What do yodeling, Jaco Pastorius-style bass playing, classical guitar playing, world music, Gregorian chanting, jazz, African rhythms, and comedy have in common? The Austrian group Broadlahn amazingly weaves all of these elements together in a rich and beautiful blend of sound that is startlingly fresh and totally unique. It is like nothing else on earth - a really new kind of music. I really feel like it would be a good for the world if as many people as possible could hear this music and I'm sure that a lot of people here in JMDL would really like it and find it as exciting as I do.
Broadlahn gave a performance last night in a little village about two hours' drive from Vienna and Ramona and I went to see them. We arrived quite early and spoke with some of the band members before the concert began. They are all very down-to-earth people. Most of them are Joni fans - really sincere ones! Reinhard Ziegerhofer, the bass player, told me a story about how he heard the new Both Sides Now for the first time last year when he was in Wisconsin and he totally loved it. He also told me that Josef Ofner (guitars, sitar, vocals) was probably the first Joni Mitchell fan in Austria! Mostly Broadlahn's music is very "up" and a lot of the songs give me a feeling of wanting to dance or like I'm flying over a beautiful landscape or standing beneath a star-studded sky. It's very expansive wonderful gorgeous music. All of the members of the band are excellent musicians and their live performances are as tight as their recordings in spite of the complexity of the songs. Four of the band members sing, they are always in tune with each other, and their harmonies are faultless and beautiful. The band members are: Ernst Huber - guitar, accordion, flute, vocals and comedy between songs Reinhard Ziegerhofer - bass guitar and concert bass (he actually has four different basses - the concert bass, a six-string bass, a fretless bass and a normal electric bass) Franz Schmuck - drums, percussion, marimba, keyboard, vocals Philipp Rottensteiner - mandoline, acoustic guitar, keyboard, vocals Reinhard Grube - saxophone, clarinet, keyboard Josef Ofner - vocals, acoustic guitar, sitar, 12-string guitar, electric guitar Broadlahn has a web site at: http://www.broadlahn.at/ >From there, besides seeing their photos, you can find a link to a page from which it's possible to order their music. If you are new to their music, I highly recommend their third CD - Almrauschen im Weltempfaenger, or their latest CD - Broadlahn LIVE mit Bodo Hell und Otto Lechner (although this one has a lot of talking in German between the songs, it shows how good they sound live). My favorite CD is their 2nd one (it has a green cover), but I have not been able to find it anywhere online. Marian [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.jmdl.com/guitar/marian/guitar.htm
