The Start Of The Karneval Season In Cologne: Memories Of Skarneval

It’s November 11th, one of the most important days of the year in my hometown Cologne: the start of the Carneval season. My daughters are in Kindergarten dressed up as fairies. The notorious “Kölsch” (the dialect spoken by Cologne natives) music will be heard in the overcrowded pubs from 11:11. And I would like to share a video with you by a shortlived project I was lucky to be part of.
In 2004 a bunch of local musicians joined forces to bring Kölsch Karneval and Ska music together. The set consisted of some Ska evergreens with lyrics rewritten in Koelsch, and some Karneval evergreens re-arranged in a Ska style. The band was aptly called Skarneval and played local clubs like Sonic Ballroom, Stiefel as well as participating in more traditional Karneval, as in the “Losse Mer Singe” session.

The musicians involved were:

Andreas Schulte: Bass, lyrics (Monkey Shop, Gerry Lee & The Wanted Men”)
Chris Hölzel: guitar (The Braces)
Dierk Gerken: drums (Banana Peel Sippers, The Braces)
Ekki Maas: trombone (Erdmöbel, Ska producer)
Hannes Klein: trumpet (Monkey Shop)
Jancee Warnick: vocals (Jancee’s Pornick Casino)
Joachim Uerschels: guitar (The Braces)
Marc Steinweg: organ (Jin Jin)
Martin Störkmann: saxophone (Ray Collins Hotclub, The Braces )
Peter Paul Heinen: vocals, decke Trumm (Monkey Shop)

Skarneval was active in the Karneval seasons 2004-2006. Some of the members are still together as Jamaika Jupp, taking the concept beyond Karneval and bringing together Jamaican Music and Koelsch pub culture on different levels in a stripped down line up.

The video was directed by Ekki Maas.