BLUES & JAZZ FESTIVALS • ¡HOLA PRADO! EXHIBIT • FANTASY BASEL • RELAY RACE Volume 5 Issue 7 CHF 6 6 A Monthly Guide to Living in Basel April 2017 Bicycle Season Is Here BASEL’S SWISS Master all language obstacles. www.inlingua-basel.ch ENGLISH SPEAKING DENTIST Dr. med. med. dent. Christoph Villiger MD DDS Latest Cutting-Edge Dental Technologies CROSSING LANGUAGE BARRIERS As Quality Craniosacral Therapy in Dentistry Matters! Support for mothers & babies For issues around feeding, sleeping, colic, reflux, bonding, the www.zahnarztpraxis-villiger.ch central nervous system, physical www.face-beauty-basel.ch problems & family relations. [email protected] CST offers you the time to rest, the resources to take respite 061 281 60 05 and the space to recover. Holbeinstrasse 81 4051 Basel Shirley Hiscock, BCST, CSTA, Expat Cranio Member of: At ZSB, Gartenstrasse 59, 4052 Basel FMH Swiss Medical Association Mob: 079 129 82 58 Swiss Dental Association Email: [email protected] www.shirleyhiscockexpatcranio.com 2 Basel Life Magazine / www.basellife.com LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Dear Readers Music is in the air this month with an impressive variety of concerts in a wide range of musical styles, including classical, opera, musicals, musical April 2017 Volume 5 Issue 7 theater, movie music, Cuban beats, choir, gospel, and the ever-popular Rock meets Classic event. However, the musical highlights of the month TABLE OF CONTENTS are undoubtedly the Blues Festival Basel and the Jazzfestival Basel, which bring fantastic line-ups of international acts to our city. Feature Event: Blues Festival Basel 4–5 April is also a great month to visit a variety of wine festivals, including the Basel Wyschiff (wine ship), the Basler Wymärt (wine market), the Mondo- vino wine fair, and a weekend of visiting and trying wines directly at the Events in Basel: April 2017 6–11 wine cellars in the region. For a culinary experience, you can indulge at the 3-day street food festival. Fun Outings: Beyond Basel 12–13 If a cultural outing with your children is on your wish list, the month of April has plenty to offer families with a multitude of family concerts; opera; and several children’s theaters sure to entertain, including "Little Red Rid- Markets and Fairs 14–15 ing Hood," "The Valiant Little Tailor," "The Golden Goose," and "Heidi." Don’t miss the book premiere of “Basel’s Hidden Stories,” a delightfully illustrated new children’s book filled with an amusing collection of the best Sports and Recreation 16–17 ghost and monster stories about Basel’s old town. A sure sign of spring includes the popping up of markets and fairs in the Calendar: April 2017 18–19 area. The nature market in Riehen will help you select the best plants, seeds, flowers, and accessories for your garden. Looking for reading material? Get some great deals at a large annual English second-hand book sale. The in- Cycling Special: Part 1 20–23 ternational design exhibition Blickfang will have you discovering the newest and most innovative trends in interior design, fashion, and jewelry; Fantasy Workshops, Tours, and Education 24–27 Basel will attract fantasy freaks, digital geeks, and game addicts for a 3-day game and comic convention; and parents of small children are invited to the Markthalle for an information fair introducing wide variety of services from Entertainment: Night on the Town 28–35 childcare, education, and parenting to health, sports, and activities. If spring tends to lure you outdoors, get a team together for Quer Durch Ba- Ticket Office: Get Your Tickets Now! back page sel, an exciting annual relay race in the city’s center. Running is not your thing? Why not give archery, climbing, or soccer a try? Spring also brings with it the beginning of bicycle season. If you would like to cycle in Basel, be Mark Your Calendar: May 2017 back page sure to check out this month’s bicycle special bursting with information on everything you need to know from buying and disposing of a bicycle, getting it ready for the road, to important regulations for cycling in Basel for regular and E-bikes, riding with children, bicycle classes, securing your bike, and so much more. Or enjoy this month’s cycling events, including a guided bicycle tour, Tuesday evening bicycle races, and eight hours of cycling in a church. And if you are interested in Swiss traditions, turn the pages to discover the strange but fun after-Easter egg races (Eierleset) or the even stranger burn- ing of a giant snowman at Zürich’s traditional Sechseläuten spring festival. Wishing you a month of April filled with music, sports, and excitement! Christine Basel Life Magazine Staff: Editor-in-Chief: COVER: This month’s cover photo captures the rela- Christine Pesold tively uncommon sight of flying swans. Although many Advertising & Subscription Manager / Editor: of these waterfowl live on Swiss rivers and lakes, you Susanne Hiller rarely see them in the air. They are among the largest and heaviest flying birds, making it difficult for them Design & Print: to take off and land. They must take a “run-up,” flap- Schwabe AG ping their wings, for quite a distance before they can For more information about subscribing or advertising – please contact us: lift out of the water, and they also need large areas of open water to land. Once they are airborne, however, info basellife.com they can travel long distances. While the mute swans www.facebook.com/basellifemagazine in Western Europe generally stay all year round, www.basellife.com those living in colder areas often are migratory. BASEL LIFE MAGAZINE / BASEL FAMILY GmbH © Copyright 2017. All rights reserved. It is our goal to provide valuable, timely information to our readers. The opinions expressed in the articles in this magazine are those of the contributing authors and do not reflect those of other members of the editorial staff and of any organizations or agencies distributing this magazine. Though we make every attempt to provide accurate information, we cannot be held respon- sible if any event is cancelled, postponed, or modified. We encourage readers to contact the event organizers or their websites to obtain the most current event information. Please note: No part of this periodical may be duplicated in any fashion, or redistributed in any written language, without permission from the executive staff at Basel Family GmbH. If you have any questions, contact Basel Family GmbH staff at: info basellife.com. photo credit: © christine pesold (cover and page 3) April 2017 3 Feature Event Blues Festival Basel April 4–9 For 18 consecutive years, the Blues Festival Basel has been bringing world-class blues artists to the Basel area, helping to make this style of mu- sic a permanent fixture on the Basel music scene. On its 10th anniversary, the Blues Festival Basel was officially recognized by The Blues Founda- tion in Memphis, Tennessee, and the annually awarded “Swiss Blues Award” has become prestigious—not only in Switzerland, but also in the birthplace of the blues, where one award now sits in the Chicago living room of blues talent and Basel native Sam Burckhardt. For 6 days each April, the Blues Festival Basel features international stars as well as local talent from the world of blues. The Volkshaus in Kleinbasel is the perfect venue for this style of music, with round-table seating in the front section, regular seating in the middle, and a standing area by the bar where drinks can be enjoyed throughout the concerts. The evening concerts start at 20:00, doors open at 19:00, and tickets can be purchased through Ticketcorner. Prices range from CHF 41.20 for standing-room tickets to CHF 71.80 for the best seats and CHF 91.90 for reserved-table seating with service (dis- counts for Roche employees). The themes and artists vary for each of the 6 days, but will entertain the most die-hard fans. www.bluesbasel.ch April 4: Promo Blues Night April 6: Tasha Taylor (USA) / Aynsley Lister Feat. Ben Poole, Stevie Nimmo, and Laurence Jones (UK) The opening night of the Blues Festival Basel has from its inception been dedicated to the promotion of young talent, offering young blues Tasha Taylor, daughter of bands from Switzerland, Alsace, and the southern Baden area in Ger- R&B trailblazer and Stax many the opportunity to present themselves and their music to a wider giant Johnnie Taylor, has audience. A pre-festival competition determines the five participating always carried the torch for bands, and the winner of the year’s Promo Blues Night will be invited soul and blues. Now, with back the following year to open for one of the main acts. This year’s her dazzling third album, selected bands are Blue Scream (nominated by Blues Festival Baden), “Honey for the Biscuit,” the Estella Benedetti & Michael Giger Band (nominated by Lucerne Blues U.S. singer-songwriter-mu­ Festival), Basel band Coffee n’ Blues, The Blues Mystery (nominated by sician unveils 13 new songs Sierre Blues Festival), and Guido Melone and the Down Town Blues that push her beloved Band from Baselland. Entrance on this evening is free! genre into the spotlight. For the second act of the evening, Aynsley Lister, Ben Poole, Stevie Nimmo, and Laurence Jones, who are among the U.K.’s best blues guitarists and have won many awards, will per- form both solo and togeth- er. Aynsley Lister covers everything from blues to rock and pop—energetic, powerful, and with a great deal of passion. Guitarist and singer Ben Poole is considered the most promising talent in the British blues-rock scene; Stevie Nimmo not only plays the blues, but lets it flow through his veins; and Laurence Jones delivers exciting and energetic guitar playing that the BBC even likened to that of a young Robin Trower.