singing – bruecken_schlag

Schlagwort: singing

From my Travel Playlists

Juli 18, 2013 / bruecken_schlag / Kommentare deaktiviert

There is a playlist on my iTunes that I treasure dearly. It holds the music I had on my iPod shuffle when I travelled the Balkans three years ago. A limited selection of songs that accompanied me on many bus and train rides through the beauty that is South Eastern Europe. Tunes so familiar to me that I know every change of rhythm and every funny note, and for most of them, the entire lyrics. Some of them I started out with, some of them I added while on the road. I picked a selection of them to share with you – because when I am having a melancholic day, I put on some Bosnian coffee and this music and I am transported back to Balkan sunshine and the soft rocking of a bus on a scenic route. And also because right now, it is summer in Berlin and I am happy, and this music makes this feeling ten times more intense.

1. Regina Spektor „Better“

If I kiss you where it’s sore
Will you feel better?

I love this song especially for its piano intro and for Regina’s slightly strange pronunciation of English. While the lyrics are actually quite blue, the melody is wide open. If songs had a colour, to me this one would be as turquoise as the waters of the Bosnian rivers I love so much.

2. Dixie Chicks „Not Ready to Make Nice“

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go ‚round and ‚round and ‚round

I downloaded the Dixie Chicks album because of a different song, but this one came to be ma favourite. I learned the whole history behind it only later, but it spoke to me as a fight song from the beginning, as a song that encourages you to stand by your anger and not surpress it, to admit to feeling hurt and misunderstood and treated unfairly. I sometimes forget that it is important to allow these feelings their space.

3. Bijelo Dugme „Tako Ti Je, Moja Mala, Kad Ljubi Bosanac“

Jesi l‘, mala, ljubila do sada?
Jesi, jesi – al‘ Bosanca nisi!

Have you kissed already, little girl?
You have, you have – but not a Bosnian man!

This song is on a Bijelo Dugme album that I bought in Rijeka in Croatia. Bijelo Dugme are something like the Yugoslav Rolling Stones, and quite a few of their songs just put a huge smile on my face because they are playful and silly and fun. I also learned quite a bit Bosnian / Croatian / Serbian by listening to their music.

4. Edward Maya „Stereo Love“

When you gonna stop breaking my heart?

There are no lyrics of any great depth to this song – what is so catching about it is the instrumental part. It was played in countless beach bars and night clubs I went to on my trip, and while at home I probably never would have liked it, on the trip it encaptured that feeling of relaxation, summer heat and freedom of care.

What do you think? Do you have travel tunes that remind you of a certain trip? Does music ever transport you back into a situation in the past?

If Only…? On Regrets and Making Peace

Februar 19, 2013 / bruecken_schlag / 21 Kommentare

Recently I had a chat with a friend – one of those people who miraculously transform from „this guy I met travelling“ to an acquaintance you keep infrequent facebook contact with to someone you see again when revisiting their city to a person you really love having in your life – and all of a sudden they are a friend. So we were sitting over beers, discussing life in general, travel lessons, relationships, dealing with loss and failure. At one point he asked me: „Do you have regrets?“ I looked him straight in the eye and said: „None!“ And I meant it.

Yes, that is me who just landed in the water there

Like so many other bloggers who have written their travel regrets post, I try to live life in a way that won’t make me have to regret anything. Erin of The World Wanderer, who was so kind as to tag me for a post of three travel regrets, put it very beautifully indeed, referencing the indescribable Edith Piaf and summing it up saying: „It’s all about forgetting what happened in the past, the good and the bad, and starting fresh.“ Read her whole post here. And also, follow her on twitter @TheWrldWanderer because she is awesome!

I think all of us who travel try to avoid regrets. It is like Mark Twain has put it in this quote that so many of us have on our blogs:

„Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.“

The fear of being disappointed, of regretting, is what drives many of us out there and has us on the move, keep looking, never shy away from the new, the exciting, the unheard-of. When I am out there travelling, I am very much a gut-person. My intuition is my everything. If I want to do it, I will. If I don’t want to do it, I won’t, and later probably won’t regret not having done it – as long as I was honest with myself in that moment when I made the decision. This philosophy has allowed me to paraglide and cliff-jump, to go on road-trips with strangers, to literally leave the beaten track to discover hidden gems, and to sing in quite unusual places. Like here.

The fortress in Blagaj, Bosnia and Hercegovina. The hoard of construction workers found it pretty great that I knew a Bosnian song. Photo courtesy of the lovely Aasa Marshall.

And inspite all of this, I finally came up with my three regrets too, although honestly, it took me a long time! In tune with Mark Twain’s quote above, my regrets are not really about things I did do, but rather about things I didn’t, couldn’t or can’t do for various reasons.

1. Not having done any busking while travelling. [YET!]

This one I fully intend to change. It is on my Bucket List to go busking in a couple of foreign places. The main thing to keep me from it so far has been that I don’t play an instrument. I have just my voice, and a capella busking is fairly tough, or so I imagine it to be. Also I have been a little cowardish in the past when it came to choosing a place. The German in me thinks: „But what if I need a permit? What if you aren’t allowed to do that here? What if the police come and get really mad at me in a language that I can’t speak well enough to defend myself?“ I really have to get over this and just do it. But before that, I’m learning guitar. At least enough for me to play a few funny chords with my singing.

2. Not having recognized my own strength sooner.

There are several reasons for this regret. For one, I wish I would have started backpacking while I was in college and had so much more time for it. I thought, back then, that I’d have to be braver than I felt. In fact I was plenty brave and could have easily managed it all. Closely related is the fact that for a long time I thought I would need a travel companion. I wish I had understood sooner that travelling alone would be more rewarding than anything else I have experienced until this day. I also wish that in some situations I would have been more confident to go for something I wanted. Rent that car. Climb that mountain. Kiss that guy. Then again, I know today that I needed time to gain the strength and confidence I have today. I couldn’t have done it sooner or faster. Absolutely no use in fretting. It is all good.

3. Not being able to have it all.

It is one of my deepest conflicts when planning travels: Do I discover a new country, a new city, a new culture – or do I go back to a place that I loved truly? I really hate having to choose, because I want it all. I want to visit the friends I made throughout the world. I want to go back and see more of some countries and cities, or I want to go back and see the exact same things again, because they were so heartbreakingly beautiful the first time around, or because they might have changed and show me a new, different side now. But then again there is so much out there that I haven’t got the faintest understanding of yet. There is so much to see and learn. I really wish I never had to choose. I deal with it by not choosing just yet. I plan by that other great travel quote:

„I haven’t seen everything. But it’s on my list.“

These are my three regrets. I have to say though that really cannot even feel bitter about any of them. It all came this way so that today I would have this exact drive, this ambition, this curiosity and these exact dreams that keep me going. I feel very, very fortunate to be at peace to this degree. And I blame it on travelling.

I would love to hear thoughts on this from these three talented and inspiring bloggers:

Maria of Blue Snail Travels
Suzanne of The Travelbunny
Ulrike of anischtswechsel

Instructions for a Bridgekeeper

Januar 21, 2013 / bruecken_schlag / 12 Kommentare

As much as I love travelling solo, I am in the process of looking into finding travel buddies for my next adventure. Today I got into thinking what it would actually mean for someone else to travel with me. I am sure that in my time I must have developed a few spleens and weird habits when travelling on my own, and I think everyone deserves a fair warning. So here they are, the instructions on how to deal with the BridgeKeeping Travel Buddy (BKTB).

„Dear customer,

congratulations on obtaining your very own BKTB. Handled with care and maintained properly, you will enjoy this product for a very long time.

When choosing a travel destination, keep in mind that the BKTB must be exposed to travel to Poland at least four to five times a year and to another Eastern European destination of your choice once a year. Also make sure that the BKTB goes on at least one vacation a year that will allow her to return to Germany with a tan that will prompt people to say that she looks like a gypsy.

Make sure that the BKTB has access to coffee in the morning, preferably Espresso or Bosnian / Serbian / Turkish coffee. The BKTB does NOT run on instant coffee. You run the risk of causing severe damage to the BKTB’s system if you try to fuel it with instant coffee. Also, keep in mind that while the BKTB doesn’t need much food during the day when travelling, a feeling of hunger can overcome her within seconds towards evening. When this is uttered, find food as quickly as you can or else run for dear life lest you want to be object to a very moody BKTB.

While the BKTB will help you to just wander a place without orientation and finding incredible places, and while the BKTB has a fairly decent sense of orientation, she will not ask for directions unless she has to. You being there will mean that she doesn’t have to, because it’s your job. She’s weird that way. The BKTB will, however, randomly chat up strangers in coffee places, trains or other ways of public transport, on park benches or in line for a museum. If those strangers are locals, she will have annoyed them with a gazillion questions about the culture, the history and the minority politics of the country you are in before even having asked the stranger’s name. Yeah, she’s weird that way, too.

On the other hand, the BKTB needs her quiet time. Bring her to a religious site or a spectacular place in nature (a beach will always do, but mountains work as well!) frequently during your trip and just shut up for a bit so she can hear her own thoughts. Don’t take it badly if she wants to wander off on her own for a bit. It’ll be for your own good if she does.

Credit for this pic to my friend Steve

If you’re female or gay, the BKTB comes with an option of daily cuddling / hugging. Actually to be honest, she comes with that option if your a straight man, too. Hell, the important question is probably if *you* come with that option!

The BKTB will express the urge to sing out of the blue frequently. The best way to deal with this is to find someone who can play the guitar and an adequate situation for singing, such as bonfires, balconies or terraces, beaches and the likes, or at least a karaoke bar. You do not have to provide lyrics since the BKTB knows almost all of them by heart.

Credit for this pic to my friend Julia

You have now been warned. Enjoy your travels.“

What is there to consider when someone travels with you?

The River That Started It All – Hamburg’s Elbe

Januar 15, 2013 / bruecken_schlag / 6 Kommentare

Dieser Post basiert auf diesem deutschen Originalpost.

Sometimes great happiness isn’t very far away. Sometimes it isn’t necessary to get on a plane or on a train or even on public transport. Sometimes all it takes is my mom’s bike and going downhill, ever downhill from my parents‘ house until I reach the beach. I was born and raised in Hamburg. I’m not sure if there is a place in the world that comforts me more than the Elbe River beach.

When I was a little girl, my parents would make us go for a walk along the river on weekends. I must have been 10 or 11 when for the first time I went down there for a stroll with friends *voluntarily*, and we thought we were the height of cool and very grown up.

I’m not often home in Hamburg, in fact I go there too seldomly. But when I do go, I make it a rule to go down and say hi to the big grey river at least once. When I moved to Tübingen in Southern Germany and was worried that I would miss the water, people told me: „But they have the Neckar River!“ People who have seen both will understand my reaction, which must have been a mixture from a chuckle, an actual laugh and a sniff. The Neckar is gorgeous, but it’s not a river – more like a creek. Playful, cute, harmless. Besides, it’s green. Or brown. It’s got all the wrong colors.

The Elbe at Hamburg’s outskirts is a stream, a powerful monster, wallowing along, taking my thoughts away with it whenever I need to clear my head. It is sometimes blue, but usually it is a thousand different shades of grey (ok, that phrase is basically ruined for me thanks to E.L. James, but if you ever come to my beloved river, you will see that there is more to the expression!). In summer, it’s a glistening mirror…

… and in winter it can be iced over, edgy, harsh. No matter the season – when big container ships come along, there will be waves, and when there’s good wind, there will be sailing boats, showing their pretty and colorful spinnaker sails if you’re lucky. The fact that I even know the word for this specific sail, even though I cannot sail myself, proves that I am from here. This is home, in any weather, under any condition, looking whichever way. As long as I know that this place exists, I will always strive to discover new and different places – because I will know that I can come back here, where everything feels safe and secure even in its instability. Sometimes the river floods and causes horrible damage. Usually it is merciful though, and it gives its all to the city. The port, one of the largest ones in Europe – Hamburg wouldn’t be what it is without it today and all through history.

It started when I was about 13 that every year we would go to see the Easter bonfires down at the river. If you lived in Blankenese, you would meet everyone you knew on that Saturday before Easter. The fires at the beach, the waters throwing back their warm light, the anticipation of it all – it has always been truly special. Four great fires are built up at the beach, and they rival each other for which one burns the longest. On each fire, at the top of the rod that everything is put up around, there will be a straw doll symbolizing the evil spirits of winter. Once it falls into the fire and burns, spring will gracefully come onto us. It is a deeply pagan tradition, and I like the fact that it is honored. Also, to me it was always deeply intertwined with Christianity nonetheless, because while my oldest friend and I would always stay at the Easter bonfires long into the night, we would still go to church at 5 o’clock the next morning – sometimes without sleep, coming directly from the beach.

The latest story I have to tell from the Elbe River is one of particular beauty, because it combines different things I love. Water. Fire. Music. People. In the summer, two of my oldest friends got married and had their reception in a beautiful restaurant right by the river, so close to the places where all of us grew up and had spent so many happy hours of our childhoods and our adolescence. I felt slightly melancholic with the densitiy of reminiscing, but at the same time I was bursting with happiness for my friends and being in awe about the beauty of it all with a childlike wonderment.

And when the time came to present the couple with our gift, I was so much more nervous than I usually am when I’m performing, because it meant so much more. One of my oldest friends stood there in her beautiful wedding gown, holding hands with one of my oldest friends, her groom; and one of my oldest friends was lighting the fires for his game of poi, and I started singing. And I tried to sing for them what I wished their life to be like. Allowing me to wish them well in this way was a gift for me too, and I don’t think I will ever forget it. You can watch it here: Fire spinning and live singing.

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Brückenschläge und Schlagworte

Schlagwort: singing

From my Travel Playlists

If Only…? On Regrets and Making Peace

Instructions for a Bridgekeeper

The River That Started It All – Hamburg’s Elbe

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