Category Archives: Concert And Event Reviews

Concert Review: Siavash and Kaveh Haghtalab…imagine a garden you’ve never been in before. This music will take your hand, and show you into this garden.

Venue: Cafe Nadery

Date: Saturday, January 4, 2014

Photo courtesy of Cafe Nadery

Photo courtesy of Cafe Nadery

Concert Review by Matt Cole

On Saturday, the 4th of January, I went down to Cafe Nadery in the West Village to hear some Persian classical music, played by the brothers Siavash and Kaveh Haghtalab. Cafe Nadery is named for an establishment in Tehran which, in the ’40s and ’50s, was one of the spots at which intellectuals gathered. The version in New York is a long, narrow room, with many pictures of notable Iranian writers and thinkers on the walls, and a bookshelf located behind where the musicians were to play, filled with a variety of titles, including books on Iran, chess, film noir, and a large selection in Farsi.

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Event Review: globalFEST 2014…a marvelous accomplishment, and service to the musical community

CollageCanvas14_unflat_8Date: January 12, 2014
Venue: Webster Hall (NY)

Review by Dawoud Kringle

I arrived early at the globalFEST 2014, held at NYC’s Webster Hall. Things were already livening up. People were pouring in and milling about in anticipation of a great musical event.

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Concert Review: Mem Nahadr..there seems nothing she can’t sing. At times delicate and soft, and other times powerful and indomitable. And always beautiful.

Date: December 5, 2013
Venue: Silvana (NY)

Silvana, a new venue in Harlem owned by the same people who own The Shrine is becoming the new scene for fine music in Harlem.  One can hear some marvelous music every night. One such night happened when Mem Nahadr and her band performed.

Mem Nahadr – (also known as M. Nahadr, “Madwoman” and simply “M”. The name NAHADR meaning “Divine LIght’) – is an internationally acclaimed singer, songwriter, performance artist  film composer, author,  independent filmmaker and multidisciplinary video/sonic visionary. Some of her work includes the performance of Butterfly (by Yoko Kanno and Chris Mosdell) for the soundtrack to Cowboy Bebop , a musical compilation entitled: Eclectic Is M, her Off-Broadway performance art piece  Madwoman: A Contemporary Opera, and her new Modern Opera entitled: Femme Fractale: An Opera of Reflection.

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Concert Review: Underground Horns’ performance exuded superlative musical skill

The Underground HornsVenue: Drom (NY)
Date: December 28, 2013

Review by Dawoud Kringle

On an unseasonably warm winter night, in the subterranean comfort of Drom, the Underground Horns (describing themselves as “a 6-piece brass band playing afro funk bhangra new Orleans Latin grooves and beyond”) came out swinging with a heavy fisted, heavy grooving rendering of Mingus’ “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.” The arrangement was so unlike the original that one may have been taken aback, had it not been so skilfully executed and utterly enjoyable to listen to.

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Concert Review: Lauren Lee Jazz Project – a boundary-pushing ensemble led by Lauren Lee, a highly skilled and very imaginative pianist and singer

Venue: Silvana (Harlem, NY)
Date: November 13, 2013

Review by Dawoud Kringle

avatars-000046321890-hsrjob-t200x200Silvana has been bringing in some interesting musical groups. On a cold mid-November night, Lauren Lee (piano/vocals), Jimmy Lopez (electronic percussion), and Charley Sabatino (bass) hit the stage.

Lee set the tone with a vocal melody of jazzy, mellow feel, which was answered on piano by a reharmonized chord melody. The song started to take on a bossa nova jazz; but insisted upon inverting itself like a Möbius strip. What was interesting was how the two diametrically opposed structures, classic jazz and free jazz existed side by side; distinct and separate, yet fitting comfortably with each other.

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