Are yer there? Or are yer not?
Sunday 21st September will be the first chance to see the latest incarnation of the UK’s premier Blues Rockers King King on Sunday (25 September). A pretty awesome band it should still prove, with Stevie Nimmo joining brother Alan (pictured) on guitar. Definitely, a not-to-be missed event for Blues and Rock music fans!
Ticket details HERE
It is both a pleasure and a pain when John Harrison does his sets at Bonn Folk Club. A pleasure because of the songs and his enthusiastic presentation of them, but a pain because they invariably lead me down a rabbit-hole of research. His opener on Friday was no exception: ‘Berry Fields of Blair’ was written by Belle Stewart about Blairgowrie in Perthshire – famous for its fields of soft fruit, especially raspberries, drawing seasonal workers from all over Scotland. There was, she later described, often a holiday atmosphere with old friends and ready money, although the work was hard. As with so many other labour tasks, mechanization of the process meant the end of the human side of the picking process and the camaraderie that went with it. Belle wrote a new song each Hogmanay, of which this was the first. She went on to become one of Scotland’s finest traditional singers… and there I withdraw before I become lost in another rabbit hole of information.
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I want to start with a quote from violinist extraordinaire Eva Henneken to describe this evening’s concert by CAYU that I hope she doesn’t mind me sharing, because it sums up so much of my own thoughts on the music I’ve been hearing in Bonn this last couple of months. “It was such a special day. I am so grateful to have all these amazing musicians around me I can share music with”. Eva is right. Bonn really is full of talented musicians, singers, poets and dancers who may never be rich or famous but will always play their hearts out and enrich the Cultural scene in the City. How else can you explain the ease with which music, dance, ballet and poetry can share a stage and entertain an audience from start to end as they did at Unter Der Zeder?
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Usually, I don’t report on concerts when I can’t deliver good images to go with the words and, for some reason, my originally granted photo accreditation was withdrawn by Robbie’s Management. I was though able to take a couple of pictures on my cellphone, so a few pictures is excuse enough to merit a few words to accompany them.
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There are an expected 25,000 people due inside the Hofgarten for Tuesday’s concert by the legendary Robbie Williams (with probably a few thousand more outside) so if you are coming please bear the numbers in mind and also the start times:
5:00 pm – Entry
7:30 pm – Support Group Lufthaus
9:15 pm – Robbie Williams
Sad to hear the news that Levell Price has died in a traffic accident this week. Price delivered the driving bass lines in the Eric Sardinas & Big Motor Band that made a number of appearances in Bonn over the years (my picture is from 2014’s show at the Harmonie)
Daria Assmus, born in Bonn, met Marcus Schinkel from Bad Godesberg 6 years ago as a piano teacher. She then went on to study jazz singing in Arnhem, and more recently delivered by all accounts a furious performance in the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg with the ensemble Brassonanz.
On Monday Daria was back with her former piano teacher in Bad Godesberg for a memorable performance ‘Unter der Zeder’. If you missed the show then you missed a real musical treat!
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If you’ve ever visited one of the many Art exhibitions or events at Katharinenhof in Schweinheim then you will know that the landscape is as big a part of the visit as the event itself. A slightly wild by nature yet astoundingly relaxing place amongst all the artistic ‘chaos’. Where one can be confronted by Cologne Cardinals made from steel, rusty metal ‘skeletons’ sitting stiffly on equally rusty chairs, lifesize wooden people gazing down paths, and today, real-life local musicians making real life local music…
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