Music: The "World" Comes to Nuremberg

Main Stage at the Hauptmarkt at night

This weekend I had the pleasure of taking in one of the coolest and most enjoyable experiences to come to Nuremberg during the time I've been here. It's called Bardentreffen and it bills itself as Germany's largest free open air music festival. This year was the 37th annual edition and they estimate that 200,000 people took it in. I took a larger interest than I otherwise might have since the theme of this year's festival was "Canada in Concert". Hmm, how do you like that? The music from my homeland is World Music. I may have some thoughts on that in a future post but needless to say, as one member of a highly invisible minority I felt it was patriotic duty to take in as much of the festival as possible while paying special attention to the Canadian acts.

Looking down from the Alt Rathaus
The crowds move between stages

I can only liken the Bardentreffen to the Winnipeg Folk Festival but with a number of significant advantages. First of all there is no admission fee for any of the acts playing at any of the 8 main stages set up in the old city. Alcohol consumption is not "Allowed" or "Tolerated", it's an integral part of the experience. I saw no examples of public drunkenness, just a lot of people including families enjoying themselves. The fact that it is in the old city means that if the occasional shower happens (they did) or a torrential rain falls (it didn't), the festival ground doesn't turn into a quagmire. The whole area is easily accessed by Subway, Bus or bicycle and if like me you are lucky enough to live downtown, by foot. To walk between the two furthest venues would take me 15 minutes tops. And the crowning advantage? I could use my very own bathroom between sets! Top that Birds Hill Park.

Busking in the Street

One of the smaller stages

In between the main stages and all through the city there are buskers playing virtually any kind of music you can imagine. Many of the outdoor bars and restaurants had live musicians playing at their places as well. I'm not a music critic so I won't even try to go down that path. Just suffice to say that there is a wide variety of talent and abilities. At any given time the best music playing might have been on the street rather than on one of the main stages. You just decide what you think may sound promising and give a listen. If you like it, stick around, if not then move to the next one. Since you haven't invested any money there are no qualms about moving along if a particular band isn't floating your boat.

I never made it to the African food stand
and apparently it was my loss

I may not know who he is but I know
why he is smiling!

And then there are the food vendors. Well, this is Germany so count on at least one beer tent at every stage. Two or three at the more popular ones. Food vendors were also concentrated around the perimeter of the venues. Of course there are the ubiquitous grills with bratwurst and steak sandwiches and the usual Turkish fast foods. But there were also foods from India, Morocco, West Africa, South America, various parts of Asia and different German regional specialties as well. Cocktail bars, ice cream, crepe and candy vendors are also there in abundance so it's pretty certain everybody will find something they like to eat and/or drink. If not take your pick among any of the restaurants that also seemed to do very well during the festival. Yet another advantage to the urban setting.

I did have a few observations on the Canadian Content.



Lisa LeBlanc de
Nouveau Brunswick

Anyone from Europe or the US may have received a distorted impression of the prevalence of French in Canadian music and perhaps in Canada itself. I would say that well over half the Canadian acts were from Quebec or New Brunswick and performed in French. Having lived in Quebec for many years I think that's a good thing. Traditional French Canadian folk music really lends itself to the feel of this festival. I sometimes wondered why the performers thought that speaking broken English would be better than speaking French to a German audience. I guess English really is the unofficial second language here. They were very well received and the occasional German greeting or sentence really went a long way no matter how bad the grammar or the pronunciation. I really would have loved to have seen some traditional East Coast Music from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland or Prince Edward Island as well.

If Canada was the featured country you would not know it from the time slots they were given to perform in. Two nights in a row there were Canadian acts at 7pm at the largest stage in the Hauptmarkt (Main Market Square). There was an OK turnout for both but the really big crowds turned up for the shows around 9 pm. Most of the acts at that time were from Germany or elsewhere in Europe.

The headline Canadian act was scheduled to be Yukon Blonde from Canada's west coast. Although I know the name I'm not familiar with their music. They cancelled their appearance on relatively short notice and were replaced by Lisa Leblanc from New Brunswick. I thought she was a good performer with two excellent back up musicians. I just wasn't that knocked out by her songs.

Felix Award winning Nicolas Pellerin from Quebec

If you ever have the opportunity to see Nicolas Pellerin et les Grands Hurleurs or a band called Genticorum, do not miss them. They are both traditional Québécois folk trios with slightly different takes on a similar theme. They are also terrific entertainers. I promise you will not be disappointed.

I saw and did so much over the two and a half days that I could probably go on forever but I won't. I'd just say that the Bardentreffen is a wonderful festival and a great experience. I'm not sure I would fly over from Canada just to take it in but if you do happen to be in Europe at the time it's on I think it warrants a trip to Nuremberg. I think you'll like what you find.

Thanks for reading,

Tom