gosh - again i have to admit that i won't follow the stern advices "bernd should abandon 'mmeff' ~ 'my music events for friends', because it's plainly out of fashion. may be i am naughty, or naïve, or even both - it will indeed continue. and yes it does this year, on sept 18!
so, what kind of music style will be on? oh oh that's not easy to epitomize ... well, it won't be african, calypso, flamenco, indian, opera, pop, punk, rap, reggae, rock, samba, tango, zydeco - but dazzling cisum will surely truly happen, promised! it will swing!
and which instruments? tepmurt? yes. xas? yes. onaip? yes. ratiug? yes. ssab? yes. and above all: eciov! expect my ixcillint musos to give their best and to get swing in your ears and eyes.
furthermore, there will be an old chap to lagshare, oops, to lecture a bit about the history of "swing" cisum since 1930, and why it became an own sphere of marvelous music. moreover, we will be honoured by a distinctive guest musician, out of the long chronicle of 'mmeff'. even more: a dancer will perform! finally, a surprising deed is due - a lottereee - as chase for luck!
... and this message was bernd rohrmann's invitation to ...
to his twenty-second music night!
of course some wondered, what on earth is "cisum"? and why the vespa? soon you will see!
the 2019 music night had a very large program, in fact the largest ever, consisting of 9 parts:
1 = starting the event & introduction
2 = why is vespa a matter
3 = music by six musicians - set [a]
4 = essay by bernd, "swing in jazz", with records and many pic's
5 = mini-history of mmeff
6 = surprise! true honour guest - a former mmeff musician
7 = music by six musicians - set [b]
8 = super-surprise, a lottery
9 = thanks & gifts to teams & bye-bye
as you can see, "my music events for friends" is more than cisum~music performance. essays and image presentations are significant parts. anyway, all this took place between 7:00 pm and 11:30 pm - which means, the whole evening!
in the following, each program part will be portrayed, with texts & pic's. by the way, photography wasn't easy, because of lack of light - so pleez kindly tolerate low qual!
invited were, finally, 24 people, friends and friends of friends, and there were 6 + 1 = 7 musicians.
the musicians were placed at the middle section of the venue, and all the guests were sitting at a set of tables around them.
given the immense agenda, the "captain" of the event (yes, this was indeed bernd) had to look sanguine, wearing even his norwegian cap, using sometimes a little memo booklet, and, in order to be well-visible, mostly stood on a podest.
lots of essential pictures were presented in large frames (format a3). this task was partly done by bernd, yet mostly by the aide, lady dawn kennedy.
the new venue (explained below) containes some kind of a vespa museum, lots of machines mounted under the roof of the main rooms - you can't overlook them!.
this perplexed bernd somewhat - because in 2009, after the finale of his melbourne uni 'career', he tried hard to buy himself a vespa, of course a red one.
yet the boss of the vespa shop said "no, no, no", because of the injuries bernd had suffered in 2003 when getting smashed by a car. damned.
however, for 5 hours on sept 18, he "owned" a red vespa, a very impressive one indeed - see!
so, was this really true? unfortunately not - - yet the incredibly kind vespa shop let bernd have one, for the whole evening of "my music events.for friends".
and when presenting and elucidating "his" gorgeous vespa, bernd eventually admitted that all he owns is a cute little model vespa - this one here.
well, it's certainly time now to flaunt the musicians for this year's mmeff. the guests didn't know, because the invitation (see above) does not contain the band's name (deliberately, it never does).
yet bernd's somewhat weird agenda was to at first show some tricky pic's which presented not the real band. here is depiction "x1"
yes melbourne is a harbour city, but this fictive option was of course just amusement.
depictions x2: cute - but the guests thought with such shoes it's dyffycylt to perform properly.
the band shown in depiction x3 is very dynamic - yet a bit oldish, isn't it?
but then, image x4 of a jazzband, with a singer, does look pretty convincingly - - and indeed is!
so, here they are, this year's truly proficient & vivid musicians, a sextet, steered by lady tamara
the team: tamara kuldin (voice, leader) & her band - paul coyle (trumpet), paul williams (tenor sax), steve paix (piano), frank disario (bass), gideon marcus (drums.
o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o
the style of tamara and her band is really vibrant and 'gaudy' - and certainly very rich in "swing" features!
bernd's extensive discourse about the history of "swing" music in jazz, and its prime time from around 1935 to around 1946, was illustrated with many musician pic's, all framed, in a3 or a4 size. these images ranged from early phases to the highlight period. all pic's were shown piece by piece by lady dawn kennedy. this essay was vital for mmeff-2019.
note: this section, as given here, is only an extract, the full essay is presented separately on bernd rohrmann's website "rohrmannspace".
first, some pic's of early phases:of the upcoming "swing" music style.
some bands tried to "swing" at an early time - guitar and bass were essential for this effort. the real impacts were that jazz was used for vivid dancing, and that some singers performed in a very flamboyant style.
yet the crucial factors were, from 1932 onwards, the four 'power houses' of "swing" music - count basie, duke ellington, bennie goodman, and billie holiday - - here they are.
why each of these four musicians have such a high rank in the history of jazz is not easy to say. regarding count basie, it's obviously his rhythm group. regarding duke ellington, it's his ingenious compositions. regarding bennie goodman, it's his very wide recognition, and top-end competence as clarinet virtuoso. and regarding billie holiday, it's her novel approach to sing songs.
for more explanation see bernd rohrmann's essay "swing" mentioned above.
integrated into bernd's talk, 4 historic swing records were played, on a yamaha tool, by sir simon palmer.
these were one record each for the focussed-on musicians, count basie, duke ellington, bennie goodman, and billie holiday, all recorded between 1936 and 1945. lady anoo diwan presented the pic's of these artists.
yes, "my music events for friends" is going for 22 years now, gosh.... so bernd fell to the temptation to present a mini-review, presenting many pictures, and a few 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, a dancer. 2009: first rock band. 2012: unique south-african musicians. 2013: the only event in which a book was presented, celeste's "a certain music". 2014 tango music with tango-dancing couple. 2015: a surprising scottish concert,. 2017 zulya the russian artist, and 2018, last year, the "sons of the blues".
ooo MMEFF 1998
ooo MMEFF 2001
ooo MMEFF 2006
ooo MMEFF 2007
ooo MMEFF 2009
ooo MMEFF 2012
ooo MMEFF 2013
celeste's famous book actually deals with beethoven and elise. celeste was the honour guest.
ooo MMEFF 2014
ooo MMEFF 2015
ooo MMEFF 2017
ooo MMEFF 2018
so this gave a brief review of half of the bands so far playing in "my music events for friends".
for each invitation letter bernd created an image, using pictures and texts. here are six of them.
ooo MMEFF 2006
ooo MMEFF 2007
ooo MMEFF 2009
ooo MMEFF 2014
ooo MMEFF 2016
ooo MMEFF 2017
may be this idea was a bit eccentric? anyway, bernd decided once more to invite musicians from earlier events as honory guests. and this time it was john, from mmeff-2018, a guitarist.
and he enjoyed to present a special song, used to show what he can do on his guitar, thus pleasing the audience. bernd certainly had to thank him!
as the last program of mmeff-2019, bernd conducted a lottery, sending lady dawn kennedy with the box, and announcing three wins to get. each guest could pick one ticket out of the lottery box.
The wins, submitted by anoo, were:
| *** | ""gold" win: musician quasi-art piece (bernd added little flower) - shown below) |
| ** | "silver": little-model of a mandoline |
| * | "bronze": red tool for 'rattling' musicl |
and here you see the three lucky people.
this wasn't easy, given the many issues to be covered between 7:00 and 11:30. so bernd had to stay in line with the pertinent agenda structure, and regularly checking his "inner clock" as well!.
for several years the "rhapsody café". had been the venue for mmeff, yet it collapsed recently. thus for 2019 a new venue had to be found - and this was, fortunately, "la porchetta". its manager is lady azzurra pantaleo, and she gave bernd the okay to use a special room for the music event.
bernd provided special vases with red or white flowers for each of the prepared venue tables.
in order to make the purpose of this space, namely, to be a 'grand venue' for mmeff-2019, truly visible, bernd created several dozens of pictures about music, musicians, and previous "mmeff" bands.
these were hang-up framed pic's or pic's mounted as posters on all walls and also on the two room dividers.
the venue provided a dinner menue, and lots of drinks (certainly not just coffee) were available. here are the two both charming and competent waitresses, lady mariah and lady marie.
here they are, all five - lady anoo, lady dawn, sir simon, lady simone, lady emmie, helping with playing special records, with showing pictures, with running the music machine, with serving the lottery, and with photographing at the event -- bernd says thanxxxxxx!
by the way, this report wouldn't be without all the pics by two so brave photographers, "b" & "e"!
bernd stoutly expressed that he wishes to thank quite a few people, and even had some little gifts for them - - .
gifts for the 6 musicians
=>>
gifts for the 5 aides
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gifts for the 2 waitresses
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and a special gift for the host of the venue
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>>> that's it - cheerio & aufwiedersehen (perhapsilee) & bye byye byyye <<<
