Performance report 2

For my second performance report I attended a performance by Alpenfest, a group which performs traditional music of the Alps. This particular showing of Alpenfest was at the 2010 German Fest in Munster Texas. The stage, known as the German Stage was inside a large tent and was filled with people with an overflow all around. I arrived a little after the performance had started, the location was not well marked and it was a little hard to find the right area. There were multiple shows and events going on simultaneously. On one certain occasion, when the volume of the Alpenfest music was a little low, a band called Alley Kat could be heard playing Freebird in the distance. People were coming and going, staying long enough to eat their food and drinks before moving on to some of the other events and activities available at German fest. People were very relaxed, wearing blue jeans and T-shirts, or whatever they found comfortable. There were a few people dressed up for the occasion. There were a few wearing some Lederhosen or some variety of older traditional German clothing.
The musicians of Alpenfest were among those wearing the traditional German attire and their instruments were traditional German instruments as well. They used an accordion and eight tuned bells and played a small variety of traditional German folk songs. These songs were sung in the original German. While the live music was the main attraction, a few of the performances had the musicians joining in the dancing and the music was played from a CD that was pre-recorded by Alpenfest. This music featured the accordion, guitar, bells, and several areophones that I could not absolutely identify. The songs were more well known traditional German songs such as Idle Wice, and the up tempo beat made them very easy to dance to, and in fact several of the songs were danced to by performers and audience volunteers.
The line between audience and performers was blurred as the performance was meant to involve the audience. Several of the performers were only involved for a song or two, after which they joined the audience, so it was not always clear who was a performer and who was just an audience member. The Performance shifted between songs that involved the audience to songs that needed the audience to directly participate in either dancing or even playing an instrument. The audience ranged widely in age, many people simply stopped for a few minutes to view the music of Alpenfest before moving on to other events.
The performance involved a few performers dressed in traditional German Lederhosen and Dresses. The instruments used were tuned bells and an accordion. There were a variety of songs played; most were meant to be danced to. The lead singer, an early 30’s, Arian looking woman announced that this was more a variety show and that audience participation was required. There were quite a few activities in the songs. The first involved a game were once a flute was played, during the song, the audience was supposed to jump up and sit back down quickly. Later seven volunteers came from the audience, each one was given a bell and each played their bell when touched on the back by the lead performer. The audience was given several opportunities to dance, both free dance and some traditional German dances that were taught by the lead performer.