really hard to believe - after many maddening months of "no no, mmeff not possible in this corona year", eventually vivid vortune came back! after sept-out, oct-out, nov-out -- now in dec 'my music events for friends' can take place! jipheeeeeee!
so, what kind of music style will be on this time? oh that's not easy to epitomize!. well, it won't be african, blues, calypso, choir, electronic, flamenco, gospel, indian, jazz, pop, punk, rap, reggae, rock, samba, soul, zydeco - - but pretty distinctive cisum will surely truly happen, promised!
and which instruments? aloiv? no. eciov? no. niloiv? no. ollec? no onaip? no. ratiug? no. smurd? no. ? no. . teniralc? no. tepmurt? no. xas? no. yet yet yet, expect my ixcillint musos to give their best and to thump their noidrocca & ssab in your ears and eyes.
furthermore, there will be an old chap to lagshare, oops, to lecture a bit about cisum's intricate bellows+button-boards machinery creating manifold sounds. moreover, we will be honoured by a guest musician, out of the chronicle of 'mmeff'. finally, a surprising deed is due - a lottereee - as chase for luck!
and this message was bernd rohrmann's invitation to
to his 24th music night!
by the way, "my music events for friends" is not public, it's a private event, for those who are friends and/or deserve an unusual way of "thank-you", and got a personal invitation.
so, did it go "as usual"? no, not at all this year, not as intended. urghhhhh. the story follows now.
early, in june, the worry increased that, because of the corona pandemic, as last year, the traditional sept date was not feasible, nor oct, nor nov... perhaps not even dec?
whatsoever, things always begin with pondering - which style of music this year? and which musicians??
obviously it's dyffycylt to think this all through - and then to hunt for clever clear conclusions!
first idea: italian music. i asked a vivid band "would you play on my event?" they said "yes, but aren't you a bit away?" very true - i met them in rome!
next idea: indian music. i had heard especially impressive musicians - but that was far far away, in cochin. and usually an indian band should be large.
third idea: classical music. obviously a pretty grand plan - yet completely unfeasible in my venue.
ouch. urghhh. pragmatism seems to be truly totally true. eventually bernd made a decision - - he had to! see things here?
which meant
and therewith:
the 2021 music night had a very large program, one of the largest ever, consisting of 11 parts:
1 = starting the event & introduction
2 = planning procedure (outined above)
3 = why vespa is a matter
4 = the motorbike matter
5 = music by 3 'hub' musicians - set [a]
6 = little history of "accordion"
7 = mini-history of mmeff
8 = surprise! true honour guests - former mmeff musicians
9 = music by 3 'hub' musicians - set [b]
10 = super-surprise, a lottery
11 = thanks & gifts to teams & bye-bye
all this took place -- had to -- between 6:45 pm and 10:30 pm - which means, a long evening!
in the following, each program part will be portrayed, with texts & pic's. by the way, photography wasn't easy, because of the odd room-lighting, inducing reflections, and florishing blue kind-of- xmas decorations - so pleez kindly tolerate bits of not-so-good qual!
after endless prep's, finally, 14 people were invited (more not allowed), friends and friends of friends, and there were 2 + 1 + 2 = 5 musicians.
piece [<b>] - swing records track 8, in.mp3 mode
the position of the musicians was in the middle section and southern side of the venue, and all the guests were sitting at a set of tables around them.
so a less absurd dream of bernd was - - yes, yes indeed, an accordion player!
the "captain" of the event (yes, this was indeed bernd) had an immense agenda..... he should look sanguine, wearing his special un-australian hats, using sometimes a little memo booklet, and, in order to be well-visible, mostly stand on a small kind-of podest. furthermore, he could ring his noisy bell to secure attention! at least occasionally was a chance of rest, to get a strong espresso.
lots of essential pictures were presented in large frames (mainly in format a3). this task was partly done by bernd, yet mostly by the truly essential aides, lady anoo diwan and sir sam.wines.
some of bernd's talks required to present historic music records. these were played on a powerful yamaha tool, by sir simon palmer.
yes indeed, at la porchetta "vespa" is an issue, because it's founders were vespa fans, and high up under the venues ceiling are lots & lots of historic vespa models.stored.
bernd likes to appreciate and reflect this, in an ironic manner - namely, to tell the audience that he has a special vespa history himself.
and midden in the venue, near the big photo on the wall, stands a gorgous very red vespa - - and bernd claims, at least for 10 minutes, that is it his one, and even sits down on in.
only then he admits, this is not his vespa!! but at least he owns a cute model of a red vespa, and proudly shows it.
a true guest of honour is lady viv agar. why is this? it is because what she made possible for bernd easily outruns the vespa matter, by faaar.
viv owns, and drives, a very mighty and very powerful motorbike. and earlier this year she gave bernd the incredible honour to give him twice a tour, each 2 hours - riding this monster so competent as bernd could at best achieve with a little vespa.....
well, which kind of musician did bernd dream of? may be someone like this? impossible! la porchetta has no piano in our venue, neither 'grand' nor a 'plain' one.
and this came true! jiphue!
namely "my music events for friends" was honoured to get a first-class accordionist, salvatore greco, for this year's event.
so a less absurd dream of bernd was - - yes, yes indeed, an accordion player!
furthermore, enio pozzebon connected. he plays a small-scale accordion, and, essentially, he talks to the audience and presents italian songs.
finally, bernd got andrew tanner, a very professional bass player, as the third musician. lucky us!
he also plays the "jaw harp" ~ "mouth harp", providing unique music (by playing it, not by singing).
bernd presented a compact essay about the accordion. here are the main issues.
the accordion is widely played, and seems simple, but it isn't! here are two images which explain the structure of this - rather demanding - instrument.
and who invented this stunning tool? for some time that was allocated to a work of the german performer christian friedrich ludwig buschmann in 1822.
however, newer research clarified that the real inventor was cyrill demian, a guy from armenia, who lived and worked in vienna. his instrument was patented in 1829
accordions are built in very many countries, including argentina, austria, brazil, england, russia, usa etc, and of course germany.
piece [<c>] - french-classical-accordion-record in mp3 mode, length 2'33 min's
an early, kind-of-simple accordion, is the concertina (england), and there is the bandoneon (argentina) - both widely used, especially by those for whom the full accordion may be a bit too demanding.
accordion music is composed and presented in about every style - local tradition, pop, rock-like, jazz, explorations - and played in about every country in the world.
finally, accordions are not only a music instrument - - they always were and still are a piece of art, by the way how they are painted. here is one of countless 'arty' accordions, a beautiful green one.
over the 24 years of "mmeff" a tradition has developed, namely, to provide a mini review about it.
so here are photos of the musicians in 6 of these years, between 1998 and 2019. the enormous variety of music instruments and of music styles is obvious.
ooo MMEFF 1998
ooo MMEFF 2001
ooo MMEFF 2009
ooo MMEFF 2012
ooo MMEFF 2017
ooo MMEFF 2019
a further tradition has developed - each year to invite musicians from an earlier mmeff for a guest performance. and this year these were david alleway and diane gaylard.
david plays a special harp, and diane two kinds of special scottish bagpipes. the sound is mighty!
at the end (almost) of mmeff-2021, bernd conducted a lottery, sending sir simon with the box, and announcing three wins to get. each guest could pick one ticket out of the lottery box. lady anoo administered the pertinent gift store. obviously about everyone hoped for the "gold" win.......
well well, that's of course bernd. he tries hard to be brave and on top of all the 99 matters! gosh!
2the venue for "mmeff" is every year provided by the restaurant "la porchetta" in carlton-north.
this it is (before the guests arrive, but after many vases with red roses haven been put by us on the tables). the area for the musicians is marked.
bernd and his team always mount music pictures, and two dividers separate the back section of this room.
absolutely essential is clearly the event's waitress, because everyone is meant to have dinner, and of course drinks, shouted by the team.
and all of us were very very happy that it was again lady mariah, who "plays in a liga of her own"!
indeed! this means: serious "thankssss" gift to each musician.
and then: equally serious thankssss to the four aides, anoo & emmie & sam & simon.
all guests thought this is the end of mmeff-2021. was it? no! because the real finale was to present a truly unusual record, played on bernd's mighty yamaha tool - - johann sebastian bach's terrific "toccata & fuge d-moll". so, what was unusual? that it is played by the russian artist sergeij- telechev on - - yes, on an accordion!
several guests hearing thought it's an amplified accordion, or even, an organ. neither nor.!
listening to this was, no doubt, a fabulous finale for the 2021 music night focussed on the accordion
piece [<d>] - sergei teleshev record of bach's "toccata and fugue in d minor"
