to secure his place as special guest (this year’s ‘My Dreams Are Theirs’ is a corker too!). Simon has become a much-loved regular, but this December saw a far less regular event, a first even – MC John Harrison had officially sanctioned the use of amplification. What!!! All will be revealed…
FCB #152. Given that there are usually 11 meets a year that’s almost 14 years, and you can count the ones not attended by John Harrison on one hand and still have enough fingers left to tie your shoelaces. Ladies and Gentlemen – time for some Blues from John’s resonator guitar. Two classics – ‘Walking Blues’ (Son House) and ‘Crossroad Blues’ (Robert Johnson) get things started and are followed by a Harrison self-composition ‘Albert McShah’. The latter is not to be confused with John’s lengthy tale of Albert McTavish and his refrigerator. Albert McShah deals not in fridges, but is instead searching for fifty women to populate a blues-singing harem. That’s a lot of great female blues singers. I can name quite a few, but none that would care to join a harem I suspect. Albert has the same problem.
A lady known only to my records as Cecilia was next up. There was no chance to find out if she could sing the Blues or even if she would join Alberts ‘Harem’ but she did have a beautiful voice which was utilized perfectly on ‘Oh Holy Night’.
Gerald, Thomas and Matthies were probably not the names of the three Kings, but they were definitely the names of the three musicians assembled to present Katie Melua’s ‘Plane Song’. For those that are not so familiar with Katie’s music outside of the hit singles, she has been contributing her own songs to discs almost from the outset, and they stand up well against her Mike Batt monster hits. I recommend also checking out her 2005 composition ‘Spiders Web’ for further proof. The aforementioned three gentlemen could not hope to match Melua’s silky voice, but delivered a very enjoyable rendition musically, especially the recorder playing.
Now to that subject of amplification. It is a well-written rule on pain of being cast into a pit of melted Gummibears and then shot into space by a cannon that no-one, but no one, is permitted the use of amplification. Enter Antje Jendricke, on a rare occasion sans-harp. “I’d like to play a couple of short musical pieces” she smiles, before adding “In this case, ‘short means under 1 metre 50!”. This measurement, it transpires, refers to a narrow strip of pre-perforated paper that is wound via a small handle through an even smaller ‘box’ that Antje calls her ‘Spieldose’. I remember as a child buying some cornflakes that had a similar strip on them. The one I had contained Neville Chamberlain announcing “Here is the paper!”. The strip of plastic lasted about as long as Chamberlain’s Munich Peace Agreement with Hitler from which the quote came.
I digress somewhat. Back to Antje, who, in the absence of a Weetabix packet, has incorporated a small wooden crate to amplify her tunes. It is a credit to the wonderful audience of Bonn Folk Club that enough silence was maintained for everyone to hear ‘God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen’ amongst others. There was a further paperstrip to enjoy later, but we’ll come to that, well, later…
Lothar Prünte presented us with some oldies from Wolfgang Niedecken’s pen. BAP’s ‘Eins für Carmen un en Insel‘ and ‘Frau, Ich freue mich’. Neither of which I remember hearing before. Squeezed in between these two was a more familiar German Rock number, the Toten Hosen’s ‘An Tagen wie diesen’. It’s always good to hear acoustic versions of rock songs from excellent songwriters – too often the words get lost behind screaming guitars. Nice ones Lothar!
The 2JHs? A pity we didn’t get John Hay in for this too and become the 3JHs. Anyway. I was more than happy to be the page, to John Harrison’s ‘Good King Wenceslas’. It’s a role most famously taken in the past by the much-loved and much-missed Steve Perry. The real Good King was in fact murdered by his own brother (the bad King?) and actually was only a Duke at the time of his death. ‘Good Duke Wenceslas looked out?’ Doesn’t quite scan does it? But I am digressing again. It’s a cracking story well told and we told it.
Fomiander were present in a ‘mini’ format to celebrate Life. Mario’s ‘Geh deinen weg’ is about, and dedicated to, his second grandchild and ‘Dein eigenes Leben’ celebrates the very fact that, as Mario pointed out, we tend to forget in the hustle and bustle of actually living, that Life itself is a gift. A cheerful thought and good preparation for the equally cheery ‘Jan der Fischer’ that had everyone singing “Ole, Ole!” on the chorus.
Hans Ihnen was back at the piano for another song about the importance of being alive and at peace – John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’. Duke Ellington’s ‘It don’t mean a thing’ celebrates Life in it’s own way too – get in the swing, dance and be happy!
For many years we had Gerd Müller’s ‘Weihnachtsgeschichte auf Bönnsch’ to enjoy in December. We are still lucky to have a poet in our December Folk Club arsenal. Wolfgang Schriefer delivered a very thoughtful assessment of the ‘lot’ of a Tannenbaum indoors and decked out with lights. It is not a happy ‘lot’ for the proud woodland ‘outdoorsman’ of a Christmas tree, as Wolfgang revealed.
So, here I am once again introducing the two sets by our favourite Scot Simon Kempston. There’s a seemingly effortless fluidity in Simon’s playing. It emanates from the way he ‘spars’ around the floor at times as if looking for the perfect angle to deliver his lyric from. He has a grace of movement in the way he deftly picks out gentle melodies and rhythmic accompaniments with flowing movement of arms, hands and fingers. In short, Simon is as mesmerizing to watch as he is to hear. Well, except when he is playing the piano and largely facing not the audience but the wall. Simon playing the piano though is, rather like Simon playing the guitar. His way of picking out fine melodies on piano keys is identical and spellbinding too.
To warm us up tonight Simon plays a couple of familiar tunes. ‘Broken Before’ is the bitter-sweet tale of a boxer who fights and generally loses, but still fights on. ‘Broken before’ literally. Although seemingly a true story, it’s also of course a call to all of us to do what we do and not give up. As Simon himself points out before my favourite song of the evening ‘The Normal Life’ sometimes the paths we take seem full of risks, crazy even, to others. His own decision to be a musician he suggests. “But that seems to have worked out” he smiles. “Beware the normal life!” indeed. I was quite surprised, given how much I liked his guitar version of this song to find that the new CD’s version is played on piano. I have to say I prefer the guitar version he delivered at Dotty’s.
I can understand though that Simon likes to keep fresh, and it does add variety when he switches between guitar and piano. It was also refreshing to see him play classical style with his composition ‘Moonrise over Mostar’. As well as being a reminder of how lucky we are that Simon fits Bonn into a schedule that takes him increasingly all over the World. ‘Sunset over Bonn’? Just a song suggestion Simon…
It’s no surprise that there’s a bit of political statement in the evening’s song choices. “We’re Scottish not British. European instead” he makes his feelings plain in his”Anti-Brexit, pro-Scottish independence song” ‘A Tale of two Unions’. There are some surprises in store though. Firstly, to hear Simon introduce a Blues song: ‘Man of Peace’. Well, Blues of a simple twelve-bar type it’s not – there’s still a lot of Filigran fingerpicking going on. Then there’s a song dedicated to his daughter ‘Where my love belongs‘ and a welcome first as John Harrison joins Simon on blues-harp for a song on the dangers of gambling ‘What led you to this’. A sadly true story but it made for a cracking performance from the two with John’s gently refrained harp playing perfectly underpinning Simon’s dramatic lyrics.
Two Kempston favourites finished his, as usual, excellent set. ‘Bus to Nairn’ has long been a favourite of mine, and ‘Derry Walls’ has long been a favourite amongst Simon’s fans overall. I hope that there was a copious pile of CD’s exchanged for cash after the show. As already mentioned, the new CD ‘My dreams are theirs’ is I think Simon’s best release in a while.
Time for ‘Jock Stewart’? Or even ‘Jock Stewart’ in double pack? Antje played a version of the famous Folk Club tune that was a little different – on her wonderful little Spieldose and presented John with the paper tape afterwards as an appreciation for his devotion to the FCB. Needless to say it was a gift and a sentiment that brought loud applause. All good things must come to an end though, and the ‘real’ Jock Stewart sent everyone home with warm hearts and hopefully a CD or two. Will it be ‘same procedure as last year’ for Simon Kempston in December 2025? For one of the best, nicest and most talented musicians I’ve had the pleasure to meet and listen to, I hope so!
