NOTKER HOMBURGER

DIE LIEDER AUS "EDUARD REINACHERS BOHÈME IN KUSTENZ - KÜNSTLER, MENSCHEN & VALUTA 1919 - 1921 IN KONSTANZ"

Ufer Records UFR050320211 (D.2021)

Notker Homburger, Stimme/Gitarre * Gela Homburger, Stimme/Triangel * Bernd Wengert, Stimme/Zimbeln.

Aufgenommen von Alex Behning im November 2020 in der "Zimmerbühne in der Niederburg", Konstanz. 

DAS LIED VOM GRÖSSENWAHN / SCHIEBERMAXE / DAS LILA LIED / WER WIRD DENN WEINEN, WENN MAN AUSEINANDERGEHT / DADA. DADAISTISCHER FOXTROT FÜR TROTTEL UND SOLCHE, DIE ES NOCH WERDEN WOLLEN / IN 50 JAHREN IST ALLES VORBEI.

 “Nothing bluesy, nothing traditional this time”, says Lake Constance-based singer and guitarist Notker Homburger of this latest release, a six-track CD EP. Notker’s group, Notty’s Jug Serenaders, was long one of Europe’s more, er, individual outfits, extremely quirky, plenty of fun and with some serious playing too - Robert Crumb is a fan.

This CD contains songs which were available in the Constance area in the 1920s, to fit in with a play based on writer Eduard Reinacher’s comic novel published in 1929. The play contains these songs, and has been performed in Notty’s wife Gela’s small theatre; they are all sung in German by combinations of Notker, Gela and Bernd with accompaniment primarily by Notty’s guitar, with occasional triangle and cymbals by the others.

This is “niche”, even for the niche section of a niche magazine, but despite Notty’s protestations, I do detect a little pre-war Memphis-flavoured guitar work on the opening ‘Das Lied vom Grössenwahn’, and the introduction to ‘Wer wird denn weinen, wenn man auseinandergeht’ reveals a similar inspiration.  

OK, if you’ve followed Notker’s musical career this far you’re probably interested. So completists and hard-core Notty fans can buy with confidence…

(Norman Darwen, BLUES & RHYTHM MAGAZINE #361, August 2021)