Tag Archives: SoSaLa New Orleans tour 2012

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

Brian Prunka, Rene Broussard and Sohrab @ Zeitgeist (New Orleans)
Brian Prunka, Rene Broussard and Sohrab @ Zeitgeist (New Orleans)

SoSaLa was invited for the first time by the Sixth New Orleans Middle East Film Festival at the Zeitgeist multi-disciplinary arts center to help raise money for the festival which will be held March 8 through 17, 2013. They played two nights there on December 7th and December 8th. And on December 11th they played in the Open Ears Music Series at The Blue Nile in the French Quarter.

Every show had a different line up. All shows were up to 90 minutes long and no rehearsals before the shows except for the first one. All shows were very well attended. All audiences had a good time. The quality of the music was quite good. Without having enough time to rehearse the interplay between the musicians was quite smooth.

The instrumentation of the Blue Nile show was unconventional, interesting and challenging: besides the regular sax, guitar and oud there were two basses (acoustic and electric), an electric cello and an electric trombone. The two basses played some poly rhythm. The electric trombone created some interesting heavy brass sounds. The electric cello was the female voice of the night. And the drums was the driving force of the ensemble. All of them were very supportive when the sax, guitar and oud soloed.

In between SoSaLa was interviewed by WTUL New Orleans 91.5 FM of Tulane University and played one improvised song live. Sohrab played the sax and Brian his oud. Brian had his own show with his Arabic jazz trio Sharq Attack at Zeitgeist December 9th. And December 10th Sohrab was invited to play his sax before the screening of the Iranian documentary film For Neda at Loyola University.

All this said SoSaLa made many new fans in New Orleans. Everybody involved was very happy about the results. SoSaLa is already invited to play there next year. Where and when t.b.a..

Live @ Zeitgeist, December 7, 2012

The members are: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (vocal and sax), Brian Prunka (guitar and oud) , Tarik Hassan (on electric bass) and Marcello Benetti (on drums) to join them.

Live @ Zeitgeist, December 8, 2012

The members are this time:  Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (vocal and sax), Brian Prunka (guitar and oud), Joe Cabral (electric bass) and Marcello Benetti  (drums).

Live @ Blue Nile, December 11, 2012

The 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 (accoustic bass), Joe Cabral (electric bass) and Marcello Benetti (drums).

Special thanx to: Rene Broussard (Zeitgeist), Jeff Albert (Open Ears Series organizer), WTUL FM’s Matt Rosen and to all the New Orleans musicians Helen, Marcello, Tarik and Joe.

SoSaLa’s US invasion has started: touring New Orleans for the first time in December!

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 by the 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’s Downtown 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 trombone
Helen Gillet on cello (photo by Zack Smith)