Travel Tips

Here in this album I tell you a little bit about things I like.
Maybe you find something interesting for you!

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CONCERTS AND MUSIC OF MARKSCHEIDER KUNST: www.mkunst.ru

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Febuary 2004: I was in Frankfurt / Germany to watch a concert from Markscheider Kunst. I was inspired. The band played in a very atmospheric club named UNITY (Hanauer Landstr. 2), everybody was in good mood and the music was brilliant.

The band, named after a German phrase literally translated as "the art of discerning frontiers", was formed by St.Petersburg geology students in October, 1992. Their first concert saw the sax player Sergey Yegorov take his place on drums, where he has stayed ever since. The other founders are brothers Sergey Yefremenko (guitar, vocals) an Kirill Oskin (bass). They started out with hard rockabilly-cum-R'n'B, turned to the blues and later to Latino, Jamaican and other ethnic influences. Vladimir Matushkin (guitar) joins in 1995, while concert line-up boasted Pavel Litvinov (legendary Russian alternative band Auktsyon) and St.Petersburg Afrocuban percussionist Kirill Ipatov on assorted percussion and Dmitri "Piglet" Khramtsov on harmonica, among others.

Markscheider Kunst are a prime example of a truly multicultural band. The band itself is also multinational: an Udmurt, a Tartar, a Russian?. The same goes for the music, which traces its roots among ska, reggae, funk, jazz and Latin rock flavoured with African influences and sprinkled with Russian folklore.

Markscheider Kunst are one of the most prominent club acts in St.Petersburg and Moscow, hundreds attend their numerous gigs. However, they do not confine themselves and their melodic, hyperenergetic, and positive music to home audience only and have been playing abroad for quite a time. First they visited Germany as "club exchange band", in 1995, and now they play there regularly, both in clubs and at festivals and open airs. Besides, they perform, since 1997, in Finland 3 to 4 times a year to adoring capacity crowds - be it small venues or festivals. Switzerland heard them, too, and in August 2002 the band performed for the first time in the Netherlands - at the Lowlands Festival and in Melkweg, Amsterdam.

Watch "mkunst"-homepage at www.mkunst.ru...

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alphabetical trip through NYC / (c) Helge Jepsen

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ILLUSTRATIONS OF HELGE JEPSEN: www.helgejespsen.de

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I love the muted colored pictures from HELGE JEPSEN. His Illustrations often reminds me of old advertisements. Besides his remittance work for different companies, he designed pictures of different subjects - like series, e. G. "The World of Gasoline", "The wonderful world of Electricity" or "Alltime favourite TV shows". But my favourites are definitely the illustrations of "Alphabetical trip through New York city".

Jepsen studied communications design at the university of Essen. Since then he works successfully as a freelancer and illustrator for numerous magazines and newspapers (Stern, Max, Wirtschaftswoche, Bild, Playboy, Men's Health, Allegra etc). He creates company logos and is author of the cookbook "First Date" (together. with Frank David).

Watch his attractive homepage to get an idea of his whole work at www.helgejepsen.de...

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CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: www.cirquedusoleil.com

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My favourite circus is called "Cirque du Soleil".
I have seen five shows already and I'm a little bit addicted to it:
Alegria - in Duesseldorf / Germany
Quidam - in Duesseldorf / Germany
Saltimbanco - in London / UK
O - in Las Vegas / USA
La Nouba - in Orlando / USA

The next show for me is upcoming in August 2004:
Dralion - in Antwerp / Belgium

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History

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At the beginning of the eighties, some young public entertainers create the high heels Club. Most of them walk on stilts - a habit they got their name from - but there's also fire blowers, jugglers... It happens in Quebec, a region which doesn't have any circus tradition yet. These artists then decide to set up a festival in order to gather everyone of them and to be able to exchange their ideas and their talent. They finally decided to perform every show in the same big top. And in 1984, during the 450th anniversary of the arrival of Jacques Cartier in Canada, the Cirque du Soleil is born. It travels around Quebec while offering a theatralized show which mixes the arts of the circus and the street, and features original music, light effects and costumes. It's slightly different from the traditional circus, as the absence of animals in the shows for instance.

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8 shows in the whole world

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Alegria : This show, which means "joy" in Spanish, features clowns who comment the power and its evolution among historical figures. About forty artists from 10 to 45 years old perform in the show. They're from the entire world: from Canada to China, including Belgium, Russia...

Saltimbanco : In that show, the actors, as every human being actually, are born naked : they're the worms. As time goes on, they have to dress to adapt their new environment. More than 110 costumes made with all kinds of materials (velvet, imitation leather, crystalline, jean...) have been created for the show.

Mystere : It's a surrealistic celebration of music, dance, acrobatics and comedy. The audience is brought in a metaphoric journey which starts at the beginning of times. The troupe of 72 artists from 18 different countries perform its show permanently at the theatre of the Treasure Island hotel and casino in Las Vegas, designed especially for its needs.

O : O, it's the infinite, the perfection, but also... the French translation of water. This show honors the theatre, this place where anything can happen and where occurs the drama of life, while telling it all through the ages. 74 artists perform on an aquatic stage and propose an impressive range of shows. This show is performed exclusively at the theatre of the Bellagio hotel and casino in Las Vegas. It'll bring you through the waters of your imagination.

Quidam : Quidam is a more scripted show; it integrates performance and theatricality. The shows include either high acrobatic performances and a great beauty: German wheel, banquine, climbing rope, diabolo, aerial contortion are scheduled. Some funny and infernal point out every kind of cruelty while bringing purity, poetry and tenderness.

La Nouba : Since December 23rd 1998, the new release of the Cirque du Soleil belongs to the program of the Walt Disney World Resort, the theatre of the Walt Disney World theme park, in Orlando, Florida where it will be performed permanently. This show was set up by the usual team of creators features 65 artists from around the globe for a new original theatrical experience that goes beyond the imagination limits.

Dralion : It's a mix of the occidental and the oriental circuses, horoscopes and symbols from both worlds, Dralion is a fusion between the dragon and the lion. Among other mixes, the one between man and nature is present. Those two elements have to come to harmony. Another principle of oriental philosophy...

Varekai : The show, that pays tribute to the nomadic soul, to the spirit and art of the circus tradition, tells the absurd and extraordinary adventures in that place of pure and undiluted possibility imbued with fantastical creatures.

>>> for more informations watch: www.cirquedusoleil.com