“All music is folk music. I ain’t never heard a horse sing a song” – Louis Armstrong

No it’s not an error. This picture really was taken at this year’s Kunstrasen FolkPicknick. As the man’s tatoo suggests, the band (and in fact the man) is named Rauhbein, and at month’s end they are on the bill at the Wacken Heavy Metal Festival. An interesting choice for a ‘Folk’ bill. In actual fact they did play ‘The Irish Rover’ during their set, and they did have a fiddle player. Needless to say there was many a parent grabbing their sons and daughters before their young hearing was tested. The only other true link to Folk was that earlier act Roxanne de Bastion’s father Richard was a frequent and popular musician at Bonn Folk Club. An interesting afternoon then at Kunstrasen…

There’s no doubting the enthusiasm of opening band Aerosol. The band members discovered a love for music at Haus der Jugend in Bonn’s Reuterstrasse and are already writing their own rock songs with a big helping of attitude from the vocals and stage presence of singer Mathilda. I also liked Moritz on guitar and not just for wearing a Guns ‘n’ Roses t-shirt but also for some very well executed guitar solos. Good to hear that there are musicians coming up who play guitars and drums instead of loop samples and electronic music apps.

Anny Ogrezeanu‘s claim to fame thus far is as winner of 2022’s ‘Voice of Germany’ and it’s only last November that Anny wrote her first self-penned song ‘Out to Get Us’ articulating experience as a ‘non-binary’ person. In 2025 came ‘Clown’ which addresses problems created by having ADHS. Clearly Anny’s life-experience is a strong factorin the songs.

Not surprisingly we were treated to a powerful voice, but a nice surprise was the addition of Jens Gilles who, along with his tasteful keyboard playing also turned out to have a crystal clear vocal too. She also brought with her a small ‘army’ (small as in young children) with banners. Her songs ‘Run with me’ and ‘Dancing on my own’ were present even though her co-singer on the originals Callum Scott wasn’t. Music to relax to with a soft-drink on a picnic blanket to for sure.

Roxanne de Bastion had further to come than most on the day, but she has almost been adopted here in Bonn by those of us who remember her late father Richard appearing on the folk club circuit here. Roxanne herself has made quite an impression on the music scene in the UK, although in a more pop direction. You might have seen her supporting Katie Melua on tour at Brückenforum. She has also spent the last year promoting a book about her Grandfather ‘The Pianoplayer of Budapest’, which I recommend, although she is still searching for a German publisher, so you will need to read it in either English or Hungarian at present!

Today though it’s about music rather than books, and the music is, as always with Roxanne, both commercial and thoughtful. She had everyone singing the refrain to ‘Red & White blood cells’, and huge applause especially for what would, in days past, have been a top-ten hit I’m sure, the wonderfully quirky ‘Molecules’.

There was even a surprise for regular Roxanne listeners in her guest-guitarist Maximillian Bahr. Roxanne explained that Maximillian was a part of her very first school band in Germany and twenty years later they decided it would be fun to create some music together again. Overall I found the songs became a little crowded with the twin guitars (Roxanne also plays a Rickenbacker during the set). It was fun though to hear the two go back to a song they played in that school band – Alanis Morrissette’s ‘Ironic‘.

There were problems with the microphone slipping when Roxanne sat down to play piano, but she has a secret weapon when things go wrong – a wonderfully winning smile. Things certainly went right for what for me was the afternoon’s standout song: ‘Wasteland’. It’s theme is the derelict nature of many urban areas but is based on an area of Berlin that Roxanne knows well – the Eastside Gallery. Part of the remaining Berlin Wall was torn down there to make way for luxury appartments. Roxanne’s lyrics are profoundly moving:

“On the graveyard, they’re building hotels / fluffing up the pillows so no one can tell / you’re lying where I once took my final stride / face down in the mud heading for the other side / it’s only Wasteland to them now”

A thoughtful ending to an enjoyable set by Roxanne then, and forty-five minutes to make the stage ready for something completely different.

That fourty minutes saw the arrival of a large group of leather, denim and tattoo clad fans for this evening’s final band Rauhbein. Not surprisingly, within a few minutes of the first song a mini-mosh pit had formed stage front and any remaing children were hastily equipped with ear-muffs or chauffeured quickly to the far end of the arena. It wasn’t that the environment became threatening – it just became very loud.

As you might expect from a band due to play Wacken. Drums became the predominant driving force. Driver over all though is singer Henry Rauhbein. If I say that the band is a musical mix of Santiano meets Rammstein plus influences from Rauhbein’s travels as a musician round Ireland you will get the over-all picture. It was good to hear that nod to ‘Irish Rover‘ as a break from full throttle rockers like ‘Adrenalin’.

An interesting afternoon/evening of music then – but I will be interested to see if there is a Folk Picknick again next year or if the Kuntrasenverein finds a new title for the event. It will be a tricky decision, since, like the next day’s Classic Picknick, audiences have a certain expectancy of what will be played. I’m not sure that families with small children would go to an afternoon of mini-Wacken or ‘Alternative Picknick’. Or is Louis Armstrong right? If it’s sung by people it’s Folkmusic? What do you think readers?