Photo courtesy of Pooquette
Date: February 11, 2014
Venue: Friends And Lovers
Review by Dawoud Kringle
On a freezing February 11th, in a new venue in Brooklyn, a mysterious rubato on an A tonic led the way to a mad Gypsy dance around implied minor chords. After frenetic rhythms and violin pyrotechnics, the song built to a fevered pitch, and abruptly ended.
Having begun their set in such an attention grabbing way, Pooquette continued with a sensual waltz that began smoothly, almost tenderly, and ended in an orgiastic fist fight.
They continued with Django Reinhardt’s “Minor Swing.” They approached this in a fitting tribute to the gypsy master that, nonetheless, made the song their own.
A sweet lament followed this. The violin cried as if longing for a departed lover while the bass and drums beat their fists in agonized frustration. Suddenly, they were off on another gypsy excursion, traversing the song at breakneck speed and mad passion.
The next song was a sad ballad that Pooquette sung in French. She played the violin mostly in a ukulele like strummed pizzicato. After a violin solo, the bass took a fiery solo. As the final verses of the song were made manifest, I realized I didn’t need to understand the lyrics to know what the song was about. Its meaning was clear.
They concluded their set with another mad gypsy dance. The drummer took a pronounced and energetic, but all too brief solo. The band drove the song to the kind of insane and concupiscent frenzy one had, by now, expected of their music.
All throughout the performance, there was one interesting moment after another; sometimes quiet and sensuous, like a woman whispering in her lover’s ear, other times passionate almost to the point of violence.
Violinist/bandleader Pooquette is a brilliant and accomplished musician. Her striking visual appearance only augments and compliments her musicianship. Her tone is full and possesses a vocal quality. Bassist Ari Folman-Cohen and drummer Jeff Gretz are equally brilliant. Both men not only providing excellent accompaniment, but also making fascinating musical statements in their own right.
I was later to learn that this was Pooquette’s debut performance. This was a surprise because the music was executed with the kind of precision one expects from seasoned performances as a unit. It’s impossible to think of Pooquette without adjectives such as “gypsy,” “lusty,” “fiery,” “impassioned,” and the like. Their music evokes a world of delicious danger, heavy emotions, and life lived to its extreme. They are definitely worth experiencing.
