In front of the violet illuminated window front in the darkened hall, a casually floating groove begins. The piece, which the four musicians have chosen as a rhythmically attractive opening magic, is immediately ready to swing every heaviness and autumn sadness out of your head with a beautiful sound. Sound of waves turned into music? The Mediterranean lightness of being? So, Quadro Nuevoprobably the most successful German world music formation, not only knows how to inspire musically, but also to shape words, and the opening track “Sambadi Didi”, composed by bassist Didi Lowka, fits quite well with the motto that they gave their album “Mare”. have: “The Mediterranean Lightness of Being”.
The audience in Baierbrunn, who had the pleasure of listening to the concert by Quadro Nuevo in the Irenensaal of the Wort & Bild Verlag, was not only offered sound spaces with gently undulating side effects. The ensemble presented a fine blend of their songs and arrangements, which were born out of great musical curiosity: from jazz to tango and Brazilian chôro to Egyptian sounds and an unexcitedly delightful version of “Maria durch ein Dornwald geht”.
Some Ukrainians also follow the performance in the Irenensaal
After the second piece, the jazzy-playful “Adas Song”, not only did the audience seem to be carried away, the composer was also impressed: “The hall sounds great, doesn’t it?” said Mulo Francel, beaming. The performance was a home game for the 55-year-old saxophonist and clarinettist. Francel, who is considered the head of the ensemble founded in 1996, has lived in Baierbrunn for many years. He had never played in the Irenensaal, which was not open to the public for some time due to the pandemic. The fact that this concert came about is due not only to him but also to the cooperation of the association “Mittendrin in Baierbrunn” as organizer and the publisher, who made the hall available. “We said we want to bring the people of Baierbrunn to a boil again,” explained Meinolf Ramsel from “Mittendrin in Baierbrunn”. And they didn’t need to be asked: the tickets were sold out pretty quickly, and on Tuesday evening there were also some Ukrainians living in the Isar Valley community who had previously held an Advent celebration in the Irenensaal.
Those who followed the evening concert in the “Baierbrunner Philharmonie”, as Francel jokingly called the architecturally very successful hall and blessed with good acoustics, shouldn’t regret it. The ensemble, in which the young guitarist Philipp Schiepek played with impressive virtuosity in addition to the established regular cast Francel, Lowka (bass and percussion) and Andreas Hinterseher (accordion, bandoneon), showed its whole class as a live band. Schiepek, who received the renowned “BMW Welt Young Artist Jazz Award” in 2020, had time and again the opportunity to shine as a soloist, to demonstrate his beautiful tonal handwriting and to create a sublime musical tension.
It goes without saying that his three older partners are also experts in their field: Francel is a great saxophonist, an elegant melodist who also develops a great deal of sensuality with the clarinet. Lowka not only maintains a casual, tender, sometimes sharply rhythmic love affair with his double bass, but is also a master of various percussion instruments. Hinterseher often takes over the melodic hegemony as an accordionist or in Tango Nuevo à la Piazzolla with the bandoneon – or sometimes underlines the quiet melancholy of an arrangement with the trumpet. What’s also nice is how the four of them act together despite their solo qualities, rhythmically adept at passing the balls to each other, usually with that smile on their lips that is so characteristic of live musicians who are surfing inwardly in their own enthusiasm for improvisation and playing.
Some critics may complain that the typical, often Mediterranean-inspired world music sound of Quadro Nuevo is sometimes quite catchy. Nevertheless, the program on this evening, which also includes pieces from the latest albums “Odyssey” and “December”, is so varied, contrastive and gripping that there was definitely no reason for this accusation. Yes, home games are not always easy, as Didi Lowka remarked mischievously with a look at his colleague Francel. But after this performance, he didn’t need to be afraid to go to the baker in Baierbrunn the next morning.