Songs From The Labyrinth: 2006/07

Renaissance Blues - Sting sings songs to the lute in the Herkulessaal...

It's not as if the audience was unprepared. The posters advertise that Sting, rock star, will play songs by the English Renaissance musician John Dowland. His current CD is already dedicated to Dowland. But secretly, some in Munich's Herkulessaal probably hoped that the Brit would perform as many of his own hits as possible. However, Sting only fulfils this hope to a very limited extent. On this evening, the trained teacher is giving a history lesson, and it soon becomes clear: he himself is just a student.

Because today, everything revolves around the lute, an instrument that John Dowland (1563-1626) mastered. Just as masterfully as the gentleman in the crumpled red velvet jacket who first enters the stage. Edin Karamazov is his name. He picks up one of the strange instruments and lets his hands scurry like confused harvestmen over the wide fingerboard and melon-shaped body to Bach's Toccata and Fugue.

Then Sting arrives. With the broad, smiling self-confidence of a rock star, he basks in the applause, dressed all in black. "Alles klar?" he asks in German. But then he sits down obediently, concentrating, his hands on his knees, and makes eye contact with Master Karamazov. He raises his famous bright, throaty voice, which sounds different than usual—more reserved and gentle. This voice perhaps suits Dowland's music even better than that of a trained tenor.

In essence, the Irish-born singer-songwriter was an early version of a singer-songwriter. His songs speak of isolation and alienation, ethereally playful Renaissance blues. Although Dowland was considered the best lute player of his time, he was denied the job as a string wizard at the court of Queen Elizabeth I – probably because he was a Catholic. So Dowland toured Europe and wrote letters of supplication to London from Nuremberg and Florence.

Sting reads them aloud, with ironic commentary, then sings about death and love, such as the beautiful "Come Again." And the surprise works: Despite Sting's diligence and Karamazov's virtuosity, there's no arts-and-crafts fiddling around here. The whole thing is an interesting experiment; it's as good as it gets. At one point, Sting sits behind his lute, apparently perplexed, starts grinning, and shouts: "I'm lost!" He's missed his cue. He laughs and carries on.

At the end, the two even play real blues: Robert Johnson's "Hellhound On My Trail" sounds great on the lute. Finally, fans get to hear two Sting originals: 'Fields Of Gold' and 'Message In A Bottle.' They have to admit: They weren't even needed on such a successful evening.

(c) Merkur on-line by Johannes Löhr