A cappella festival, Dortmund

June 4th-5th 2006 - Westfalenpark, Dortmund, Germany

This weekend is full of music. First, there's the national Choir Day Amusing Hengelo in our hometown on Saturday, which is awesome. We spend the complete day in the city center, and in the evening there's a big concert and a fantastic afterglow where several groups are singing. It's great and it gives us about 12 hours of musical enjoyment. But it's only the start of our weekend.

On Sunday morning we leave early, direction Dortmund. We first go to Monika and from there travel along together. We are with eight people with a big age variety (15 - 48). It's so nice to see all these people again. We've got to know each other through the Wise Guys (forum and concerts). And we all share the same passion for a cappella music. Age doesn't matter. It's so great to be together and often we only need one sentence or word to make each other smile or burst into laughter. Denglisch drops in every now and then, Bodo is quoted several times as well, and we can recognize the song that is playing in the car that's driving behind us on the basis of the rhythm the passengers are clapping :)

Enough about us, let's go to the Westfalenpark in Dortmund, where we are hearing a cappella! Six concerts: nine hours of music. In between the concerts there are only short 15 minute breaks which cause some really abrupt changes in genre, but...well... there's our *chengcheng*

Whit Sunday 4th June 2006

Waschkraft

There are four men in striped suits: Bene (Benedikt) Simons, Peter Philipp, Pedda (Peter) Moslener and Dr. (Dirk) Ebel. They sing their own songs in German and their texts are all very funny. "How deep is your love" becomes Warum nie bei mir in which they sing about female fans going crazy. But for some reason it doesn't happen with Waschkraft fans, and Pedda really regrets that.

Richard Gere has a funny text as well. Dirk sings his wife thinks he's Richard Gere. However, we think he looks more like Tom Cruise. The Schwerbetroffene Mitleidsballade is a very sad song, in which all terrible things are listed up. Just when you think it's about his girlfriend who has put his suitcase on the doorstep, it turns out to be his mother. "Mama, bitte laß mich wieder rein". The audience loves their humor and we have to laugh a lot.

With Radezk im Arsch their choreo is hilarious. The men are making so much fun of themselves and we love to watch that. The expressions on their faces are great and it's a lot of fun to hear and see these men on stage. For their next song, Waschkraft needs four chairs. When they are sitting, they explain they really need these chairs because they're going to sing a song with which you have to dance. This is enough to cause laughter again. They are singing their Sommerhit and it's too funny to describe. We all have to sing along (the text is too easy, just like a real summer hit) and make stupid movements with our arms. Their Stimmungspotpourri is also too funny. It is a famous party song, sung at a quarter of the original speed, and together with the expressionless faces it makes everybody laugh.

All in all, I really enjoy this performance. Besides the humor, which I love, these men sing really good. They know how to play with the audience and they're successful doing that. If you want to know more about Waschkraft I can recommend you to watch the little movie on their website which gives a very good impression of their show.

The first performance was nice, but there's a lot more to come. After a short break we continue with The Glue.

The Glue

The Glue is from Switzerland. Gregor Beerman, Tumasch Clalüna, Jonas Göttin, Florens Meury and Oliver Rudin are five very young men with a beautiful sound. Almost every song they sing today is self written. Right from the start, when they appear on stage, I am pretty stunned. The volume has increased (compared to Waschkraft), and there are suddenly five cool young men on the stage. The only problem is the language. I can speak German, but Swiss is pretty different. And even when I can hear what they're singing, I don't always understand. And I'm not the only one. My German friends that are with me, don't understand it as well. "Hoch über dem Strand steht der Mond im Spagat"?? We don't know what to imagine with that. But, personally I don't really care that I can't understand it all. The sound and the chords these men produce are so beautiful. And the mouth percussion from Florens is phenomenal! To watch his small dark eyes glimpse above his micro is great. I'm captivated completely.

The Glue uses several technical effects, for instance to sing as an electric guitar (in Esperanza), or to lower one voice with an octave. Normally I don't really like that, but here it's not too much. The fun they are having on stage is great to see. Their humor is crazy and they have to laugh about it themselves so much as well. But not at the cost of the music. Without a tuning fork they easily start every song. With some songs, one of them changes clothes. For instance, with one song Jonas is wearing a pink tutu and when he's dancing the other four are singing in the background and they are having problems not to burst into laughter themselves.

They sing a lot of songs from their album "Boca Juniors"; Blind wie ne Mulwurf, Sandburgenbauen and El Topo are some of these songs. You can also download these songs on their website. They also sing Esperanza, Dietät and much more.

Personally I think we might here a lot from The Glue in the future. These five men are still young and they are already very successful. It doesn't bother me, not to understand the texts. But it bothers others. Anyway, The Glue convinces me, and I'm their new fan ;) I buy their latest album and they even sign it for me. Jonas writes "Dortmund ist coooooool" because it's their first performance in Dortmund. Well, I hadn't been in Dortmund before as well, and I don't know if Dortmund is cool. But The Glue definitely is.

Mëdlz

In the past this group was called the Nonets. Now, Lydia, Mary, Nelly, Bine and Silly call themselves mëdlz. I was very curious what this group would sound like, because with only women it's a lot different. On the internet I had found out they are often singing with a band. But this is an a cappella festival, so they would have to sing without a band. They start with Ich find mich gut and one by one the mëdlz appear on stage. Actually this sounds pretty good! One of the girls is singing the bass, and her voice is lowered with two octaves. I don't really like that, but at least there's a bass in this way. There's no better option. Though when they sing Mein Hund ist schwül, the bass is not lowered and this sounds more natural and so pretty.

They make us answer "Hallo Dortmund" with "Hallo mëdlz", and the girls are having so much fun when we actually do that. They sing Bist du noch verliebt and there's a piano (on tape) playing along. Hey!! That's not a cappella! Pata Pata is very cool. We have to sing along and we are having fun. Betreten Verboten is also very beautiful. There's a beautiful harmony in their voices.

The song mëdlz is their new single, and they are very proud of it. They finish the show with No limit which really is a great ending. I personally regret the album (which has not been released yet) is being recorded with a band, because without a band their voices are worth a lot more. I would also be happy with a little more creativity in their texts and arrangements. That would make them really great, because right now their repertoire is comparable with the Spice Girls. I think these girls should stick to a cappella, else they will be just the next girl group like we've known so many of already.

Zu Hause

The first day of the festival is over. We're going home (to Monika) and we enjoy a barbecue, after that we build a campfire and we camp in the garden. We're having a lot of fun and the night that follows is quite short. A visual impression:

Whit Monday, 05.06.2006

D-Base

The second day of this festival starts with D-Base. D-Base from Belgium are with seven men: Tom Cavens, Roeland van Rooy, Roland Cools, Dries Raeymaekers, Stijn Mertens, Rik Donckers and Marc Kenis. When they appear on stage, the first thing I notice is the lacking of good looks. Stupid me, looking at the outside first.... But, as soon as they start singing I forget about it, because this sounds good! Being with seven does have advantages. For instance, you can sing full chords, do vocal percussion, and sing a bass line and having a lead singer, all at the same time. And these men are not standing still, they're jumping over the stage and dancing, it's really cool. One of the first songs they sing is Scatman and it's really swinging like nothing we heard before this weekend. Unfortunately after three or four songs, they have to stop due to a technical problem. The micro's are having troubles and it can't be solved that quickly. For us, it's not a big deal, but I can imagine it's really terrible for the singers to interrupt their show so suddenly.

After a fifteen minute break, they continue. The micro's are working well now and the way the singers continue their show is worth a compliment. It's really a pity we have can't stand up and dance, because that's what their music invites you to. There's a lot of swing and we are dancing on our seats through lack of a dance floor. Songs like Don't worry be happy, Every little thing she does is magic and Blue suede shoes it's great to hear it. Today they mostly sing up-tempo songs, and that's the right formula for today.

Four of the seven men appear on stage with another outfit, and they start a hip hop song which is so funny. They way they jump and dance on the stage is hilarious. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of that, but you can see it yourselves in the DVD Promo on their website. During one of the songs, Dries is dressed like a women. There's no lack of humor during the show.

Language is also a funny topic to discuss concerning D-Base. In between the songs, they speak English, because they don't speak German. Only one of them speaks a little German and he has to translate everything they say. The translations are not often correct, but because most people understand the English as well, it causes funny situations. After a while, the audience is being asked what kind of song the German sing to support the German soccer team. There's not much response from the audience, so D-Base makes up their own song and one of the singers sings fully convinced "Deutschland kampioen".

The reaction of people around us (naturally they don't know what 'kampioen' means because that is Dutch) makes us almost fall of our seats. Only then he notices 'kampioen' is not a German word at all. D-Base is having as much fun as the audience has, and it's a big party. They are also singing a German song, and they need help from the audience because they don't really know the text.

D-Base is really involving the audience in their show and that causes a standing ovation after their show (the only one during this festival!). They pass on their enthusiasm to the audience all the time. They are very active on the stage, although there are not much 'real' choreo's. Maybe because of their enthusiasm there are some notes out of tune, especially the higher ones. But the party mood they bring along is unforgettable.

The Buddhas

After a really short break The Buddhas start their performance. For a long time, the Buddhas were a group with four men. But they've got a woman in the group now. Jürgen Teuchert, Tabasco, Manfred Bohnhoff, Christian Koops and Katrin Wulf are The Buddhas from Hamburg. They start their show with Revelation. Their sound together is really beautiful. Especially the way Katrins voice fits in is beautiful. Oye como va also sounds really good. With a few songs they are using little percussion instruments. It's beautiful, but after the party D-Base made and the short break, it's quite a big change in genre.

When they are going to sing Suzy Q, they demonstrate a machine which repeats their voice. With that, they record the vocal percussion, and repeat it during the song. It's their so called 'sixth group member'. A cool machine, but they are using it too often if you ask me. There's no room for spontaneous actions, because the beat goes on. Because of that, there's only few interaction between the singers and the audience and that's a pity. Their sound is great, but I'm bored quickly. They use too many effects and that makes the songs less natural. Rock DJ on the other hand sounds very cool. The lead vocal is great.

Maybe an open air concert is not the perfect place to experience the Buddhas for the first time. Musically they are very good, but there's not much interaction with the audience during the songs which make my thoughts drift away. Their final song is terrible, if you ask me. The bass is lowered so much, it causes a trembling feeling in my stomach which is not nice. It's just too low. Really a pity; I would love to hear them without all the technical effects and with the natural sound of their voices.

U-Bahn-Kontrollöre in tiefgefrorenen Frauenkleidern

I had heard some good stories about the U-Bahn-Kontrollöre, but I didn't expect them to be so very silly. Harry, Olli, Seb, Filippo and Matthias are singing together for a long time already and their experience is clear. They know how to handle the audience and they are great singers! Together with a very crazy humor, they give a show which causes so much laughter in the audience. They are totally insane, if you ask me.

But, they are very successful. And we laugh our heads off. The costumes are one thing, their behaviour is hilarious. Actually, I think they are making too much fun of themselves. Because their voices and the arrangements are so beautiful! But with those silly things you almost forget to listen to the music. With Blöde Worte one of them is wearing a wig and during the dancing the wig turns around and the hair slaps in his face. In between the singing there's suddenly a "Ich sehe nichts!!" It's all part of the show, the audience doesn't stop laughing. Some of the songs they're singing: Hibbelisch, Die Biene Maja (with great costume), In der Pubertät and Bella ciao. At the end, they sing a medley, Battle of the 80's, which is so cool. Although, it's not even a cappella, there's a band playing along. But there are so many well-known songs in this medley. Hardly have they finished one sentence of a song, and the next song/sentence is already starting. Amazing! I can write a long story here, but I guess it's better to give you some pictures, because I can't describe their silliness in words.

The U-Bahn-Kontrollöre are the final group of today, and that's just how this festival should end. With the U-Bahn-Kontrollöre as first performance, every other group would be boring. I've never seen a group with such great singers and so much crazy actions.

Traditions

Traditions come up very easily and quickly. Next year we want to go to Dortmund again! Including barbeque, campfire and camping. But, when we get home we discover Whitsun next year is during the final weekend of May. And during that weekend there's the traditional Wise Guys Tanzbrunnen concert on Saturday. Hard..... because do we want to see the Wise Guys first, and then during the next two days listen to six other a cappella groups? We'd rather experience it the other way around and conclude our weekend with the Wise Guys. Hmmm... let's think it over. We still got some time...