Kiwifolk.com
Folk and Acoustic Music in New Zealand
Folk and Acoustic Music in New Zealand
The Brunske Pakhus in Fredericia was our first gig in Denmark three years ago. It was an inauspicious performance with the audience barely outnumbering the band. This time we were playing a midday, outdoor concert at the venue. It was cheering to see a very classy poster advertising us plastered all over town. Dan was our host, same as last time; a thoroughly affable and dedicated venue owner who seems to us to be the musical life blood of the town. Dan is an ex-pat American with exceptional musical taste, in spite of which he booked us anyway. We had a good turnout in the indifferent weather - including 25% of our audience from last time, the nice lady who asked us to get on with it because she had a train to catch.
Fredericia is an historic town on the Southwest coast of Jutland, the mainland of Denmark. The old part of town is surrounded by a series of ramparts with many cannon emplacements all lovingly restored and pointing out toward the suburbs, lest there should be an invasion from that quarter. The other three went to Legoland while I wandered around the bastions - not because of my fascination with history so much as my complete disinterest in plastic blocks. My best discovery in this town was a ittle hidden restaurant with excellent coffee and the delightfully effusive Ecaterina from Rumania. I can highly recommend Café Katia if you're ever in Fredericia.
It's fascinating to note how random encounters play a part in the ever-increasing interconnectivity of things. A chance conversation that Hyram had in an airline queue three years ago resulted in a trans-continental friendship and a gig for us in Haderslev (down three quick whiskys and say "Hatherslew" and you'll be close - we've been here before, haven't we...). Karen and Hans organised a house concert for us on their back lawn and invited all their friends. The concert was great but what was particularly special about this stay was getting a guided tour from this knowledgeable couple of a very picturesque part of Denmark. It is geologically special as well as being very beautiful. Karen and Hans and their two delightful sons looked after us and fed us and made us sit down and watch the football. Australia lost in a seemingly poor refereeing decision to award a penalty at the end of the game.
Soccer, we decided, is a bit like a Wagnerian opera: some brilliant moments but some boring half-hours.
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
