Lister

By Lea Pagh
Translated by Lea Enslev

”Well OK, then just start singing”.

The guests beneath the pavilion are deeply sceptic, which is evident from the expression on their hung-over faces, as they watch the four smiling guys in red and white candy striped shirts and slanting straw hats.

The quartet strikes a note – “Mmmmmhh” – and sings the first lines flawlessly. Their traditional barbershop song is like liquid honey, while they sing stanzas about Roskilde Festival like “The festival makes all wishes come true” while snapping their fingers merrily in time and raising their straw hats.

“So have a good time”, Krudtfar croons, accompanied by Tiny Thies (the tallest and largest of the Candy Guys) who gently sings “And have fun”, followed by MP who finish the sequence with a merry “And staaaand together!”

The listeners’ faces have changed their expression from suspicious to enthusiastic, and they repay with whoops of joy and applause. A guy leaves his camping chair while shouting: “I just really feel like hugging you!” just before he flings his arms around the quartet.

Women – but beers as well

The Candy Guys have taken some days off their music studies in Aarhus in order to spread joy at Roskilde Festival with their barbershop singing, which is a genre with “roots in the American choir tradition, but which is also very corny,” as they explain.

The Candy Guys’ motive is primarily one of wooing the ladies – but cold beers also have a share. And apparently their singing pays off, which is evident from the result Monday: 163 beers, ½ gram of pot and a single banana.

“It’s really funny seeing how surprised people are that we actually are able to sing. Besides that, I would like to point out again that we do receive an enormous amount of beers,” Peter aka MP says.

Bette Thies continues this line of thinking and answers:

“My voice is fucked already. I don’t know how we are going to pull through until Thursday.”

His scepticism does not last long, as the quartet gets attracted by the camp “Pussy Nest”, where the polyphonic group finishes their singing with a harmony so ravishingly beautiful that the girls from the camp, while giggling, go off to provide the band with beers.

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