Vienna Concert Hall

Invitation to dance the salsa!

Avishai Cohen Banda at the Konzerthaus

(Bild: © Antonia Wechner / Wiener Konzerthaus)

Jazz bassist Avishai Cohen and his Banda turned the Great Hall of the Wiener Konzerthaus into a dance hall with jazz with a Latin-Caribbean flavor.

The rhythm is compelling, the melodies cheerfully melancholic and there is plenty of room for a personal touch - jazz bassist Avishai Cohen dedicates his new project "Iroko" to Latin jazz. With his five-piece banda, he has now successfully encouraged people to dance at the Vienna Konzerthaus. All salsa etc!

The long-standing friendship between Cohen, who comes from Israel and has lived in New York for many years, and conga virtuoso Abraham Rodriguez Jr. was the catalyst for this musical excursion to the south. The mythical Iroko tree is said to harbor various spirits - which need to be banished. In the round dance of Afro-Caribbean and original compositions, the romantics Gabriel Fauré, Bob Marley and James Brown also appear in a new sound and give themselves over to the sultry, sensual feeling of life, which creates a clearly hypnotic effect in the uniform, polyphonic singing. Twice percussion, once trumpet, once saxophone and supplemented with female vocals. Cohen's bass is incisive - not only rhythmically, but also remarkably melodic, the sonorous sound of the bowed strings tells gripping stories, enters into a passionate flamenco dialog with Virginia Alves' voice and then gives itself completely to the archaic rhythm again with the banda partners - all percussion! The double bass also becomes a percussion instrument. The evil spirits are put in their place - with sound, dance and a small sea of cell phone lights.

Verena Kienast