The Gurkhas - Full (Courtesy YouTube). Posted by Satis Shroff

Well the colonial wars are long over but the Gurkhas still fight under the UK flag, the Indian flag and, on peace-keeping UN missions, under the UN-flag. It's a great men's tradition but the Nepalese mother would rather that her sons would go to school pass his exams and do further studies instead of cutting other people's throats in uniform. Others fight for their countries but the Gurkha still fights under foreign flags. After being pensioned, the Gurkhas are in demand as security personell around the world thriving on their reputation and a loyal and martial people. I know many Gurkhas who dropped out from school due to financial reasons and enlisted either in the British Gurkhas or the Indian Gorkha regiments. Nevertheless, it is heartening to note that a lot of Nepalese now study abroad and want higher qualifications. In Freiburg alone there are over 30 Nepalese students in diverse faculties. Nepal's future is youth and education is the best way out of the misery, nepotism and corruption that has its grip on its people. Educated minds, not well-instructed ones, mind you. (Satis Shroff)

Fotoessay: Männergesangverein Freiburg-Kappel 'Liederkranz' (Satis Shroff)

This photoessay and other posts are about the men's choir located in Freiburg-Kappel in the Black Forest mountains of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. WELCOME to Creative Cappel (Kappel) the place where I live, where the sun shines when it's raining in downtown Freiburg, where the people greet you with 'Grüssgott!', where you can buy good, unpolluted vegetables from Herr Band and his dear Mom, where you can enjoy the badische cuisine at Gasthof Kreuz run by a man named Hug, where the Black Forest landscape is enhanced with the fantastic wooden sculptures of Thomas Rees, where the Ortsvorsteher sings Udo Lindenberg's 'Cello' on stage, where the river Brugga flows and joins the Dreisam, and where Richard Linder and Franz Lachmann take care of the fauna and flora, where Ernst Ehemann cares about the hill mining history and where Adolf Fressle sings in the men's choir and carries his father's tradition, and where Herr Winter, a burly, amiable Bavarian conducts the brass band. Ah, you feel so at home in this environment. It's like being in a holiday resort. If that isn't wellness, this Schwarzwald air that I breathe, the German, English songs that I sing. Yes, I could go on and on. Let me cite Germany's most prolific and creative bard: 'Man sollte alle Tage wenigstens ein kleines Lied hören, ein gutes Gedicht lesen, ein treffliches Gemälde sehen und, wenn es möglich zu machen wäre, einige vernünftige Worte sprechen.' Who said that? None other than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

A Reading, Demonstration and a Concert in Green City Freiburg (Satis Shroff)

I was woken up by the sun's rays that shone into my room. I went to the traditional stony terrace and looked towards the Black Forest mountains in the direction of Kirchzarten and was rewarded by the sight of the rising sun. After a Schwarzwälder breakfast and a quick scanning of the zeitungen I decided to go to Cafe Mozart to a reading by a Freiburger poetess named Lilo Külp, which I'd been postponing all these years. (The Freiburger poetess Lilo Külp reading in Cafe Mozart) The cafe is run by family Rückert and it's near the Siegesdenkmal, a cafe that reminded my of my journey to Salzburg, where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. The poetess was accompanied musicaly by Claudia Thyme, who played the sax and conjured up melodies from 1001 Nights because that was also a part of the reading. The story in verse was about Lousianna, a girl with a beautiful voice. Her father goes on a long journey and gives her a good piece of advice to use her resources. She walks up to a temple. Opens the door, enters it, goes to the altar and starts telling her story. - Suddenly a voice asks her rudely, "What are you doing here?" It is the temple priest. Go away, this is not the place for telling such tales." She's sad and leaves the temple. A small sparrow chirps and says, "Tell your story to the people in the streets." She follows this advice. The people listened, coins began to roll in and she had a lot of stuff for tales. It was a wonderful rendering from a frail Lilo Külp but when she talks her eyes light up and everything she says is interesting. She knows how to capture her audience. (Freiburg's midwives demonstrating low-pay and bad job perspectives at the Kaiser Joseph Strasse, Bertold's Fountain in downtown Freiburg) The Spring Concert of the Musikverein-Kappel organised a good programme and even invited a guest brass band called the Trachten-Kapelle St. Ulrich conducted by Hans Breika, an athletic, tall man. They'd brought their own moderator along: Monika Steiert. The Musikverein Freiburg-Kappel was conducted by Bernhard Winter, a jolly Bavarian, who in the course of the evening told me over a glass of sekt that he'd bought a piece of land in the vicinity of Lake Ontario and wanted to spend the winter of his life in Canada. What a pleasant thought. He confided that he does have German croonies there, and he goes often to the USA and Canada. The moderation of the Kappler band was to be done of Karin Peter but she could'd and so Klaus Gülker , a South-West Radio man with the gift of the German gab, had volunteered to take over the moderation, which he did with elan, spiced with poetry and a touch of humour. The first piece was John William's 'Fanfare' and there was a lot of fanfare in it. The good thing about a brass band is that it's performed with oomph.

Savvy Weißer Sonntag in Kappel? (Satis Shroff)

http://schwarzwaldchroniclessatisshroff.blogspot.de/

Weißer Sonntag in Freiburg-Kappel (Satis Shroff)

http://schwarzwaldchroniclessatisshroff.blogspot.de/

FREIBURGER CHRONICLE (Satis Shroff): Männergesangverein Kappel: Mann ist ganz Chor (Sat...

FREIBURGER CHRONICLE (Satis Shroff): Männergesangverein Kappel: Mann ist ganz Chor (Sat...: Motto: MANN IST GANZ CHOR! (Satis Shroff) 'I'd never thought it could be such fun!' 'The conductor has infected everyone i...

Männergesangverein Kappel: Mann ist ganz Chor (Satis Shroff)

Motto: MANN IST GANZ CHOR! (Satis Shroff) 'I'd never thought it could be such fun!' 'The conductor has infected everyone in Kappel and the Dreisam Valley with his charm.' (MGV-Kappel 2014: Project Choir Concert on July 26,2014) Do you sing when you're taking a shower? Do you sing in your bath-tub? Why not sing a solo on-stage with us? Every male voice is welcome. Can't read music sheets? No problem. We'll even invite you to a beer if you come to our Proberaum (rehearsal room) on the 8th of May 2014 at 8pm. Since the Choir Project was a big success last Summer, the Men's Choir (MGV-Kappel) has decided to stage another Choir Project this Summer with the motto: Man ist ganz Chor! The Project will start on May 8,2014 and will culminate with a big concert on July 26,2014 at the Kappler Hall. You're welcome to join us for a singing session in the MGV-rehearsal room (Proberaum) which is located in the basement of the Kappler Hall (Mehrzweckhalle).You're invited to a free beer. As I mentioned above the motto this year is: 'Mann ist ganz Chor!' we'll be singing other than traditional songs. Like last year we'll be delighted to welcome new voices that want to join us. Nine young men came to sing with us and eight became members after the Project Choir because they liked it so much. Age and knowledge of music are unimportant. You should only bring the desire to sing. Just come along along for one singing session. We sing every Thursday at 8pm. The concert will be on Saturday, July 26, 2014 which is the last weekend before the school holidays in Baden-Württemberg. Ich bin ganz Ohr, ich meine ganz Chor!