My last performance at the open stage „Kunst gegen Bares“ in Cologne, Germany on the 20th October 2014 was again something new and very special for me. The comedian Hildegart Scholten, who is one of the 2 moderators of the show, asked me to spontaneously support her after I had already sang my songs in the first half of the show. I already did this twice with Hildegart Scholten as described in previous blogs, but this time she also asked the piano player Daniel Slawik who is performing with her from time to time. So I did not play the guitar, but I just sang spontaneously without knowing anything – neither lyrics nor melody. Everything was improvised – no script and no rehearsal in advance. That was fun and exciting and the audience confirmed with a huge applause that this was also fun for them. Sorry that this music comedy is in German, but maybe all the non-native speakers can feel that this was really an awesome event! You find it on Youtube and here – Feedback welcome!
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I have never played a song twice at the open stage “Kunst gegen Bares” until now and so I will play 2 or 3 new songs live a in the Arttheater in Cologne (Ehrenfeldgürtel 127) on the 20th of October 2014. Start will be at 20:00; admittance at 19:00. The tickets are quickly sold out, so if you plan to come, you should be there right in time :-).
Let’s see what will happen this time. You’ll read it in this blog.
Please send me comments or feedback. You can either use the down-attached email form or click on “leave a comment” under the title of this blog.
This picture was taken by Tom Wolf (Kunst gegen Bares, Arttheater, Cologne, Germany) in February 2014.
I still haven’t found people who want to make music with me, so I have played all the instruments on my own. I really had fun and I hope that someone will like this latest version of my song. But still it would better with others.
I played the 2 guitars, bass, cajon and I sang vocals and backing vocals. Fortunately I bought this Roland hard disk recorder some years ago :-).
I took this song, because I have got a lot of positive feedback about it.
Here it is:
Please click on the comment field (“Leave a comment”) under the title and send me your feedback.
As already said in my last blog, Sarah started early with writing songs and I am proud and glad that she likes it and… she is not afraid performing her songs live on stage.
So you’ll find the video of “With her dies the world” and her second song “Darkness & Light” here (or directly in Youtube):
Your comments are welcome.
My daughter Sarah will play for the first time 2 of her songs live at the open stage “Kunst gegen Bares” in the ARTheater in Cologne on the 11th of August 2014. Start will be at 20:00; admittance at 19:00. Let’s see what will happen. You’ll read it in this blog.
She is still very young but she is already naturally turning her emotions into music. As a father – of course I am proud. Sometimes we are making music together at the weekend. These moments are always very special.
Here you’ll find one of her songs. She was very sad when her best friend moved to another town and she totally lost the contact. It seems for her it was like dying. Please send us your feedback:
After finishing my own performance on stage of the ARTheater in Cologne during the last show “Kunst gegen Bares” (KGB) in Cologne, the comedian Hildegart Scholten, who is also one of the 2 moderators of the show, asked me to support her. It is always something special for me and I really feel honoured being asked for the 2nd time (see my blog dated 28th April 2014).
(So: Thank you Hildegart – it is always a pleasure for me supporting you – I hope this was the same fun for you as it was for me!).
She whispered: “Play a sentimental song” and we both started to improvise. She sang about love and a guy called Camillo who she randomly picked out of the audience. At the end Camillo came on stage and thanked her. So this was funny for all of us. Hildegart made this evening unforgettable (at least for Camillo). 🙂
You find it on Youtube and here – Feedback welcome!
Usually I write songs in English and in German, but this time I did something different. My Spanish song “Mi tiempo llegara” is the translation of my song “My time will come”, but arranged completely different. Now it is not easy to feel the connection between these 2 songs without translating the words. Even though the content is the same, the sound isn’t.
I don’t know which song I like most, but my friends are giving me always positive feedback about the Spanish one. You’ll find also another version of this song in this blog recorded live during a jam session with the Backporch Stringband. So please watch the Youtube-video and tell me what you think and leave a comment.
As described in my blog from 25th of May 2014, I had my 3rd live performance at the poetry slam in the Cologne (Arttheater) on the 23rd of June 2014.
It was fun as always and I enjoyed myself very much. I sang 2 songs, which were new for approx. 98% of the audience :-). More musicians than comedians performed on stage this time. At the end the audience nominated a very talented young singer/songwriter as so-called “Kapitalistenschwein”:
- Alexander Körner (aka Van Nazareth)
- Robert Gross (aka Emily’s Giant)
- Robert Artley (me :-))
My first song “A long way” is about someone who had to leave home and friends. Time will tell if a relationship over a long distance can be kept and will survive or not. Maybe you can feel what I mean! Have fun with the Youtube-video:
For the non German speakers: Gert Buurmann and Hildegart Scholten – the 2 moderators of “Kunst gegen Bares” made jokes about my hairless feet 🙂 at the beginning.
So – now this interesting last weekend is over!! I got the chance to play on one of the 3 acoustic places at the Rheinauhafen in Cologne as announced previously in the last 2 blogs. Without having any idea how the place was looking like and how the sound would be, I took my guitar and my small battery-driven Roland amplifier with me – just in case. The whole event started at 4 pm and I arrived at a quarter past (as said my slot was between 5:30 and 6 pm). I was curious about the other 2 acts that should play earlier than me, but all I found was a quiet and orphaned “acoustic 3” location. 2 program posters on the balustrade (built to prevent the people from falling into the river Rhine 🙂 ) declaring this place as “acoustic 3”, showed me that I arrived at the correct location. The second act also didn’t show up. I thought about leaving this event but I decided to stay and to play something as promised. I started at approx. 5:10 pm (see the pictures before and after 🙂 ).
The orphaned acoustic 3 location just filled with my amp and my mic
Fête de la Musique Cologne 2014 acoustic 3 (Silo 23)
I had to use my amp due to the inadequate acoustic situation at that place. I stood there with the river Rhine in the back and watched how the people reacting to my sound. This is not the first time for me to make music in the outside on the street, but I must admit you somehow feel like an alien even though this was an official music event. It was the first time for me to use an amp and a microphone in the outside and fortunately the sound wasn’t bad. I could hear myself perfectly and this prevents me to destroy my vocal cords J . The audience, which I could convince to stop and listen to my music, confirmed that the sound was good. So I played about an hour, due to the fact that a. the music act after me also did not appear and b. the audience wanted more. All in all I declare this happening as another music experience. I was relaxed on that day, the wether was nice and those who talked to me gave me good feedback. They were pleased that at least I played at that place. Unfortunately I could not get in contact with the other musicians due to their absence, but some people asked for my card, so maybe they will contact me by mail. Let’s wait and see. I am not 100% sure if I will perform on an acoustic location at the Fête de la Musique in Cologne again. I will try to get a slot on a “real” equipped stage next time, but this is up to the organizers of the event. Finally I can say that I was part of this global event. I recorded the whole performance and divided the video into different parts, so you will find my first song “Right now” in the part 1 uploaded in Youtube:
Here you find the preliminary plan for the Fête de la Musique in Cologne (21st June 2014). Just try to find my name :-).
This picture was taken by Tom Wolf (Kunst gegen Bares, Arttheater, Cologne, Germany).
Robert Artley 