Re: Budowitz concert on internet radio

[Monika Feil <mfeil...>]

Hi,

if you have the chance, listen to the live Budowitz concert they just played
at the Vienna Concert House on the largest World Wide Ethno Music and
Reports internet radio site on March 16:

http://emap.fm

The international time of the broadcast is: UTC 01/09/17

A good friend of mine who attended at the concert wrote me this:

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I don¹t know how they do it, but this group manages to sound completely
fresh every time they perform. You can imagine their energy if you take
their CD¹s and multiply them by a factor of 10. This particular performance
included Mirjam Jessa (the "Terry Gross" of Austria) on the stage between
suites bantering with Josh Horowitz in German (unfortunately).

Not only was the music unbelievably rich in improvisation and ornamentation
but it had the musicians themselves laughing continuously on the stage.
These guys seem to be hopelessly in love each other when they play. I don¹t
know of any other group that projects such genuine warmth, humour, fun AND
subtle and beautiful music. Mirjam Jessa asked Josh at one point whether its
true that all the pieces begin sad but end happily. Josh responded: "That¹s
a strangely warped perception - whenever we come to the end of a piece we¹re
always sad."

When asked to comment on his work, Josh¹s wild stories (ones I had never
heard before and I have heard and read lots of them) provided an atmosphere
so bizarre that the MC had trouble doing her work. He even managed to give a
convincing talmudic explanation to the chicken and egg question. Josh seems
to have a thing about chickens. The audience pretty much drooled over
themselves laughing and crying. The audience in Vienna, and especially at
their main concert hall (where Budowitz played) is one of the most skeptical
in the world, and they stood up and clapped for Budowitz, somehting they
usually only do for the 3 great tenors. When I asked Josh if this audience
standing up was common, he said "Of course it is. How else do you expect
them to get into their cars and drive home?"

Mirjam Jessa later asked Josh how they are recieved in the US. Josh
commented that the group has only played one tour in America in 7 years, and
everyone stood up, especially those who were not committed to wheelchairs
(in one of his rare serious moments, Josh told me that all of their US
performances really did get the response of the audience standing up).

Is it true that Budowitz has no agents in the US and no one has asked them
to come back there?? Budowitz has become a cult band here in Europe and it´s
hard to believe that Americans are not interested in them.

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I haven´t heard this special concert, but a lot of others and I only can
confirm that I have made the same experience as my friend.

Monika Feil
Erlangen, Germany


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