Richard Bargel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Richard Bargel (* 1951 in Frankfurt am Main ) is a German singer and slide guitarist, composer, author, actor and speaker.

Live and act

Bargel grew up in Bonn-Bad Godesberg . He has been playing the guitar since he was 12 years old.

In the 1960s he appeared as a folk singer and was a member of the Cologne artist group COOM, with the first exhibitions of his graphics and objects. In 1969 he founded the artists' commune "Tabernakel" with Klaus the Geiger (Klaus von Wrochem) in Cologne , which earned its living with street music. Shortly thereafter, Bargel founded his own puppet and street theater, the "rag theater". In 1970 he began his career as a professional blues musician. The first festival appearances followed (including Interfolk Festival in Osnabrück) and tours abroad. In the mid-1970s he traveled to England frequently and performed in London and Birmingham. In London he played with John B. Spencer, DP Costello (later Elvis Costello ), Wizz Jones, Jo Ann Kelly , among others at 100Club, Dingwalls and Half Moon in Putney.

In 1976 he went on tour with his "Rolling Blues Review". The guests included champion Jack Dupree and Eddie Boyd . Concerts and appearances with Memphis Slim , Cousin Joe and Sunnyland Slim followed. In 1978 he moved to Montpellier in the south of France for several years, where he also gave concerts with Sugar Blue , Memphis Slim (La Grande Motte) and Miriam Makeba (Nîmes Jazz Festival). In 1984 he returned to Cologne and toured twice in the following years with the "Country Blues Festival USA" through Europe, together with musicians such as Guitar Slim , Doctor Ross , Bowling Green John, Phil Wiggins , Archie Edwards, Flora Molton and Charlie Musselwhite .

Since 1987 he worked for two years on Michael Schanze's television show Telefant (and gave the Telefanten his voice). He also worked as a musician, assistant director and set designer for the WWF TV productions Sprungbrett and went on a European tour with singer Big Time Sarah .

In 1990 he celebrated his 20th stage anniversary with a concert in Cologne with guests such as Angela Brown , Louisiana Red , Little Willie Littlefield , Paul Lamb & The King Snakes. He later toured Germany with Louisiana blues legend Tabby Thomas from Baton Rouge and made recordings with saxophonist Big Jay McNeely . 1992 was his CD Fresh Tracks with the Prize of the German Record Critics honors. The Texas blues pianist Little Willie Littlefield († 2013) and the American harmonica player Jack Goodfellow († 2014) took part in the production.

Talkin 'blues

In 1992 he founded his blues talk show Talkin 'Blues (1992-2000) in Cologne, together with pianist Christian Rannenberg , with 291 shows, in which renowned international blues musicians were guests, including Luther Allison , Johnny Copeland , Phil Upchurch , Charlie Musselwhite , Walter “Wolfman” Washington and many others. Some of the appearances were recorded and broadcast by Deutschlandfunk . Here Richard Bargel established the first German blues award, the "Talkin 'Blues Award".

In 1995 he developed the jazz project Go Blue with the drummer Klaus Mages (including Trio Rio , Rainbirds ) and Ernest Bornemann , which was recorded for a broadcast by WDR television and an album was released in 1999.

In 2001 Richard Bargel published the volume of poetry A werewolf crouches in a circle of chalk, howls softly blue songs (Schardt Verlag / Oldenburg). In 2003 a book of caricatures with his drawings was published by Naumann Verlag. In 2005 his CD Mojo & the Wolf was released, with which he was awarded the “Prize of German Record Critics” for the second time. In 2006 his production Bones was nominated for the award. In 2007 he founded his concert series Mississippi Beat in the "Alten Pfandhaus" in Cologne , which he opened as a duo with Charlie Musselwhite. The legendary concert was broadcast by Deutschlandfunk and has a song on YouTube . The clip has already been viewed over 800,000.

Richard Bargel has been working as an actor again since 2007 and has appeared in several theater productions in Cologne's independent theater scene, including Die Räuber (Schiller), Three Sisters (Tolstoy), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare) and several children's theater productions. In 2011 he performed with the children's opera Hänsel & Gretel (Theater Die Baustelle / Cologne) in the USA in Washington, among others at the renowned “John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts”.

In 2011 Richard Bargel wrote the score for the documentary Dad or a Life by Sandra van Slooten and Volker Maria Engel . He composed more than 30 individual soundtracks for the 94-minute road movie . The film premiered on April 6, 2011 in the Rex Theater in Bonn. In November 2011 the film was presented at the "International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam" in the Netherlands.

Men in blues

At a talk show in the Bonn " Harmonie " in December 2008 he met the former guitarist of BAP , Klaus Heuser . The spontaneous jam session between the two musicians was also the birth of the joint project Men in Blues. The first concert of the two musicians took place on December 12, 2009. From 2010 to autumn 2012, tours and concerts followed, first as a duo, then with their band, across Germany. This resulted in Bargel's first live album Richard Bargel LIVE with Klaus “Major” Heuser, which in turn was nominated for the “Prize of German Record Critics”. On February 3, 2012, the joint studio production Men in Blues was released. Bargel's sudden hearing loss in September 2012 ended his collaboration with Klaus “Major” Heuser.

Dead Slow Stampede

In 2013 Richard Bargel founded his band “Dead Slow Stampede” and in 2014 released the album It's Crap !, which was again nominated for the “German Record Critics' Award” and in October 2014 even made it onto the nomination list for the annual award. Currently (December 2014) his band consists of the two Dutch musicians Geert Roelofs (drums / percussion), Jo Didderen (contra bass, e-bass) and Fabio Nettekoven (guitars, lapsteel, mandolin and others). The band is currently on the “It's Crap!” Tour. In autumn 2014 Richard Bargel founded the duo "Family Business" with his guitarist Fabio Nettekoven.

Discographic notes

  • Blue Steel (1977, Ornament Records)
  • Babe (1988, Neus Records)
  • Fresh Tracks (1992, with Little Willie Littlefield and Jack Goodfellow ), German Record Critics ' Award
  • Mojo & the Wolf (2005, BlusicaRecords), German Record Critics ' Award
  • Bones (2006, Meyer Records)
  • Richard Bargel Live w / Klaus 'Major' Heuser & Band (2010, Meyer Records) (Kölner Theater der Keller )
  • Richard Bargel / Klaus Major Heuser: Men in Blues (2012, The Record Company)
  • Richard Bargel & Dead Slow Stampede: It's Crap! (2014, Meyer Records) (with Charlie Musselwhite and Freddy Koella)
  • Charlie Musselwhite with Richard Bargel: Live! (10 ″ -EP) (2015, Meyer Records)
  • Richard Bargel - Nils de Caster - Roland van Campenhout: Just Another Place in the Universe (2015, Meyer Records)

Guest appearances and compilations

  • Street music in Cologne (1972, book with 2 vinyl singles / Feed Back Studio / Verlag Buchhandlung König)
  • Interfolk Collection (LP 1973, 12th Internationales Folk Festival Osnabrück)
  • The Ultimate Blues Collection Vol. 1 (1992, CMA-Records / 2 CD-Box)
  • People Will Be People (1995, Big J. Records USA)
  • A Touch of Flamenco - Klaus Mages (1997 Westpark Records)
  • Cool Blue - Christian Rannenberg (2000, Acoustic Music Records)
  • The Blues News Collection Vol. 4 (2005, Stumble Records)
  • Meyer Records Vol. 1 (2006, Meyer Records)
  • Meyer Records Vol. 2 (2008, Meyer Records)
  • United Blues Experience - The Cologne Concert (2009, Clearaudio Records)
  • Meyer Records Vol. 4 (2014, Meyer Records)

Awards

  • 1992 - German Record Critics' Prize for the album Fresh Tracks
  • 2005 - German Record Critics' Award for the album Mojo & the Wolf
  • 2010 - Nomination of the quarterly award of the German Record Critics for the album Richard Bargel LIVE
  • 2014 - Nomination of the annual German Record Critics' Award for the album It's Crap

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bargel, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German blues musician, author, illustrator and speaker
DATE OF BIRTH 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main