Meanwhile-Back at the Folkclub

Familiarizing myself last month with the layout of Graurheindorf  proved to be a lifesaver this month.  In temperatures guaranteed to fry eggs on the pavement I managed to get from bus stop to Folkclub inside of five minutes and had time to sink two Kölsches almost before John Harrison could say good evening.  Since last month the decor has certainly changed.  Wall to wall German flags suggest that there just might be some business in this room when the World Cup kicks off – No sign of a TV screen anywhere though, unless it’s buried under all the flags.

As always, our MC John Harrison has some surprises up his sleeve.  The first is actually his sleeve, or more accurately, his whole shirt.  It’s not checked!  Will the beard be gone next month too?  So, checkless shirt and flag bedecked wall, we’re off for another evening of mystery and music.  John himself gets things rolling.  His traditional picks this month are so well known that you cannot help but join in – “Charlie is me Darling” written not by anyone named Parker-Bowles but an old (18^th Century) standard.  Slightly newer (but not by much) was ‘Molly Malone’ which has become an unofficial National song of Ireland.  Full marks to John for swapping his guitar for an imaginery barrow of ‘cockles & mussels, alive, alive-o’ on this one.

At this point I should point out that although I promised not to sing at the folk club I actually did join in the chorus – it’s one of those knee-jerk reactions when someone sings “cockles & mussels” to reply “alive, alive-o!”. Can’t be helped, or cured.

When John plays the blues though I much prefer to just listen.  He digs out some interesting material here too.  You can’t get more traditional in ‘official’ Blues than WC Handy’s ‘St Louis Blues’, possibly the first EVER song to bear the Blues title in fact – though not, as John points out, true Blues.  There are numbers from Furry Lewis and Blind Blake too, and my favourite of the set, “Blues with a Feeling” accompanied very ably by Frederick on his Guild guitar and with a lovely bit of Blues Harp by Mr Harrison as icing on the cake.  Very tasty it was too.

Barry Roshto gave us an encore of last weeks ‘God is great, Beer is good,’ and  another eclectic mix inclusive of a lively ‘All my trials’ and a moving ‘Once I had a sweetheart’.  All from a songbook with suitably large notation – I could see every coda from my seat 15 feet away Barry!

Surprise act of the evening were Yvonne Roche-Harth and Peter Ferrow (see I didn’t lose the beermat with your names written on Yvonne!)  Both were taking a break from acting with the Bonn Players to, well, play.  Yvonne possesses a soothing Irish singing voice which I’ve long been partial too – be it Rory Gallagher or Mary Black.  Cyndi Lauper’s ‘True Colours’ was an unusual choice at a folk club but who cares – it sounded great.

When I’d come in the door it looked as though this would be a quiet evening.  Too hot for anyone to want to sit, never mind sing.  Here we were though and still they came to play…

Susanne & Peter (Petite Fleur) played ‘If I were you’ and Frederik was joined by Barry on piano for some James Taylor – ‘You’ve got a friend’.

Well the Folkclub has a friend in me too.   Where else can you start singing with a pint in hand and not just not get thrown out but asked to come back next week with a guitar?

Okay, I wasn’t asked.  Maybe they heard me on “alive, alive oh!’ after all.

The Bonn Folk Club meets 1st Friday each month (Next meet: July)
Where: Gaststätte Zum Schützenhaus, Estermannstr. 109, 53117 Bonn
For more information visit the FOLK CLUB BLOG

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