The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Starting their European tour
Metalrage at a jazz café night in WATT, Rotterdam? Well if The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble is playing, why the fuck not! For the second time this year we were allowed to become enchanted by some droney, spacey, melodramatic darkjazz created by breakcore DJ Bong-Ra. Again, a very pleasant experience it was.
A noticeable difference with the previous performance was the fact that there was no electronic drum kit this time. Instead the drummer has positioned himself behind two laptops, throwing out some beats instead of playing them live. Also there were no string players present at this concert. Luckily this didn’t degrade the performance at all, for the enchanting and calming atmosphere created by the ensemble was still ever present throughout the gig, of course occasionally interrupted with some heavier beats. Mastermind Bong-Ra did an excellent job playing his bass guitar, contrabass, keys and samples, guiding the ensemble through their repertoire of the darkest, deepest jazz imaginable. The eerie voice of vocalist Charlotte Cegarra which occasionally was allowed on the forefront of the music added to this darkness, her fragile and depressed singing fits the mood of the music perfectly.
Completing the package tonight were the amazing visuals displayed on a screen behind the ensemble. With every song a new high quality animation feature with a dark atmosphere was shown to the audience, I found them to be quite beautiful yet also dirty, but I think that’s the whole idea. Overall the performance of the ensemble, which lasted for over an hour, was definitely again worth checking out, and I will do so again next time.
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