Paid by the city of Worms, Rüdiger Oppermann produced “The Brendan Voyage – Reise in die Anderwelt”, which was presented at Tollhaus yesterday, well, a couple of minutes ago :) .

We enjoyed the concert as we did concerning the other Oppermann concerts during the last years. I’d like to thank the Tollhaus and Rüdiger for the ongoing great collaboration.

Before the concert, Rüdiger shared some insight of the european history. He stated that the proselytization of the Upper Rhine Plain, including the monastery of Wissembourg, didn’t happen caused by Rome, but by irish people. His next project will thus concentrate on the early music of this area rather than bringing us music from all over the world.

I’m eagerly waiting of what Rüdiger will bring us during the next year.

nailmusic contributes a nice hommage to the Zawinul Syndicate via SoundCloud.

On my way back from a private training, I heard that Paco de Lucia died aged 66 via Deutschlandfunk broadcasting (additional information). Though this is bad news, lets be deeply grateful for the outstanding work he did.

Thanks, Paco.

Yesterday Mohammad played live at Tollhaus, Karlsruhe. It was quite impressive to hear what sounds he is capable of playing on the instruments (like the Tombak or a frame drum). I tried to follow what he was doing with the hands and what was heard through the PA, and I sometimes got the impression that some looping device must be involved. But only Mohammad knows whether I’m right :) .

Initially I thought that a concert with drums alone would be interesting, but only for about half an hour. I was wrong. The 90 minutes of the concert passed like it were seconds. Take this as a recommendation.

Spätestens wenn Rüdiger seine rote Harfe auspackt, an den Verstärker hängt und somit die Stromgitarrenemulation einschaltet, verlassen die älteren Semester fluchtartig das Veranstaltungsareal. Danke für das beeindruckende Konzert, Jungs :) .

I was invited to attend a concert at the Stadtkirche Karlsruhe. The Staatstheater Karlsruhe performed the oratorio »Esther« of Georg Friedrich Händel. Unfortunately the invitor didn’t leave home, since she was trapped by some severe cold :( .

I found the instrumentation quite interesting. Besides the “usual” candidates like the choir and vocal solists, the bowed string instruments plus some hautboys and bassoons, a lute and a bass lute took part as well as a harp, a harpsicord, and a chest organ. Two horns and a trumpet were the only brass instruments. No drums were involved.

A great concert, well visited. Thanks girls and guys :) .

BTW: The choir organ on the left hand side, built by Remy Mahler, is a masterpiece. In case you get a chance to visit a concert, do not hesitate – you won’t regret.

Über einen Beitrag im Deutschlandfunk[1] bin ich auf das von Charles Coleman und Kristjan Järvi 1993 gegründete Absolute Ensemble[2] aufmerksam geworden. Die Livemitschnitte eines Konzertes in Bremen haben mir auf Anhieb gut gefallen. Was nicht weiter verwundert, denn im weiteren Verlauf der Sendung wurde das Album »Absolute Zawinul« (Details) angesprochen, das seit 2004 in Zusammenarbeit mit Joe Zawinul entstanden ist[3].

Zawinul-Fans finden auf dem Album durchaus bekannte Stücke:

01 – Bimoya
02 – Sultan
03 – Great Empire
04 – Peace
05 – Good Day
06 – The Peasant
07 – Ballad For Two Musicians
08 – Ice Pick Willy

Wer nochmal Joes sakralen Synthsound oder den Vocoder hören möchte, kommt hier auf seine Kosten. Zu hören sind außerdem weitere Syndicate-Musiker wie Sabine Kabongo, Allegre Correa, Aziz Sahmaoui, Paco Séry (»greatest drummer on the earth«) und Linley Marthe (der des öfteren mit einem stark abgegriffenen Instrument zu sehen war). Hier das Lineup laut Progarchives:

• Joe Zawinul – composer, keyboards and vocoder
• Kristjan Järvi – music director, conductor
• Gene Pritsker – arranger
• Vesselin Gellev – violin
• Neela de Fonseka – violin
• Eddie Venegas – violin
• Gregor Huebner – violin
• Edmundo Ramirez – viola
• Michael Block – cello
• Mat Fieldes – acoustic, electric bass
• Jay Elfenbein – acoustic, electric bass
• Hayley Melitta Reid – flute, piccolo
• Keve Wilson – oboe, English Horn
• Michiyo Suzuki/ clarinet, saxophone
• Marianne Gythfeldt /clarinet
• Martin Kuuskmann – bassoon
• Damian Primis – contrabassoon
• Charles Porter – trumpet
• Ann Ellsworth – horn
• Michael Seltzer – trombone
• Damien Bassman – drums, percussion
• Pablo Rieppi – percussion
• John Ostrowski – percussion
• Matt Herskowitz – piano, keyboard
• Gene Pritsker – electric guitar
• Sabine Kabongo – vocals
• Allegre Correa – guitar, vocals
• Aziz Sahmaoui – percussion, vocals, gumbri
• Jorge Bezerra – percussion
• Paco Sery – drums, percussion, kalimba
• Linley Marthe – electric bass

Es ist schon erstaunlich, was dabei herausgekommen ist. Davon würde ich gerne mehr hören, nicht zuletzt deshalb, weil es mich an die Musik erinnert, die ich Anfang der 1990er selbst gemacht habe :) .

—-

[1] Leider kann ich keine Informationen zu dem Beitrag mehr im Archiv finden. Das wird mit dem ab diesem Jahr neuen Rundfunkgebührenmodell sicher alles viel besser ;-) .
[2] Man muss genauso wie beim Online-Musikkauf bei Amazon Flash im Browser aktiviert haben, damit die Seite angezeigt werden kann.
[3] Joe starb am 11. September 2007 vor der Fertigstellung.

Once again[1,2] Rüdiger Oppermann brought a couple of outstanding musicians to the Tollhouse yesterday. You never knew what you can do with string instruments alone until you heard it :) . In case you get the chance, don’t miss it. You won’t regret.

Today we had the occasion to listen to some Irish Folk music. Altan played at the Tollhaus which was well crowded (though the smaller stage was used). An enjoyable and recreational evening after the great hiking trip. That’s it for today, as I need to check the contents of the fridge right now :) .