Jumpy Germanyness was a concert for brass orchestra and vacuum cleaners at garage festival, with Dick El demasiado, (IBW) 26. July 2003 in Stralsund.
Geographically the cumbia music is attributed to Colombia. This popular and very friendly music style has generated variations in all Latin American countries. Antropologically the cumbia has nourished itself from various sources: indigenous, African and European traditions. As far as the European tradition is concerned the German »copper-instruments/horns« (as well as the accordeon) have given the cumbia a definite colouring. We can stipulate that a certain type of cumbia has picked up German brass band and speeded it up, giving it it’s jumping character with a specific percussion and baseline. If we would want to reverse the process, we could go back to Germany and have a brass band play a »cumbia« at half speed. In this way we would get a trajectory: German consistency >>>> colombia jumpiness >>>> jumpy germanyness. (or colombian consistency!)
Through the festival, a brass band is invited to be directed in this framework of musical adventure.
The method would be:
– A local experienced amateur brass band is willing and prepared to participate.
– They send Dick their repertoire, so he can choose 3 to 5 potential songs susceptible to be morphed into »cumbias«.
– One or two days before the performance there will be a couple of rehearsals. Dick seeks a »musical position« to be able to sing in this framework.
– The sound will be mixed into the P.A. and recorded in an unusual way (sound-effects and echo, etc…).
– The band musicians will not hear this through the monitoring and will be able to carry on in their habitual frame of musicianship, undistracted by Hooly-Gully engineering.
The staalplaat soundsystem will accompany the orchestra with his own vacuum cleaner version of a brass band. We will have to find an adequate word for this new populistic measure of Alle Menschen Werden Bruder-ness.