VIDEO-DEMOS
From MEDIEVAL to FOLK & WORLD MUSIC
Bonner Boeuf
“Boeufs” are not only cattle grazing in the French countryside. Since the 1920s, the term has been used to describe the legendary informal gatherings of musicians who come together with fiddles, harps, hurdy-gurdies, bagpipes, accordions, flutes and other acoustic instruments to strike up tunes for dancing – all without sheet music.
What began in Parisian jazz clubs has long since found its way to festivals such as the Grand Bal de l’Europe and the Boombal. The Bonn Boeuf usually takes place in the city’s oldest half-timbered house – often with international guest musicians – and in 2026 it will resonate through the Beethoven Hall.
This is a private event. Those wishing to receive an invitation may contact:
bonnerboeuf [at] alexander-loch.de
International Co-Creations
With the support of the Goethe-Institut, we organised a world music workshop in East Timor, followed by a concert tour featuring JOSTAL and Asian artists.
The project was featured in Folker: Polka under Palm Trees
Klezmer meets Folk
During the COVID-19 pandemic, two Bonn-based musicians from different musical backgrounds joined forces in the duo Brinkmann & Loch: on the one hand, Klezmer music with its Eastern European sounds and “speaking instruments”; on the other, Balfolk with its waltzes, polkas, mazurkas and meditative Breton circle dances.
The result was something new – a vibrant blend of musical joy, groove and improvisation, often inspired by the tango. A meeting of dances, songs and ballads from different cultures, usually performed on intimate stages and small arts venues.
Studio Recordings
First compositions and arrangements by Alexander Loch (1994) can be found on the CD Mein Begehr und Wille by the Cologne medieval ensemble OSWALD (named after the minnesinger “Oswald von Wolkenstein”). It is distributed by Verlag der Spielleute.
With SALUT! modern triangulations between folk, tango & improvisation are created on piano, hurdy-gurdy, clarinet and violin/cello. Highly danceable. The Demo-CD “Bewegungslust” is available on request.
Sylex & Balbatruc were two ambitious projects of the Paris phase. The CD “les trois premiers” is already sold out.
In the nineties there was an epoch of numerous performances in castles, palaces and at banquets. the German medieval scene associated the stage name “Alexandros of Antioch” with the crowds of spectators, learning the basic steps of the old dance “Traubentritt” …
ARS AUDIENDIARS AUDIENDI produced an intelligently designed CD with the saga of the Richmodis of Aducht – the woman who miraculously rose from the dead in the Middle Ages. The last track is th “Song of the Richmodis” – accompanied by my hurdy-gurdy and interpreted by Claudia Immer.
In the studio of Volker Bäcker (“the Satan of strings!”) a homage to the blind Irish harpist, TURLOUGH O’CAROLAN, was created in Cologne. During his lifetime he had written melodies that not only delighted the ears of the 18th century, but that are still perfectly suited for bordun instruments today.
In the 90s, hurdy-gurdy players from all over Germany joined together in the Ensemble SURRADIAL to form a kind of “hurdy-gurdy national orchestra” in order to take the musical range of the instrument to the extreme and combine it with elements of dance theatre. But distance killed the idealism… only occasional concert recordings remained.
