Die Faszination für Frank Zappas ironische

FIDO PLAYS ZAPPA
A BREAKNECK BIG DIPPER RIDE THROUGH THE BIG Z'S NUTTY COSMOS
Celebrating the 75th birth year of Frank Zappa (*21.12.1940), great american composer, guitarist and idiosyncratic
boogeyman deceased way too early in 1993, swiss tribute-orchestra FiDO is back on the road in 2015 with the release of
their concert-movie 'FiDO wird 10 und feiert - Live at Gare du Nord' in germany/europe.
The huge oeuvre of one of the greatest american composers of modern times is ranging from orchestral musique concrete,
complex bigband-rock-arrangements & free improvisation to jazz, country and the doowop-inspired sound collages of the
early Mothers of Inventions in the Sixties, and is - beneath it’s musical brilliance and amazing diversity - full of ironic citations,
humorous allusions and vicious blows against prudery and dishonesty of society.
Reason enough for our rocking’ teenage combo to continuously ride through the big Z’s nutty cosmos even in it’s 12th year
and pay tribute to 75 years of sheer Zappa madness. Flower Punk meets Black Page meets Dental Floss and Nanook is
trudging through the Village Of The Sun, or so. Varied and virtuoso in styles, with raised eyebrow, braised guts and gutted
brains, FiDO perform Zappa's classics with virtuosity and verve for the present time and answers his question "Does Humor
Belong In Music?" with a zealous and resounding "YES!"
With a number of acclaimed gigs in Switzerland and Germany and four releases over the last decade, the colourful combo
has achieved approval in the world-wide Zappa-community. With competence, virtuosity, humor and a distinctive approach,
FiDO still gets high after 10 years on Big Z’s masterful works.
BIO
In 1987, bass player Pascal Grünenfelder was immediately captivated by hearing Frank Zappa's ironic jaw crushing and
intricate rock-fusion for the first time, as he was confronted with the compositional geniality and preposterous humour of
such songs as "Zomby Woof", "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" or "Dinah-Moe Humm".
Overwhelmed by musical brilliance and the disrespectful ironic concept of the master of all fusions, the bassist began to
explore Zappa's universe with ears full of wonder. Inspired by the experimental soundscapes of the early Mothers Of
Invention, the colourful jazzrock imagery of the 70ies, the pompous 80ies rock big bands with Wackerman, Bozzio and
Colaiuta, and the modern orchestral works of a Varese-admiring Zappa, the decision was made to reinterprete selected
gems from Frank's sheer endless repertoire with the help of a bunch of like-minded musicians.
Grünenfelders seven piece rocking teenage combo invites you to a breakneck big dipper ride through the big Z's nutty
cosmos, celebrates obscure polyphone sounding stories of talking dogs, stinking feet, sad eskimos and all kinds of
curiousities of life. Unafraid of unorthodox handling of the compositions, the ten musicians interprete Zappa's classics with
virtuosity and verve for the present time and answer his question "Does Humor Belong In Music?" with a zealous and
resounding "YES!" Improvisational freespace is utilised shamelessly, stylistic frontiers are broken down, the musical
multiplicity and hilarious humour of Zappa's work is exploited to the max.
DISCOGRAPHY
- FiDO wird 10 und feiert – Live at Gare du Nord & More, Film auf USB-Stick 2013
- Too Big To Fail, CD Januar 2011, Czar Of Crickets
- FiDOplaysZAPPA on the Dental Floss, DVD August 2007
- Live @ Sudhaus Basel, CD September 2006, Limited Handmade Red-Sofa Edition
- FiDOplaysZAPPA, CDR2005
LINE UP
Dave Muscheidt – Vocals
Lukas Burri - Saxes
Martin Medimorec – Vibraphone, Marimba, Percussion
Oli Friedli – Piano, Keys
Stef Strittmatter – Guitar & Vocals
Pascal Grünenfelder – Bass & Vocals, Arrangements
Remy Sträuli – Drums & Vocals
LIVE 2003-2014
Jazzkantine Luzern, Jazzfestival Willisau, Zappanale 21 DE-Bad Doberan, Franzis DE-Wetzlar, KIK Sissach, La Fourmi Luzern,
Theater Palazzo Liestal, im Fluss Basel, Kino Royal Basel, Kuppel Basel, Mahogany Hall Bern, Theater Stok Zürich, Forum
Würth Arlesheim, CCD Delemont, E-Werk DE-Freiburg, BScene Basel, Werkstatt Chur, Culturium Basel, NED Montreux, Alter
Zoll Basel, Kulturhaus Loft Kollbrunn, K9 DE-Konstanz, Barfüsserplatz Basel und andere.
REVIEWED
.. The result is magnificent.The choice of compositions is excellent and the arrangements and the performance are stunning,
to say the least.
.. Wenige Zappa-Coverbands haben so großartige Möglichkeiten wie FiDOplaysZAPPA. Die handwerklich-technische Qualität
des Ensembles ist enorm; die straffe Führung der Arrangements in moderner, zeitloser Handschrift schenkt den Klassikern
neues Leben ein; die Band erliegt keinen kompositorischen Tücken und meistert das schwere Œuvre mit eindrucksvoll leicht
und eingängig klingender Finesse.
.. Guter Gesang, perlende Percussion, elegantes Piano und virtuoses Akustik-Gitarrenspiel runden die Sache ab. Größtenteils
bleiben FIDOplaysZAPPA nah an den Originalen, teilweise kürzen und straffen sie die Arrangements etwas. Und der
anarchische Humor der großen Vorbilds blitzt immer wieder auf. So verpassen die Schweizer Zappas Songs durchaus eine
eigene Note, gelungen!
WORKS 14/15
SINISTER FOOTWEAR II (THEM OR US, 1984) - THE BLACK PAGE (ZAPPA IN NEW YORK, 1978) - MOGGIO (THE MAN FROM
UTOPIA, 1983) - DOG/BREATH (UNCLE MEAT, 1969) - SLEEP DIRT (SLEEP DIRT, 1979) - ECHIDNA'S ARF (ROXY &
ELSEWHERE, 1974) - DON'T YOU EVER WASH THAT THING (ROXY & ELSEWHERE, 1974) - FLOWER PUNK (WE’RE ONLY IN
IT FOR THE MONEY, 1968) - OH NO (WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH, 1970) - BLESSED RELIEF (THE GRAND WAZOO, 1972) EAT THAT QUESTION (THE GRAND WAZOO, 1972) - CAMARILLO BRILLO (OVER-NITE SENSATION, 1973) - MONTANA
(OVER-NITE SENSATION, 1973) - ZOMBY WOOF (OVER-NITE SENSATION, 1973) - COSMIC DEBRIS (APOSTROPHE (‘), 1974)
- DONT EAT THE YELLOW SNOW (APOSTROPHE (‘), 1974) - NANOOK RUBS IT (APOSTROPHE (‘), 1974) - ST. ALPHONSO'S
PANCAKE BREAKFAST (APOSTROPHE (‘), 1974) - FATHER O’BLIVION (APOSTROPHE (‘), 1974) - MORE TROUBLE EVERY DAY
(ROXY & ELSEWHERE, 1974) - VILLAGE OF THE SUN (ROXY & ELSEWHERE, 1974) - MUFFIN MAN (BONGO FURY, 1975) ANDY (ONE SIZE FITS ALL, 1975) - INCA ROADS (ONE SIZE FITS ALL, 1975) - EVELYN, A MODIFIED DOG (ONE SIZE FITS
ALL, 1975) - SAN BER'DINO (ONE SIZE FITS ALL, 1975) - ZOOT ALLURES (ZOOT ALLURES, 1976) - BLACK NAPKINS (ZOOT
ALLURES, 1976) - HONEY, DONT YOU WANT A MAN LIKE ME? (ZAPPA IN NEW YORK, 1978) - FLTHY HABITS (SLEEP
DIRT,1979) - WHATS NEW IN BALTIMORE? (FRANK ZAPPA MEETS THE MOTHERS OF PREVENTION, 1985)
PASCAL GRÜNENFELDER, LACHENSTR 9, CH-4056 BASEL, +41 76 3727572
[email protected], WWW.FIDOPLAYSZAPPA.COM