jiphee - i can again contradict the common rumors that bernd will abandon "mmeff", "my music events for friends". kinder tales say it will of course continue. and yes it does this year! so, what kind of music style will be on? that's not easy to epitomize ... well, it won't be afro, flamenco, opera, pop, punk, reggae, rock, samba, tango, sorreee... but dazzling music will surely truly happen, promised! eggshelly it may be somewhat 'foreign' - gosh ... and which instruments? accordeon? yes. bass? yes. clarinet? yes. guitar? yes. and above all: voice! the ixcillint musos will give their best to get the unique and so very rich "ayluz-music" in your ears and eyes. furthermore, there will be an old chap to lagshare, oops, to lecture a bit about the history of music and the links between classical, jazz and folk, each of these a planet of marvelous music. finally, a pretty unexpected deed is due - a chase for luck, open to all of you!
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the program
the 2017 music night had a large program, consisting of 6 parts: /1/ zulya band, part (A), /2/ essay about music history, /3/ performance of guest musicians, /4/ essay about mmeff history, /5/ zulya band, part (B), /6/ lottery. for each part of the program, explanations and selected pictures and messages will follow below.
the zulya band
the 'leading light' of the music program at mmeff-2017 was zulya. she is russian, and tatar by ethnic background. she sings, plays guitar, and she writes and composes songs. one of her bands she calls "the children of the underground".
the musicians were placed at the western end of the venue, and all the guests were sitting at a set of tables in front of them.
andrew also played the "jewish harp", creating stunning music. aviva played two clarinets, the classical 'b' and the bass clarinet, thereby providing special sound attributes. zulya used her guitar and sometimes just a triangel to enrich her very rich singing performance.
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bernd's extensive discourse about the history of music - dealing with classic and jazz and folk music - was illustrated with 24 images, all framed, in a3 or a4 size. these pic's were shown piece by piece. dawn kennedy handled them, and often presented one to groups of guests.
of course "history of music" was a sheer endless topic. in the following section, only some examples of the essay are shown, in condensed format.
/// the oldest "music instrument" is of course the human voice. then flutes and later harps were invented and played - thousands of years ago.
/// the same is true for the didgeridoo instrument of the aborigines in australia.
/// all early high cultures, like egypt or china, had these instruments, and soon invented further ones.
/// harps and pipes dominated the hellenistic music culture as well. (by the way, the lady below may be excited about several flutes).
/// over the next thousand years, music eventually developed as a regular enterprize all over europe. finally "symphony orchestras" became the top end of the music culture.
/// beside that, countless styles of "folk music" are florishing, for example, flamenco, klezmer (below), tango. and many countries have their own typical instrument, such as the scottish bagpipe or the russian balaleika.
/// furthermore, two special types of music had and have immense influence all over the world: marching bands and jazz bands.
/// just a few decades ago, a crucial invention took place, which changed music enormously - the electric guitar. and nowadays even violins may be electric ones.
/// anyway, which is the biggest instrument? the piano? no - the organ. this one here, the grand organ in melbourne, has 11000 pipes, and is played with four keyboards.
/// of course the advance of music is linked to composers. here are 4 exemplary ones shown who connected - - bach: church & society music; tschaikovski: east & west-europe music; brahms: classical & folk music; gershwin: classical & jazz music.
/// of course the advance of music is linked to composers. here are 4 exemplary ones shown who connected - - bach: church & society music; tschaikovski: east & west-europe music; brahms: classical & folk music; gershwin: classical & jazz music.
/// finally - the millions & millions of music fans differ wildly in what they perceive as crucial input! may be for some this was not bach or beethoven, rather - - the beatles????
the guest musicians
may be this was a bit eccentric? anyway, bernd decided to invite musicians from earlier events as honory guests. and these were ben rogers (guitar) and romana geermans (violin). they were the musicians on the first-ever mmeff, in 1998, twenty years ago!
and they enjoyed to present four songs, as pleasure for the audience, and their own amusement.
the essay about the mmeff history
yes, "my music events for friends" is going for 20 years now, gosh.... so bernd fell to the temptation to present a mini-review, presenting many pictures, and some comments as well. here is an extract:
1998: first event. 2001: only mmeff with classical string quartet. 2006: the freely moving stiletto sisters. 2007: flamenco music plus, first time, dancer. 2009: first rock band. 2012: unique south-african musicians. 2013: the only event in wish a book was presented, celeste's "a certain music". 2014: tango music with tango-dancing couple. 2015: a surprising scottish concert.:
celeste's famous book actually deals with beethoven and elise. celeste was the honour guest.
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as the finale of mmeff-2017, bernd conducted a lottery, telling about the four wins to get. each guest could pick one ticket out of the lottery box. the wins were: "platinum": zulya's cd; "gold": celeste's book; "silver": the accordion toy; "bronze": bernd's book. cards "for you" were personally written and signed by them for the winners.
and that ended "my music events for friends" in 2017 - - - possibly this was the final "mmeff"?
the management of the event
this wasn't easy, given the many issues to be covered between 7:30 and 11:30. so bernd had to stay in line with the pertinent agenda list, and regularly looking at the clock as well!
to steer the pretty complex event, bernd created his own "attention-please-bell" and certainly used it through the whole evening.
the venue
the venue was the same as last year, the "rhapsody café". it is managed by roula and daughters.
also, bernd mounted several images about the history of music and of mmeff -- here are some:
during the program breaks the guests could look at them, and perhaps ask bernd some questions about their content
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that's it - cheerio & aufwiedersehen (perhapsily) & byebye!
