Hagenberg (AT), Stiwa Jazzforum
Before we started our journey to Upper Austria, we had a short but good rehearsal at mathias‘ place and decided to mix our Schumann with some of our fresh Brahms : ) – since we‘re gonna record „The Brahms Song Book“ in one week!!! About a year ago I met Peter Guschelbauer, the organizer of the Stiwa Jazzforum, the Jazzfestival Steyr and many, many concerts more around and in the Upper Austrian hills : ). He had heard us live at the Porgy and after we met for coffee to talk things over, we fixed a date for December 2018, oh yes! mathias and I took the train, Stano came all the way from Bratislava and Ingrid, Streets and T had a little, snowy roadtrip to Hagenberg located in the Upper Austrians hills called „Mühlviertel“ (Ingridi‘s hometown was not too far!). I had a little time for a quick nap before our sound check and at five it was time to warm up! Mr T had everything ready, and the many fish in the aquarium behind us seemed to be okay with our presence so we felt ready to play : )! mathias was happy with the wonderful Boesendorfer although his fingers needed a little bit more strenght compared to his own instrument : ) but he didn‘t mind – he even made it through our crazy up tempo version of „Märzveilchen“ that night! Peter came backstage to introduce us and at 19:45 it was show time!!! And who did I see in the audience??? My dad suprised me with three of his friends and they came all the way from Wels, what a wonderful surprise – that inspired me to tell some stories of my time playing in the marching band of my home town Wels. Starting off in a marching band is a history that Ingridi, Hans and I share and I am very grateful for it! If you grow up in Upper Austria and learn an instrument, it is very likely that you will have the chance to be a part of a „Blasmusikkappelle“ and for many musicians it is their homebase, their first steps, their first experiences with playing together. To me it is an essential part of music education and much more : )! To cut a long story short - I am very glad I had the chance to play in the „Eisenbahner-Musikkappelle Wels“ : )! We truly had a wonderful time supported by a wonderful audience that gave incredible feedback – thank you to all of you who came out that snowy winter night! Sometimes I feel like that the more we play these songs the more I fall in love with them. „In a wonderful sweet hour“ is such a beautiful ballad, I could play it over and over! Ingrid‘s Darbuka Solo in „In my dreams I‘ve been crying“ is always one of my favourite moments in our set as well as Streets‘ Herbstlied Solo and our Duo „Morgens steh ich auf und frage“ and then there is Stano‘s amazing Solo - his powerful phrases in „O Freund, mein Schirm, mein Schutz“ catch me everytime! During our soundcheck we discoverd that Stano is a pianist!!! Disguising as an incredible violine player!!! It‘s true!!! mathias arranged „Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht“ with many surprising changes and as our second encore we played this colourful version à la rüegg : ). And as almost always...our last song of the night was „Night of the Moon“ by Robert Schumann. I forgot to eat after the concert and after my first small beer I already felt a little tipsy! Woohoo so I was in a wild party mood : ) and enjoyed geting to know so many of you very much - at this point I would like to mention our special fan who came with ALL of our albums including our very first recording „gone too far“ - of course we signed each and everyone of the CDs. Ingridis family was there too, oh yes and we all stayed close to the bar, enjoying this lovely evening all together! After a while we starting singing „Only You“ by the Platters and after our group picture sessions on the floor : ) it was time to go to bed!
Thank you Hagenberg, thank you Peter, Jazz oder nie – that‘s the spirit : ), yours Lia!
P.S.: Check out Stano's incredible trio with a stunning cimbalom player - Pacora TRIO!
