I have been to the friendly match between the women’s national handball teams of Germany and France. It was the first handball match which I saw live. Nearly 2300 fans, mostly Germans, were watching the match and loudly supporting their team. This match was the last test match for both teams before they head off to the women’s Handball European Championship in Mazedonia next week.
I am missing in depth knowledge of Handball, but still this match was very enjoyable and fascinating. I am not really into all those national proudness most of the other fans where showing and I applauded also well executed playing by the French cuties. Some really nice goals (on both sides)! And I think numéro huit, Julie Goiorani, looks really cute. In the end, the German women won 30:26.
I wish both teams success (and the bit of luck you need to get to the finals) at the Women’s EURO 2008.
Excuse the bad image above, but as you know, my digicam is currently at a Canon repair shop, so I had to use the very bad digital camera option of my old Nokia mobile.
So, my old and trusty Canon Powershot A70, which I bought in autumn 2003, decided to not work anymore. When I switch it on, the display shows the starting pic, but when switching to the cam view, it stays black. And if I take a photo, the pic is also a beautiful black.
Looks like the infamous CCD image sensor error of Canon digital cameras. At least Canon acknowledges it. Well, I had already toyed with the idea of getting a new camera, but not that urgently. Let’s hope I get it fixed.
And I only wanted to take a pic of the snowy garden behind my house for my blog.
I attended a small Estampie concert last friday. Estampie is an ensemble playing medieval music with original instruments and of course, vocals. It was a really beautiful concert: small (roughly 90 people), seated and with an enchanting performance of Estampie, especially by their singer Syrah and their newest addition, soprano Sarah M. Newman.
I know Estampie’s music since the early nineties, but so far I have not been attending one of their concerts, obviously, like other bands, they also skip Münster. I have only seen Syrah’s and Michael Popp’s electronic sideproject Qntal live (well, not in Münster).
The playlist of Estampie:
La morena (sefardí, trad., 14th century)
La galana y el mar (sefardí, trad., 15th century)
Floret silva (Carmina Burana, 12th century)
Ave donna santissima (13th century)
Trotto (14th century)
Los caminos (14th century)
Gaudens in domino/Pferdetanz (13th century)
Disse mi (14th century)
Voi ch’amante (13th century)
A virgen muy gloriosa (Alfonso X. el Sabio - Cantigas de Santa Maria, 1230 - 1284)
Estampie V (14th century)
Las suegras de ahora (sefardí, trad., 14th century)
Quantos me creveren (Alfonso X. el Sabio - Cantigas de Santa Maria, )
Gran dereit (Alfonso X. el Sabio - Cantigas de Santa Maria)
and finally: Non sofre Santa Maria (Alfonso X. el Sabio - Cantigas de Santa Maria)
The concert lasted for over two hours (counting the small break within). It was a really impressive performance and when they performed the mongolian horsedance (see videos below), I was speechless. Needless to say the whole concert send shivers down my spine. Cudos to Estampie!
I also took some (bad quality) videos, mostly for you to have a clue what kind of music they play:
Oh, and of course I got me a new DVD from their Marco Polo-tour, of course signed by every ensemble member. And last but not least I got my personal pic with Syrah. Sadly, the colour version is overexposed and so I had to rescue it by converting to black and white.
It looks like Barack Obama is the new president of the USA. You read doubts from that line? Seeing the events from the last two elections, I wouldn’t have been surprised if McCain would have been coming out on top.
I really hope Obama cleans up the bad US reputation and fixes a lot of issues (e.g. closing down Guantanamo and give the prisoners a fair trial, ends the war in Iraq, climate issues etc.).
Well, we will see. Congratulations to Obama as well to the USA.
The Coming Men were doing the opening. In overall a nice and refreshing sound, reminds me a bit of Exilia. And they got a cute front woman with nice tattoos (certainly a plus!). IMO their guitar could sound a bit more evil… Next were Aavas, a band from Münster. They feature both a female and a male singer: the typical gothic metal combination of clean female singing and male growling. BTW, the female singer also plays an e-violin. They got a very unique sound, not easy to categorise. It’s a blend of different styles and the male singer reminded me a lot of Jim Morrison from the Doors in appearance as well gestures. The last band, Stormgarde, played typical gothic metal with a female singer, I am sorry to say that, nothing extraordinary IMO.
My overall favourite has been The Coming Men. I hope we will hear more from them.
So, afterwards, there was the All Hallow’s Eve party in the Sputnikhalle, featuring six DJs, playing metal, gothic, EBM, industrial etc. One of my friends was DJing there and so I ended up joyfully drunk in a taxi to my flat on Saturday morning… home at 7:00…
Well, of course this took its toll. Awake at 12:30, feeling hungover, I decided its the perfect time to combine getting breakfast and doing the weekly hunt for food at the supermarket. I totally forgot that Saturday was a holiday, so I ventured to the supermarket and stood in front of closed doors. And nothing to eat at home… after a really refreshing walk, I found a bakery which was open. At least I got some rolls and cake for the weekend. I used the rest of the weekend to regenerate. Looks like I am getting too old to stay awake for a very long time and drink large amounts of beer…
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