Iowa debut | For the past 12 years, Berlin’s 17 Hippies have
been playing their whirling, crashing, driving, bobbing and weaving mixture
of music from around the world, throughout Europe and beyond. Imagine a mix
of Eastern melodies, Balkan rhythms, French chanson, Anglo songwriting and
Cajun tunes all perfectly blended. Oh, and they sing in German, English and
French.
Their musical backgrounds range from pop-rock to classical to jazz, and are
reflected in the instruments they play: accordion, trombone, trumpet,
violin, cello, woodwinds, mandolin, ukulele, banjo, Irish bouzouki, guitar,
double bass, Indian harmonium and more.
Launching themselves as a largely instrumental trio in 1995, the band
mutated slowly into the present ensemble, now numbering 13 musicians.
The Hippies scored a French radio hit with “Marlene” and created the
soundtrack for the award-winning movie Halbe Treppe by Adreas Dresen.
Other projects have ranged from Sexy Ambient Hippies, with DJs, to 17
Hippies Play Guitar, featuring New York guitarist Marc Ribot.
Their new CD, Heimlich, is the second studio production of their
eight releases. Songs range from “Just Like You,” blending melancholy
Tex-Mex with Vaudeville strings, to “The Moving Song,” Zydeco meets
Bollywood, with a jew’s harp taking the lead. Sun Sept
21 | 7 pm Greene Square Park
| Cedar Rapids
Free admission | Donations welcome Back to calendar
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