Author Archives: 3songsbonn

Krissy Matthews & Women of the Blues

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You would be excused for thinking that you were at this year’s Blues Caravan show. Particularly since most of the evening’s acts could be found on the RUF Records roster. But no – this venture was put together by guitarist Krissy Matthews who thought it “would be nice to go out on the road with some friends” and to put on a show exactly how THEY wanted to do it. Krissy obviously has a lot of female friends too as the list of guests proved: Dani Wilde, Kim Jennett and Heidi Solheim were announce in advance. In addition,Somewhere along the way New Jersey’s Katie Henry got to join the party too. The result was an evening at Bonn Harmonie of great music and pure enthusiasm, an evening enjoyed by both band and audience alike – and proof that women really are a force to be reckoned with on today’s Blues/Rock scene.

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Musik im Park 2025

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Hot off the press – Musik im Park will be back this Summer. Here are the dates and bands for this years concerts at Bad Godesberg Kurpark’s Trinkpavillon. Fingers crossed that the weather is kind and all shows will take place outside in the sunshine!

Bye Mon Ami – 2 July

More details HERE

Fola Dada & Joo Kraus In Dottendorf

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When I left for home I passed Fola Dada rushing back to the merch table with a new box of her CD. Obviously the show was such a knock-out success that CD sales were booming. The smile on Joo Kraus‘s face as he signed copies of his own CD ‘Joo Jazz’ was similar proof of a successful evening of top-drawer Jazz, and similar smiles from people heading for home told the same story – in 2025 Dottendorf is Bonn’s Jazz Centre.

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Over the Border with Local Ambassadors

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Around the World in 60 Days. Once again Over The Border Festival organizer Manuel Banha has done a fantastic job of bringing top World Music stars to Bonn. Sunday’s opening concert featuring The Local Ambassadors is a project within a project so to speak, and a very popular part of the Festival. The idea is simple enough: to bring together top local musicians to play alongside World Music stars.  The reality must be anything but simple – a logistical nightmare. And how do you get all these complex styles and emotions into a cohesive musical sound with barely a couple of days to rehearse? Enter Bonn’s keyboardist extraordinaire Marcus Schinkel…

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After it’s pre-opening evening last week at the Harmonie, Bonn’s yearly Over The Border Festival kicks off in ernest this Sunday with The Local Ambassadors at Pantheon. For those new to the Festival, it’s aim is to bring a wide selection of World Music to the City, and it has been successfully doing so for some years now. In 2016 a project called ‘Local Ambassadors’ pooled the international visitors together with local musicians, and it has been a successful and inspiring evening for both audience and musicians alike ever since.

Local piano virtuoso Marcus Schinkel will be in charge of keeping the music together whilst also keeping it fresh for listeners. Anyone who is familiar with the local Jazz/Classical/Rock scene will know that Marcus is a wizard at pushing the genre borders, and a number of other familiar faces will also be back – vocalist Estrela Gomes and percussionist Pape Seck amongst them. Don’t worry if you can’t make it to the show on Sunday though as, for the first time, it will be repeated in Leverkusen (17 March) and Koblenz (18 March). Although, with Marcus Schinkel at the helm I’m sure that ‘repeated’ is not the right word – every show will be a little bit different.

The Festival focus is on an exchange between local and international artists and with its motto of ‘Songs of Peace’ sends a much needed signal in challenging times. There will be a total of 135 artists from 28 countries on 18 evenings across 8 locations.

For full festival details of these shows, visit their website: OVER THE BORDER

Blues is still alive – Will Wilde

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“When it comes to the Blues, I don’t like to mess around with the formula too much” says Will Wilde about his new release ‘Blues is Still Alive’. Will is true to his word on that score. There are echoes of the best of the best blues harp legends on here. ‘Don’t Trust Me’ evokes Sonny Boy 2’s rasping harp style, ‘Gypsy Woman’ calls up Muddy Waters with it’s title and ‘St James Infirmary’ in its style, whilst ‘Wild Man’ finds obvious DNA patterns musically with the very first electric blues harp legend Little Water. Wilde goes on to say “I wanted to prove that the blues is as relevant today as it’s ever been”. and again the Man has hit all the home bases on that one too. His lyrics, particularly on the title track are on the button with regard to topicality too: A woman working hard to ‘just’ be able to pay the rent and feed her children, as a man is Kicked down “for the colour of his skin” in a World divided where “everybody’s taking sides…”. Yes indeed, the Blues is, these days, still very much alive.

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Happy Birthday Mr Hartz!

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A happy 65th Birthday to Ernst Ludwig Hartz. I can reveal his age since there was an interview today in the General Anzeiger with Ernest as he is known throughout the promoting business in Bonn and beyond. I can safely say that, without Ernest, this page would not be what it is today. Going back to shows at the original Museumsplatz, 3songsbonn has been able to punch above it’s weight thanks to having the chance to capture photos of World Stars like Joe Cocker, Brian Ferry, The Who, BB King, Sting, Katie Melua, Zucchero, Gianna Nannini and many, many more. I can also safely say that without Museumsplatz and Kunstrasen Bonn’s musical footprint would have been much smaller over the last decades. My picture shows ‘Ernest’ next to fellow Kunst!Rasen legend Martin Nötzel from a 2013 Brings Concert – a rare occasion when the pair emerged from ‘behind the scenes’. May they continue to work behind the scenes to bring Bonn (and Cologne) the best in music for many years to come!