September 2006 - Nr. 9
Dick reports...
Wonderful music
at the Hansa Haus…
…and it was all played by girls! 26 neatly uniformed young ladies – "Der Mädchenmusikzug Neumünster" – cultural ambassadors from Germany - performed on stage for a house-full of appreciative guests – flawlessly and with almost military precision - I might add.
They
all hail from ‘Schleswig-Holstein’ in the north of Germany and are on their
North American tour. The tour included visits to New York, Woodstown,
Washington, Philadelphia, Niagara Falls –
and
a visit to the Amish – plus Toronto, where they performed at the Hansa Haus
on Saturday evening (August 12th) and the Danube Swabian Club on
Sunday afternoon.
"Einmarsch"
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In
the 40 years of the existence of this unique female brass band their travels
have also taken them to Russia, China, Tunisia and many other places in
Europe and around the world for over 2000 concerts.
This is an extraordinary record indeed since the girls range in age from 11 to 27, and since 1983
The entourage
Hans
Georg Wolos has led the band through their large and remarkable repertoire,
which includes marches, waltzes, polkas, pop, classical selections and music
from films and musicals.
Talking to the girls and some of
the
24 groupies – or ‘Schlachtenbummler’ – that accompanied them, the consensus
was that the food at the Hansa Haus was a far cry from the hot dogs and
hamburgers they all had to often live on for most of their tour in America.
Picnic at the Hansa Haus
It
was an unusually cool day at the annual Hansa picnic. Instead of spreading
out over the big lawn all the tables were hidden behind the old museum
building. And still the wind was cold and cooled off the food a bit too
quickly.
One
had to eat swiftly to make it arrive warm in the tummy. However, that did
not stop the guests from taking advantage of the camaraderie in meeting
people and old acquaintances that
one rarely meets, while having good food
and drink at the same time. Everyone huddled as long as they were
comfortable closely together.
Albert
Dittgen – our incomparable house-band – tried his best to create a cheerful
mood and succeeded pretty well with his accordion.
It was surprising to see so many people attend this picnic
despite the threatening skies. At times it was
almost
impossible to get a seat.
The ones who created warms by themselves were the youth playing games.
The young ones
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One
of the guests mentioned that he waited all year for the wonderful potato
pancakes and ate six of them and I could not stay away from them either.
Perhaps the Hansa House could supply us with their recipe and then we would
not have to wait all year.
Comments to: dick@echoworld.com
