Sandy Denny covers (incuding Who Knows/ Fotheringay/ Winterwinds /Late N...

DWAZE zaken !

Singersongwriters from Amsterdam and the rest of the world, you all should try to get a gig at restaurant Dwaze Zaken.
First: this restaurant is a really good restaurant, and second: the people who work there are very friendly. Third: it's a beautiful place and there's a very nice atmosphere with a friendly audience and fourth: the location is right in the middle of our  city Amsterdam.
When I arrived at 6 pm, a  girl offered me a drank and showed me the tabel which was reserved for musicians.
I was impressed by the walls and especially by the toilets, look at the pictures how great this is !

most beautiful women's toilet of the world

most beautiful men's toilet of the world

I did this gig together with Gareth Evans-Jones, he played on cajon and did the backing vocals. I felt very comfortable when we first had a good dinner. 

Gareth

Me, yeah

setlist

We had a pretty good sound, unfortunally my brand new guitar didn't work again,( third time I have to fix it but  now I will bring it back to the musicstore and ask for another!) and so I had to play on Gareth's guitar.

After me another Dutch songwriter - André van Egmond sang his songs, he brought a nice bass-player with him and I had a good time listening to his music. 

André van Egmond

medewerkers Dwaze Zaken

So thank you all for this nice concert, I hope I'll be back soon. 

 

christmas tree

past and future performances

Hi there !

I'd like to tell you about some past gigs. Last month I played my songs at several places like the CC café, Voices, Ikea and SWAN.
At the CC cafe I had a nice time with another band and I played my songs with Mick on bass.

I also went to the party of Roger which is always a great party with a group of songwriters. We all play our songs for each other, while the fire burns in his lovely living-room.

I had a performance at the Voices and actually I planning to play alone but at the last minute I decided to invite some songwriters to play with me. So Francesco Ljubica and Gareth Evans-Jones played with me some of my songs: ANNE (The Raga) and By My Side. Here you can watch the performance: ANNE with Gareth and Francesco at Voices

Then I found this a very special gig: playing at IKEA. I went with the Amsterdam Songwriter Guild to the IKEA where I played a whole set on my own and although there was not much audience I really had a great time. It reminded me of me playing in the streets and I felt very happy. I've had a good meal up there and a nice time with other songwriters.

Here are some pictures of me singing at Ikea

Then my last performance was at a SWAN night, last Friday. Normally I open these nights but this time I was the one who played at the end. It was a great night as always and if you would like to read about it (in Dutch) you can find the report here: SWAN Friday December 6

Next performance will be at restaurant Dwaze Zaken; I will play there with Gareth next Monday, December 16th. And I am really happy to tell you I will go with Christmass to Schiermonnikoog, an island in the north of Holland, and that I will rehearse there with some old friends from Groningen. We will play on Januar 31 th in De Kroeg van Klaas in Groningen. I look forward to !

ZAAL 100

Zaal 100

Last night I had a gig in Zaal 100  As a singer-songwriter you should definitely try to get a gig at this place on Monday- night.  Paul van Dijk is a nice guy you can contact to try to get a gig on the  stage at these' Feel Good ' nights ( Goeie Zin).

Paul van Dijk

Zaal 100 is a place where many activities take place , and one of the rooms is a little restaurant. If you play there you will get food for free and a few dranks. Every Monday-night there are three songwriters acts.

I decided to play there my easy listening songs and so this time I would not bam on my guitar . It was the first time in my songwriter career that I was going to play  a whole set on my own. I arrived a bit late but was well received by Paul and his girlfriend Lynn . She immediately friendly offered me a dinner.

 Gijs Hietkamp , a songwriter from The Hague opened the evening . I knew Gijs already,  he also had played at a SWANnight, an open mic which I organize every month . 

Gijs Hietkamp

Gijs has a beautiful voice and is very relaxed on stage . He also plays in his band Barefoot as frontman. I hoped I could play as relaxed as he was. When it was my turn he said to me: “Enjoy your gig !” And I thought: yes, that is just what’s it all about: making music and believe in what you are doing.

 Danalyze came along because we had agreed that we would sing one song together.   Danielle has a beautiful voice and we recorded this song "By My Side" as an ASG-collab last year (with Craig). It was a long time since I had played this song , so it was a little bit tricky,but it went beyond expectations .

I have to say the evening went beyond expectations anyways. I was not very nervous , partly because I really love to play in Zaal 100  , I always experience the atmosphere  as very pleasant . During this gig I noticed that the audience listened to the lyrics and that reminded me that Sâdhya told me I should articulate the words better. So last night  I did my best to pronounce the words clear.

That brings me to the subject of giving and receiving criticism. I will never forget that I once saw on television how a pretty good singer-songwriter was ejected from a contest with the message: "  Your English pronunciation is very  bad, " and then she responded emotionally : " Why has never someone  told me that before ! "

It is sometimes difficult to receive but also to give feedback in a good way.  it should never be the intention to get someone down , every-one should expres their identity  in his own unique way.  But if you want on the stage to show and share your talent or whatever you want to tell the world ,  you may  be expected that you are open to feedback . You don’t have to agree with all of it, just take what you can take.. But how to give feedback to musicians ? Well here is the answer : in a friendly way . You indicate what you like and you tell the things someone could improve in your opinion. That's all. So please do and tell me what you think.

When I presented last week SWAN I sat next to someone who told me : " If you are going to announce the artists you better take the microphone and stand up straight. You present good, so don’t make yourself little. Stand straight. “The way he said this was very natural and felt sincerely. Then I feel like listening to his critics and do what he told me to do.

A few weeks ago I spoke to someone about my Hooker Song ( On the Corner ) . It could be that this song is perceived as rude. He told me this cautiously. Sometimes it’s better to write songs not in such a direct language, but more as a poem.  As a songwriter that's really something to think about. But…So many people, so many tastes and opinions. But if someone is involved in a positive way in what you do , it always feels good to get some feedback.

Now if you might want to say something about the way I play guitar, all your feedback is welcome.  On the guitar , I'm not so convenient , Many, many years ago I've had three months classic lessons. I taught myself to play guitar and now it's really time for guitar lessons. Recently, I have that and therefore there is a world opened up for me. The decision to take guitar lessons came when I played together on the Noorderparkfestival with Florian , a bassist . In advance we had rehearsed once and then  Florian improvised on my song ' the Raga ' ( ANNE ) I wish I could improvise on my guitar as I used to do on saxophone .

I love funk but also I like jazz and world music and I knew a guitarist who plays in a way I really like.   I got already three lessons and just started to exercise major, minor and seventh scales. I played a piece of my song the ' Raga ' and he came up with a few simple ideas that I 'm working on.

gitaarlick bij de RAGA

But let's go back to Zaal 100 . I am happy with this place and I feel happy about last night. I took  the step to play all by myself a whole set , only the last song Danielle sang with me. There were a lot of nice people and the band that played after me was very nice. This band is called Mr. Pulp, with front man Hielke Verkerk and they did a good job.  I think most of us were satisfied when we got back home.

Mr. Pulp in Zaal 100

Today - October 27 - is a special day

Today is a special day for me : the day my adulthood started . It is the day when I left my parents as an 18 years old girl and I went on a journey into the  wide world . For ever.

On October 27, I took the train to Paris and started travelling through all the countries of Europe , included Turkey and Morocco . What I did not know is that the rest of my life would be based on this trip.

I started off with a interail card ( travelling by train for a month ) and after that I hitched hiked. With backpack and guitar I wandered from city to city to make music .

I was soon joined by a woman from the USA . She was a ship's cook but  as an American woman  an Arab country in which the ship was moored wouldn’t let her in. So she flew to Europe to visit and soon she met me (in Venice). We looked nothing alike, but needed each other badly. I needed her strength, and she needed my tent and cooking utensils. During the trip we had lots of struggle, but we were also very loyal to each other. Only later, when I was back home, I realized that there was a strong bond between us. It was not just been a physical survival ( life of the street is tough ) but also a mental journey that has shaped me . I not only carried the backpack with tent , clothing and cookware with me , but also a large luggageof the Past. This trip has beaten the bridge of my childhood to adulthood , a road which still would last long.

I have not  made ​​a CD yet , not even an ordinary good mp3, but I have written a well sold autobiography . Pseudonymous course, because the biography is very frank .

If you are interested let me know , I will send you a link .

October 27. At the moment I write this it’s 11.04 am , and at this time I was sitting in the train to Paris . There were only French people in it and I sat alone for 5 hours.

Tonight I would roam around in the dark with my guitar through the streets of Paris ,  too scared to get my guitar out and play . I remember well what a hurry all the people seemed to have in that big city . “Hurry to go home” , I said and I felt yealous because I was already homesick.The first night of this trip ( which took a year)  I met a guy who asked if he might  play my guitar and I said yes . It was on the square of the Pompidou. Nobody payed attention to his playing and then he told me to go to the subway, and play there . But I did not dare.It was a hard day, that first day, October 27.

  Luckily I'd take the step tomorrow and discover that I could come around with  singing folk songs . I discovered my strength and learned how to survive under difficult circumstances.  I learned to believe in the goodness of people, despite the occasionally unpleasant experiences. I still feel save at public places, just drinking coffee (with lots of sugar because sometimes I didn’t have much to eat). That’s one of the reasons I go everyday to the restaurant of the HEMA; I feel happy there because I am aware of the temperature, the people and the coffee. I stare out the window and imagine I will play in the streets again after I drank my coffee, and I remember that will feel safe again while I am singing, because singing is like a meditation.  

Today I recall as a dark rainy day of Autumn , an uncertain beginning of a new life . A beautiful and intense life. I will celebrate this date in the HEMA again. With a hot cup of coffee and I will realize where I am now.

 

Funky town

Last months I have been working on my songs. I decided that I only want to play when I really believe in what I am doing on that stage. I mean, I got tired of being insecure all the time and I started thinking of what I want with my music. ( It's for me almost the same question as what do you want in and with your life)  I think I change my mind a lot, my point of view is not really steady and sometimes other people need to tell me where I am heading for, cause I can be totally unaware of many things. Anyway, what I wanted to tell me and you is that my heart goes to funk these times, good steady funk, and that's why I had a great experience in the Waterhole last night.

I think it was the houseband which was playing:  there was a drummer and two pretty good bass-players ( one of them played with Danalyze earlier in the evening; I started the night at Backstage Hotel with the Amsterdam Songwriters Guild.) 

The energy of the band in the Waterhole reminded me a bit of Jan Kuiper, a guitarist from Groningen. I once heard him playing with his band the Jungle Warriers in Utrecht and - wow, man - the music really makes me crazy !
Back to my own music. What I like is folkmusic, I like the voice of Sandy Denny very very much. And I like funky stuff. Now I wrote two songs about hookers; and one of the songs got this groove I like to play on my guitar. I always felt a little ashamed to play that way but I decided to go for it. I mean, this is what I like to do: bamming on my guitar. And if I really like to do that, I should go for it. So now you know :) 

So watch this vids and you'll understand what I mean:

singing and playing RED

Okay, let me tell you about last night. It was a very interesting night because I spoke to some people while watching and listening to other songwriters.

It was the first time that I played in the Backstage Hotel; a nice place where the ASG (Amsterdam Songwriters Guild) have an open mic every Tuesday night. You have to go there early because the list is already full at 8 pm. Unfortunally there was something wrong with my guitar, so I played on the guitar of Paul Bond, another songwriter. Playing on guitars of other people is sometimes a bit hard, but this guitar was great ! ( I'll ask him what kind of guitar he has.) I got confused only one time: this is a weird experience what sometimes happens to me and that is that I sometimes become alienated; I don't recognize the world around me anymore. -Okay, this is pretty weird to tell you, but I don't suffer from it - unless I don't recognize chords and strings.... and this perfectly happened when I played the song Schizophrenia. 

Actually I first wanted to tell the people what happened to this song, but the timing was not good last night, so now I write down here that  a year ago I played this song on a session and I played the song together with Glenn Hayes. He is a bass-player and he told me he liked the song very much and  he recorded the song. I was very surprised what he did to the song, he changed the structure,  but I liked it very much ! Now this musician suddenly died a few months ago and last night it was the first time I sang the song again after he died, so I had to think of him all the time. 

And  while I was playing this song, I forgot how a guitar works... but my authomatic pilot saved me. 

You can listen to the recording of Glenn right here: 

Nomad Remix of Schizophrenia

There were a lot of people at Backstage Hotel last night and I had a nice time with Otto. Otto playes his songs on the guitar in a beautiful way and he's also the guy who encourages me to write on my blog again.

The conversation I had last night with Otto reminded me of Dana, a very important man in my life who encouraged me two years ago to start making music again. It's actually because of him I started singing again after 13 years not making any music.

I was surprised to meet Steve Cline at Backstage, he was a friend of Glenn and he did the sessions in Lijn 10 for a while. 

I met two women from France, and they were staying just another night in Amsterdam. They enjoyed the music of all songwriters and I liked to watch how they had a good time.

Leonie is a songwriter from Amstelveen and I must admit, after we left the hotel they didn't sell any red wine anymore because we drank it.

This is Danielle, she took a nice bassplayer with her, later this guy played the bass in Waterhole, I really enjoyed it. The guy with the hat is a songwriter called Sjoerd. 

With Max, de host of the ASG nights in Backstage Hotel

It was a pleasure to meet Lily Kiara

After the ASG-gig we left the Backstage Hotel and danced and had a good time in the Waterhole, Dzuana, Danielle and Leonie even got on that stage again ! 

Today I will work on my songs again, I have to work out Schizophrenia and theother song about the hooker ( "the Prostitute"). Yes, my songs are sometimes very weird indeed, I am not always aware of that actually, so please tell me ( in a friendly way) what you think about it :) 

Next gig is Sunday October 27, on the Pekmarkt in Amsterdam-Noord, and in the night at The Voices; I will write about that gig on this blog because the date is a very special day for me. 

drummer in de Waterhole

Noorderparkfestival 2013 - Annette Vogel

I had a great day at the Noorderparkfestival. It's a really nice festival in Amsterdam-Noord. I played together with JanPaul on violin and Florean on bass. We didn't rehearse together, so it was a bit tricky but I think we did a good job for now. Thanks for supporting me, I was nervous to do this gig but some people were really nice to me and made me feel good. I am still looking for jazzmusicians to play with, so if you are a jazz musician and you like my music, please let me know by email vogelannette@yahoo.com

Noorderparkfestival 2013

I am so excited to play next Sunday at the Noorderparkfestival in Amsterdam. Mick told me he unfortunality will be in the hospital at that date so I needed another bassplayer for this gig.  I found a very nice bassplayer, he's called Florean and he always playes with Joelle and the Skylab. I heard him playing in that band and I liked what he was doing. I am so happy he will play with me, we did just a rehearsel last Tuesday at his school and while we were playing I was really thinking about starting to compose songs with more space for improvisations and  more jazz in it. That's pretty hard to do since I never had guitarlessons, so I've send guitarist Mark Tuinstra a message and I am glad  he is willing to teach me.
So these days I am busy with my music, Fridaynight there will be another SWANnight , Saturday I will rehearse with JeanPaul , Sunday I have this gig at thelNoorderparkfestival, Monday guitarlesson from Mark and Tuesday recording with Mick and Frank.
See you !

ASG café Jet Lounge, Voices on Stage, Thissfest

I didn't work on my blog for a while, sorry for that, it's because I had a lot of work to do as a teacher on a primaryschool. In the meantime I played at several places like Jet Lounge, Voices on Stage and ofcourse Thissfest in The Hague and SWAN in the Noorderparkkamer.

I am very busy busy to enjoy my holidays but this week I am gonna start working again as a schoolteacher. Again this year I will teach group 8, children of the age of 11 to 13, a very nice age and a very nice group for sure.
In the meantime I am happy to tell you I got some gigs in the future and the first one will be next Thursday, August 22,  at the Student Hostel in Amsterdam.

I just rehearsed my old songs and practising on bass-lines, since I played a little green bag for radio RTV. I am very inspired by this lick on the bass. I just made a vid of my first performance on the radio public, my daughter made a vid of this performance and you can watch it right here.
Hope you like it:)

performance on the radio RTV Holland

This picture  is made at Voices

And this nice one was with Dzuana at the Songwritersfestival in The Hague

 Had a great time in  Jet Lounge with ASG-friends last Tuesday