Preparing For Fasnacht

Lights On the Baden Stadtturm

It is that time of year again, the streamers are hung and the colored lights are in place. Tomorrow starts the fasnacht celebration here in Baden. In past years we have made the effort to leave town. The guggenmusik below our balcony was just too much. This year we are hoping it won't be that bad as most of the activities that used to be below are apartment have since moved around the corner to the Theaterplatz.

Don't get me wrong, it will still be loud, with lots of dressed up people walking through the streets. Soming drinking, some playing loud brass instruments, and some just there to watch.

This year we have a friend coming in for the weekend to visit us from Germany. I'm sure we'll have to go down to the celebration so she can see the craziness. I don't know if she picked a good or a bad weekend to visit. In the end it will be fun no matter what happens.

I know the nights can run long, sometimes until dawn. It should be an very interesting weekend.

Guten Morgen Sonnenschein

Any fan fan of German reality TV will undoubtedly be familiar with the song Guten Morgen Sonnenschein. It has become the anthem of early morning cranky wake-ups.

The song is extremely catchy and after some looking on youtube I found the version I was looking for by Nana Mouskouri

Do you have any songs in German or another foreign language that stick with you despite the language barrier? leave a comment.

11.11 11:11 Guggenmusik Season Begins

Guggenmusik Costumes

Today at 11:11 am marked the beginning of the guggenmusik season. The season of strangely dressed, horribly sounding brass bands. Loud out of tune music, made better with a few plastic glasses of your favorite alcoholic elixer. Baden had it's own stage and celebration setup in the Theaterplatz just behind my appartment.

This was a good chance for me to test out the new lens I recently got. A Canon 70-200 2.8. I bought it particularly for its low light capabilities. I was not disappointed. I took a flash with me but ended up putting it away because I didn't need it. I got some excellent pictures.

I like this photograph in particular because it really gives you an idea of how crazy the costumes these bands wear look. I can't believe people walk around in such things. Even better is the face painting that goes along with it.

DJ Otzi And His Pizza Hut Obsession

A couple of weeks back I was preparing for our August 1st party and was looking for some 'Swiss Music'. I came across a collection of songs loosely titled 'Music for an Alpin Ski Hut'. This seemed appropriate.

What it turned out to be is a collection of various cultural curiosities including Jodeling, bavarian polka, German pop, and other stuff that is suitable for tourists. Perfect for the international party I was planning.

One track I did not listen to and only stumbled on recently much to my surprise was called the Burger Dance by DJ Otzi. The first time I heard it I didn't know what in the world I was listening to. Some guy talking about every American fast food chain with a bad German accent. Just today I did a quick search of youtube to learn more and it finally clicked. The catchy tune is actually a YMCA-esque song for kids.

I don't know if kids should really be singing about junk food, but it is a catchy tune and the moves are funny. I could see how kids would have a good time with it.




If you thought that was good this appears to be the original version of 'The Fast Food Song' music video. Really fantastic. A warning, if you listen to this, there is chance you'll wake up in the middle of the night craving fast food.

Skynyrd Live In Wettingen

Skynyrd Concert T-Shirts

So last night was the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert in Wettingen. If you are a regular reader you may know that I was looking forward to seeing the southern rock icons show up in our small remote corner of Switzerland. When I was first told that Skynyrd would be playing at the 'high school' gym down the street from us I kind of laughed it off as a rumor. But last night I saw it, and I still don't quite believe it.

First off, it was just strange arriving at the sportscentrum where the event was. Outside was a mass of people, all dressed like American Bikers. Leather vests, jackets, plaid shirts, beards, mullets, leather tassels and cowboy boots dominated the crowd. I kept thinking where did all these people come from? Did them import them from the U.S. The funny part is they were all speaking Swiss German.

Gosh, I could tell a million stories about the show. It was just a riot. It was also my wifes first, yes, first rock concert. What a great concert.

The pinnicle was of course the last song when the leader signer screams out that is time for the south to rise again and breaks into Sweet Home Alabama. I thought to myself, 'My God, is this what they think of us?' Of course then they left the stage for 10 minutes only to come out for a encore.

During the encore break the crowd rasied their arms pointing their fingers at the stage, wiggled their fingers and made funny noises. When they started this, both my wife and I looked at each other like 'what are these crazy Swiss doing?!' Then of course we joined in. I had never seen such a behavior before. My bad explaination doesn't do it justice. You just have to see it.

When the band returned to the stage for a encore, the singer runs up to the microphone and screams 'Tell me what you want to hear!,' and in unision the entire crowd screams 'FREE BIIIIIRRRDDDD!' Sweeeeeeeeeet.

Street Performers - Time Lapse of a Native American Flute Band

I had some free time on Saturday and there was a group of street performers outside of my apartment so thanks to the advice of my wife I decided to try to make a time lapse movie of the event.

She wanted to know how many people actually put money in the music case of the musicians. This video depicts about 1 hour of real time in a 2 minute video.

If somebody wants to watch and count the number of times people drop change in the case be my guest.

Basel Fasnacht 2009

Lanterns On Display at Basel Fasnacht

On Tuesday evening we made a trip to Basel to experience the Basel Fasnacht (Carnival) celebration. We were lucky enough to be able to go with a work colleague of mine that is native to the Basel area so he gave us a personal tour of the city.

The big celebration on Tuesday starts at 4:00 AM in the morning with a procession of lanterns that are carried through the streets while musicians beat drums and play flutes. The lanterns were traditionally lit with candles but today are lit with candles, propane burners, LED lights are even florescent lights. The lanterns themselves often carry messages or commentary on local or national political issues.

The musicians that accompany the lanterns dress in elaborate costumes that aour guide was telling us can cost upwards of 2000 Swiss francs. the Big headed creations are amazing displays of craft and ingenuity.

One of the traditions of the event is to wear a pin on your lapel representing the celebration. If you do not have a pin the creatures have the right to attack you and stuff confetti down your shirt and into your hair. The costumes and the music groups are judged by a festival committee and the winning group receives a prize that is based on money collected during the sale of the festival pins.

As I am used to traditional Guggen Music, loud blaring brass bands not playing together, the small 4 to 6 person drum and fife groups that wander the streets in perfect step serenading the revelers was a nice departure to the music I am used to in Baden.

I liken the drum and flute music to something one were hear on the parade grounds in Williamsburg, Virgina. A lot of the songs that were played were familiar too me. While I didn't know the names of the pieces I found myself humming along and having a good time.

If you have the chance to visit the Basel version of Fasnacht it is really a unique experience. I would love to go again next year. The best part about it is I can enjoy the music, the calamity, and then go home. A nice departure from the normal Guggen Music displays under my balcony.

Where Do All The Native American Flute Bands Come From?

Flute Band Sets Up in Baden

I would like to know where all the Native American flute bands in Europe come from. My wife will be disappointed to know that she missed a performance right across the street from our apartment. I was serenaded during my lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches on the balcony today.

No matter what city you go to it seems that these guys are always around somewhere. I wonder if its like a franchise. Maybe you buy in for 20K and then you get the complete kit and have to send 10% of profits back to corporate.


Actually, I have to admit, this band today was better than most. They did a nice job. They actually sang, which I don't really hear that often. They also addressed the crowd regularly in English.

It was fun to watch from above because you had a different perspective of what was going on. Most interesting was the suitcase of various flutes, pipes, and whistles. If you look in the images behind the guy in the middle you'll see his 'instrument' case. Just about every song they would switch to a different set of flutes.

What I also found interesting is the shear number of what I will call 'whistles'. These whistles were used to create the sounds of birds shrieking, similar to what you might imagine a hawk or eagle would sound like.

Now that the summer is really hear, I expect that we will get our weekly dose of street performers coming around. I really like a cello and violin duet that usually comes around every couple of weeks in the summer. Hopefully they will be back this year.

My Backyard, Statue of Liberty and All

Badenfahrt 2007 - Schlossbergplatz, Baden

I haven't posted many pictures of Badenfahrt 2007 yet. I think the main reason is I was too tired to pull out my camera. After a few days of warming up to the celebration tonight seemed like a perfect night to get out. There was a light rain so I figured the lighting would be really great, and there would be slightly less people. The evening proved to be pretty good from a photographic perspective.



My backyard as I call it is filled with people to all hours of the night. This shot of the Pop/Rock stage should give you a feeling of what I am dealing with. If you've been to visit before you'll recognize our building as the one just past the rock stage. Yeah, thats the one, with the Zürich sign on it. As I said, our balcony is basically right on top of the stage. Love it or hate it, I have no choice but to attend the fest all week long.



Tonight a Swiss band called Vivian is playing. I believe there lead guitarist is a fairly famous Swiss guy named Adrian Stern. They are actually pretty good, I like their style.

There are few spots where you can escape the loud sounds of the rock concerts. This foutain looks so serene, but don't be fooled its louder than heck right here! I think tomorrow I'll have to wander a little farther from the apartment and get some more pictures. I have a feeling I'll have a good week for pictures.

Rough Night

It was quite a rough night last night. We were hoping that the music would stop around midnight. That proved not to be the case.

By about 1:00 we decided to put both of our clock radios on with 'white noise' and we had a fan blasting to try to drowned out the sound. Although that improved the situation it definately didn't solve it. Next we tried ear plugs. That was much nicer but it still took me a while to get to sleep.

I woke up around 3:40 am and went out on the balcony. While the bands had left, there were still people milling around and drinking. There was still loud music on the stage PA. Wow, these people in Baden must not get out much. I mean its a town of 16,000. It's not like a big happening place like New York, or Chicago where you expect people out at all hours.

Thank God we planned a trip this weekend.

Guggen Musik

Fasnacht has arrived and so has the Guggen Musik. I have discovered that the strangly clothed marching bands that I have blogged about before are actually known as Guggen Musik. For the carnival celebration apparently the Guggen musik starts today and goes pretty much straight through next tuesday and midnight.

In a broken conversation with our neighbor she informed me that there would be no sleep in our building for the next few days. It is now 11:00 pm and there are still going at it out there. They started at 7:00 pm. Hopefully they will end the festivities at some reasonable hour but we will see I guess.

I've heard some great covers of Phil Collins, AC DC, and several other Genres that one would not expect from a Guggen Musik band. I did manage to take the camera and video recorder out since the party is literally under our balcony. I'll post a video below. This video was taken about 10 paces from our front door. Don't be fooled by the English. This was the only English I heard all night.

I can't believe how loud this music is. My wife was just complaining that she could here it over the running water when she was filling the bath tub. It is actually really obnoxious. For a society that is so bent on having quiet time this is really a little much for a Thursday night.

11 11 11 11

The monster concert has arrived! The swiss are once again parading in the streets for some sort of annual November festival that starts at 11:11 am on November 11th.

As we were walking to the grocery store this morning we saw the hords of people gathering in the small plaza. There were about 10 bands prepared to play. We about about 30 minutes before the start of the concert so we thought we would run the store and catch the show on the way back.

We managed to get back to the plaza just in time. I had a minute or two to run up to the apartment to grab a camera so I could grab some pictures of the wierd festival. My wife tells me it is some sort of festival to get rid of the angst regarding the 'quiet' hours on the weekends. I don't know how much I believe that.

Regardless as we were standing around watching a taking pictures I noticed everyone was drinking wine. Then all of a sudden a guy walks up to the three of us and offers us a glass. I asked him if it was free. He said yes and there we were drinking on the streets of Baden.

In the mean time we took a day trip to Baden and just returned at about 5:00 pm. The bands are still playing! It is absoloutely crazy. I posted some photos here so everyone could understand how bizzare these people are dressed. I really have no idea what this is all about.