It was quite a night, quite a lot of flavors and quite an experience. We paced ourselves in a way that we were able to explore what was behind tent number one, two and three but easily could have been convinced to stay at any one just to drown in such unique or energetic sound.
When we arrived around 7 we entered the soulful world of jazz. It was cool, smooth and a perfect start to the evening. The lead singer also took command playing the saxophone and clarinet as well as performing in Hungarian. It took some time to figure out what she was singing because we knew it wasn't German or even Swiss German, but it was the deep sad sound of Hungarian soul. We moved on, but not before taking one last look at the drummers slow motion heavy metal drumming face which completely didn't match the set but was priceless. To check out the band google Macsanka, Breakfast on a Battlefield.
It was unanimously after that it was time to eat before venturing out into the night and getting deeper into a music coma. So we hit up the multi-cultural buffet. Everything from Thai to South African to Indian to to ghanaese to Mexican. Each choice looked amazing but I am a sucker for pad Thai noodles so it was game over after that.
We all inhaled our dishes, washed it down with a coffee and headed back out. Before moving on we had to take a pit stop and observe the friendly statue in Stan's city center...uplifting. Back to the music!
We were at a cross roads between checking out the World Music main stage or diving into some Latin music. Ummmm, best decision of the evening!!! Bar none, hands down it was fantastic and really set the bar for the rest of where the night could go. The energy in this place was electric, popping, somehow familiar but completely new. This band is from Barcelona and took you to a world of, damn I wish we were somewhere exotic like Cuba, Argentina or Venezuela like its talented and easy on the eyes band members...not that it changes the way they play! From the moment you walked in your body couldn't help but give a physical reaction to the musical fusion and it only increased with every step closer to the stage. I have a video that would not give them justice, but if you can chase down CHAMITO you would be doing yourself and your mates a big favor. Period.
It was a really tough call to leave this tent, but we were there to take in as much as we could and the beers were empty, so we moseyed on. We decided to head to the main stage but not before stoping at an open air tent playing some swing on the stereo. It was packed with Swiss and there wasn't a band playing so we continued on and warped into the sound of DEAD BROTHERS. Wow.
This venue was dark and like being in an old warehouse which was a perfect compliment to this dark, funeral precession-esque five man band. It was slow, dark, sultry, dirty, coarse but yet Gomez Addams romantic with the likes of the cello, guitar, violin, banjo, mandolin, harmonica and contrabass. Absolutely fantastic. I think Amy said it best when she observed that each member seemed to have been playing on their own dreary planet that when combined made a beautiful sound. Spot on. If you were to hear a piece as a solo you could think that your living your own funeral, but together you felt alive and in awe of such bizarre beauty.
Finally, we rolled out of the hearse and made our way for our final destination. We knew this would be a quick stop because we are responsible individuals with jobs and had to catch our train. Our final course was interesting and left a taste in my mouth that I could probably have done without. Swiss German Reggae-Rap was, well, the no thank you portion to this otherwise genius musical medley. Maybe I wasn't feeling it, maybe it wasn't my style, maybe I was more focused on the fact that I never thought those three things could ever go together but when it was time to leave, it was time to leave.
So this is my review and I highly encourage anyone and everyone to check out these bands as well as future music festivals. There is much to be said about the pleasant surprises of dabbling in new music and taking a fun cultural risk. I don't know when he next music festival is here in Switzerland, but I'm pretty sure I will be there as I suggest you check your local listings if you aren't local and try to do the same!
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| Matthais Linke & The Electric Mandolin |
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