Category Archives: Tour Reports

Video Report: SoSaLa 2nd New Orleans 2013 Invasion from 11/16 through 11/20/2013

SoSaLa played at following venues:

1. Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center, Saturday, November 16, 9pm
2. Checkpoint Charlie, Sunday, November 17 @ Acoustic Open Mic with Jim Smith (they were supposed to play at Big Box which unfortunately closed the night before)
3. Open Ears Music @ The Blue Nile,  November 19, 10pm

The members were: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi on sax and vocals,  Marcello Benetti on drums,  Joe Cabral on electric bass and Chris Alford on electric guitar. Guest appearances @ Blue Nile by Martin Krusche (soprano sax) and Rob Wagner (tenor sax).

All shows went fine… All the musicians gave their best… All audiences of the three shows enjoyed the music (except of one Iranian guy at Blue Nile who couldn’t accept my interpretation of the deaths of  four Iranian musicians – members of the Yellow Dogs – in New York’s Williamsburg, November 11th. He yelled at Sohrab and left the venue furiously.) After the shows CDs and the new SoSaLa t-shirt sold very well.

SoSaLa interviewed by WTUL FM (New Orleans)Sohrab was invited by WTUL New Orleans 91.5 FM‘s DJ Ruby for an interview, November 17. He talked about his album, his activism, his mentor Ornette Coleman and performed live on tenor sax “Welcome New Iran.” Please listen to the edited interview here: http://www.mixcloud.com/DJ_RUBY/souljazz-expresssosala-in-studio-interview/

Videos from the Zeitgeist show

Two unexpected incidents happened at the Blue Nile show:

#1 In the beginning of “Sad Sake ” Sohrab’s sax suddenly didn’t make any sound after inviting Martin Krusche on stage. He tried to fix this problem while the band was playing but in vain. He signed to his guitar player, Chris, to play a longer solo and gave his sax to Martin who’s also Sohrab’s sax repair man to fix it. Luckily he could do that, he saved Sohrab from a tragedy. Sohrab thanked him with a big hug. Until this day Sohrab can’t forget this night. Have you ever heard of an incident like this?  Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!

#2 When Sohrab started to talk about the killings of three Iranian rock musicians – members of the indie rock band the Yellow Dogs – in East Williamsburg, an Iranian in the audience freaked out and yelled at Sohrab: ” How can you say that this incident has something to do with Iran and make Iranians responsible for this?” Then he threw the SoSaLa CD and the t-shirt, which he purchased before the show, on stage and left the club. Sohrab tried to stop him from stage and shouted: “Hey, let’s talk about it.” But the Iranian ignored Sohrab and rushed out of the club. The audience was irritated by this incident and couldn’t understand what was happening between Sohrab and the Iranian guy. Sohrab used this happening as a chance to explain the audience what has been going wrong in Iran and between Iranians for the last 35 years since the beginning of the Iranain revolution.

Videos from the Blue Nile show

Sohrab interviewed by WTUL 91.5 FM radio interview, November 17, 2013

ABOUT THE LAST INVASION

Video Report: SoSaLa’s New Orleans invasion from 12/7 through 12/11/2012

 

Sohrab

SoSaLa Baltimore/Washington DC Tour 2013 Report

A scetch of Sohrab by Nasser @ Bossa (Washington DC), August 11, 2013
A scetch of Sohrab by Nasser @ Bossa (Washington DC), August 11, 2013

From August 10 through August 14 2013 SoSaLa played three concerts in Baltimore and Washington DC. Due to budget reasons Sohrab’s NY regular musicians couldn’t join him. Instead he invited local musicians to join him under the name of SoSaLa. Before each concert Sohrab had a rehearsal of 90 minutes with the members. It was the first time that he had no oud player in the band. The sound of each concert was different and equally good. All musicians had no problem to follow Sohrab’s instructions and guidance.

The response of all audiences was exceptional positive. Especially the Bossa audience which was attended by many Iranian-Americans, had a good time and danced to songs like “Khorasan”, “Nu Persian Flamenco” and “Heavy Funk.” After the shows Sohrab was able to sell many CDs, especially at Bossa.

After all shows all managers were very happy about the music and invited SoSaLa back to play again in the near future. Spring 2014 maybe?

Venues/Cities

1. An Die Musik (Baltimore, MD)
Date: Saturday, August 10, 2013
The SoSaLa members are: Sohrab on tenor sax and vocals, Rob Fontana on keyboards, Luke Stewart on bass and Louie Rozier on drums.

2.  Bossa Bistro & Lounge  (Washington, DC)
Date: Sunday, August 11, 2013
The SoSaLa members are: Sohrab on tenor sax and vocals, Rob Coltun on electric guitar ( Cheick Hamala Diabate Band), Michael Coltun on electric bass (Les Rhinocéros/Tzadik Rec), Mosno Al-Moseeki on djembe and Byron McWilliams on drums.

Opening acts: The Chakavak Ensemble (traditional Persian Music) and Rumi poetry by Rogan Tousi in Farsi and in English with music by The Barefoot Revolution.

3.  Shaw’s Tavern (Washington, DC,  Tuesday, August 13, 2013)
The SoSaLa members are: Sohrab on tenor sax and vocals, Luke Stewart on bass, Louie Rozier on drums and Rob Fontana on keyboards.

Special thanks to the venue owners and mangers: Henry Wong (An Die Musik), Rob Coltun (Bossa) and Rob Heim (Shaw’s Tavern)

FM Radio Interviews and concert announcements

Sohrab interview (starts from 0:35:17) with WPFW FM (Washington DC) host Luke Stewart, August 8, 2013: http://archive.wpfwfm.org/mp3/wpfw_130808_000001onitejazzc.mp3

Doc George Manning/ WEAA 88.9FM (August 5, 2013)

Radio Kouche: http://youtu.be/p646f-rte_o  (August 24, 2013)

SONY DSC
Sohrab, Ardavan Roozbeh & Mosno Al-Moseeki (photo courtesy of Radio Koocheh)
Sohrab and Mosno Al-Moseeki (photo courtesy of Radio Koocheh)
Sohrab and Mosno Al-Moseeki (photo courtesy of Radio Koocheh)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bobby Hill/WPFW 89.3FM (concert announcements)

Steve Monroe of jazzavenues.com (tweeted a preview of the DC
shows)

PR support by following organization and individuals

Thanks to: PAAIA DC, Fariba Khonsari, Nasser, Teporah Bilezikian, Rob Coltun, Ardavan Roozbeh (Radio Koocheh), Seyed Moussavi, Massama Dogo, Bernard Lyons, Tiffany DeFoe, Abbas Fathi, Ali Tabatabai, Behrooz Moazam, Ali  Banifazl, Miyuki Williams, Paul Iwancio, Mustafa Nuri Sakarya and John Lewis (Life-Changing Art: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi).

Special Thanks to all musicians

Luke Stewart, Louie Rozier, Rob Fontana, Rob Coltun, Michael Coltun, Mosno Al-Moseeki and Byron McWilliams