Sohrab loves “Tora san”. Photo shot in Tokyo’s Asakusa district
January 5th 2013 Sohrab invited two very talented Swiss musicians to jam with him in his New York-Williamsburg studio: New York based keyboardist and composer Manu Kochand Swiss based PEDRAPRETA‘s drummer Florian Reichle. The session was so much fun and productive that Sohrab wants both musician joining his band in the near future. Enshallah. It was the first time for Sohrab to play with Manu and the second time with Florian.
The music they played was totally improvised, although Sohrab came up with ideas of his own and integrated them in the improv to give the Swiss musicians an idea how his music concept would work.
In fact the melody you hear in this recording is already a half finished new composition. The jam was recorded by iPhone. The last two minutes are missing due to technical problems.
As you might know Sohrab has two other Swiss musicians in his band: Swiss Chris on drums and Derek Nievergelt on bass who were also the rhythm section in four tracks of Nu World Trash. The ex bassist Damon Banks hooked up Manu with Sohrab. And the Swiss sax player Christoph Irniger recommended Florian to Sohrab.
This is the first time that SoSaLa is playing outside of New York. SoSaLa’s regular memnbers, Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi and Brian Prunka, are meeting up with SoSaLa’s free members (see the line ups below) in New Orleans. They’re going to play new versions or arrangements of songs from the CD “Nu World Trash”.
Sohrab the Iranian samurai (photo by Tasja Keetman)
Brian Prunka on oud (photo courtesy of Brian Prunka)
SoSaLa is invited bythe Sixth New Orleans Middle East Film Festival to help raise money for the festival which will be held March 8 through 17, 2013. Sohrab is going to perform music which “…blends many elements from different cultures and time frames: funk, rock, jazz & ethnic sounds, electric & acoustic instruments, all swirling around one another in a most mesmerizing way. Sohraab does more spoken word than singing, spewing out his views to bring the world closer together. The festive spirit of the music is often infectious…I can agree with his view of our splintered world by trying to pull different threads together into a hopeful mosaic. Some of the melodies remind me of the Jewish prayers heard in my youth but perhaps these melodies are universal in nature and shared by numerous cultures. You can visit Saadat’s website at www.sohrab.info and learn about the real Iran which you won’t find out about in the controlled news of the world. A toast to a New Iran.” (Bruce Lee Gallanter, NY’sDowntown Music Gallery co-owner, Feb 24, 2012)
About the schedules
Date: Friday, December 7, 2012 Time: 9:30pm Venue:Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center(618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70113, ph: 504-352-1150) Tickets: $12 general / $10 Zeitgeist members & students
Line up:Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (sax and vocals), Brian Prunka (electric guitar and oud), Tarik Hassan (elecric bass) and Marcello Benetti(drums)
Hassan Tarik on bass (photo courtesy of Tarik Hassan)Marcello Benetti on drums (photo courtesy of Marcello Benetti)
Date: Saturday, December 8, 2012 Time: 9:30pm Venue:Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center (618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70113, ph: 504-352-1150) Tickets: $12 general / $10 Zeitgeist members & students
Line up: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (sax and vocals), Brian Prunka (electric guitar and oud) and Marcello Benetti (drums)
Date: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 Time: 11pm Venue:Open Ears Music @ The Blue Nile(532 Frenchmen St. New Orleans, LA). Ticket: $10
Line up: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (sax and vocals), Brian Prunka (electric guitar and oud), Jeff Albert(trombone and electronics), Helen Gillet (cello and electronics), Tarik Hassan (electric bass) and Marcello Benetti (drums).
Jeff Albert on tromboneHelen Gillet on cello (photo by Zack Smith)
