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Folk and Acoustic Music in New Zealand
Folk and Acoustic Music in New Zealand
The gig in Munich was easily the best to date. Tollwood is a festival in the heart of the city that runs for a month or more. It covers many hectares with several huge marquees, big name artists and literally hundreds of craft, food and beer stalls. We were in a small (by comparison) marquee called the Andescher Lounge. We had a great and appreciative turnout.
This was another gig booked for us by Mark, who we were now staying with for a few days. Aside from being a great host, he is inordinately funny. He never lets up. We were surprised too, to be sharing this billet with a couple of well known Australian personalities from theatre and TV. Needless to say it was like living in a sitcom. There was even greater comedy when Mark dropped us off at Tollwood and Hyram and I unloaded our gear and change of clothes onto an anthill! I now know where that German thigh-slapping dance comes from.
One of the more memorable Munich moments for me was watching the Germany/Equador match in a pub full of very noisy German supporters. They make our rugby supporters look like spectators at a chess tournament!
After yet another al fresco breakfast in the beautiful Munich sunshine, it was off on our 2 day drive back to Denmark. We stayed that night in the small town of Seesen, South of the Danish border. We awoke to find one door of our car open! A rapid check revealed all instruments and gear intact. We can only assume that one of the magic buttons on the key got pressed from within the gasthof where we were staying (the doors of our car open automatically from a button on the key). Wide open all night on a busy German main road and nothing missing. Germany, you have my unflagging support for the World Cup!
Around the outside of the heavily gated Tollwood festival was a range of bush-covered hillocks rising to 20 or 30 feet. Our festival escort told us they were made from the rubble of Munich houses that were bombed in the 2nd World War. On our way north to Denmark we stopped in Hamburg and were drawn to the most striking feature on the skyline, the dark, gothic steeple of Nikolaikirche - or what remains of it, the largest church in Europe, as a permanent testament to the massive destruction of aerial bomardment. There are quiet, dreadful reminders all over Germany if you care to look. To its credit, this country does not disown its awful past, nor does it wallow in it. It is simply part of the landscape of a now prosperous and peaceful country.
The Chaps are Hyram Ballard, John Dodd, Marcus Turner and Mike Moroney (the author of these pages), an acoustic string band featuring original songs and odd material from last century. Find out more about The Chaps here and listen to some of their music on their MySpace site here
