brass bands marching

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bavaria generally and the traditional mountain costume associations (what a monster expression, we just say 'trachtler') especially are inseparably connected with brass music. only at indoor events, we call it 'hoagascht', guitar, zither and hammer dulcimer replace the wind instruments.

clear shapes and reflections of course make those brass units very photogenic. musically the bands at events like the present one are on a real high stage, and in the last decade fortunately a lot of re-discovered really traditional music went into the programs, replacing the innommable beer hall music of lowest possible niveau.

only the sheer level of the sound became a bit problematic in the moments when the procession stopped with the band playing some 2m away from my ear. but the little suffering for art (not with a capital a, nota bene) is neglectable in the greater context of 'hue and saturation to the max'.

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let the music play

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a lazy mothers day brought no new images, instead some hours at the lake (17°c, swimming is possible but no real joy). late in the evening now the flat is quiet, time to go through the pictures of the last weeks again. the rosserer pilgrimage still has some images worth converting from raw. the little conductor from the lead shot perseviringly worked in front of the band and was really disappointed when they decided to have a break.

their music was genuine, not a single ingratiation to their modern demiotic, tv-popular conterpart. the german word for this demiotic music would be "volkstümlich" which is easily transmogrified to "volksdümmlich" (dümmlich = stupid) which again could find a nice parallel in "dem-idiotic".

it's not that just my other, ranting self just wants to come through again, but this demiotic/overpopular music is more than a nuisance, living on clichees and burying its roots under dogpiles of fake feelings.

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rosserer pilgrimage music

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another small series from the rosserer pilgrimage. btw: rosserer is austrian/salzburg dialect for horse breeder. fascinating for me here was the surface of the instrument.

usually you see high gloss, like in the last shot, but this guy's bass tuba did not pretend to be new and without blemishes. it looked old, well used and beaten, no pretending possible.

but the sound was great, without doubt. and having my traditional 'bratwurst' on a table in the back of the band gave me sufficient opportunity to watch the details. the guy sitting next to the bass tuba had one of those shiny, proper, straight instruments, and so i just had to make use of the reflection.

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bavaria, as icon

if i would need to capture all of bavaria in on picture, that might come close: costume, music, beer, reflection helping to view the world not as it is...

bavaria is really special. a (in its majority) rural country thrown in the 21st century, still believing in conservative doctrines.

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mongolian dancer at shenshen-festival in nuremberg

the mongolian troop formed the first part of the shenshen festival - their performance and especially their music was really amazing. The ended with a song in frankonian tongue - the local dialect of nuremberg - in something like a "zwiefacher" rhythm (two rhythms alternating) whicht showed their extreme musical capabilites.

lightzone again made my day through its versatility and flexible layer techniques.

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four-legged piano concerto

how to symbolize a music schools summer concert where children show what they have learnt in the last six months? listening intently to the performance of a girl together with her mother playing four-handed on the piano, i suddenly realized the nice composition of their feet

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