Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Utter Musical Magic at Cat's Art MusikCircus Last Night

After well over six years in Second Life, I have played hundreds of gigs of my own and attended a great many more than that.  Last night was the most astounding musical performance I have ever had the pleasure to experience in the virtual world.  The shows at Cat Boucher's Art MusikCircus showed everything that Second Life music aspires to be and it wasn't secondary at all to anything one might hear in the physical world.

Michi Renoir played a romantic set last week.  I didn't much like it and I said so.  He said, dude, stand back for this week.  He wasn't kidding as he started out his set with all his guns firing and he didn't let up for a second for the entire hour.  It was one blazing improv jam for the entire set with excellent dynamics, beautifully rich and diverse sound, and fascinatingly powerful music the entire time.

While an improvised jam can sometimes be so technical that it is unapproachable, Michi came back when he needed to a central theme with a deep, driving, hammering beat that was knocking the walls down in flames.  His music was exciting and captivating, powerful yet not overwhelming, and marvelously intriguing so your mind does not wander away.


The romantic music from last week was beautiful but that is something you play for your woman when you're alone together.  The music Michi Renoir was playing last night was the stuff for kids who hear it and to think, man, I want to play synthesizers when I grow up.  His music was entirely improvisation which was powerful, magical, and inspiring.  This was an excellent performance!


This wasn't a night of one show opening for another but rather it was a continuous experience of magical musicianship from brilliant performers.  Reis and Aldo play everywhere in the world, from Second Life to Carnival in Brazil to Montreux Jazz in Switzerland.  They do it all and they came back last night for another marvelous show at Cat's Art MusikCircus.  I believe a large part of why they keep coming back to the MusikCircus is of course they love Cat, everyone does, but it's also because they know everyone really listens to the music and isn't just screaming YOU RAWK every time someone does a cheesy cover from fifty years ago!


Their music varies from aggressive to gentle but it's always sensual, mysterious, and fascinating.  Aldo Brizzi's percussion behind his synthesizer work is intricate, powerful, sometimes demanding, and always wonderful while his music overall is endlessly intriguing.  Reis Alter's sensual, ethereal, and alluring voice flies through this as a colorful jungle bird through a magical landscape where we have never been but Reis and Aldo can take us.  (You can learn more about Aldo Brizzi's music on his Web site.)

Through it all, Reis goes through an extraordinary and beautiful array of colors both through the sound of the music and her portrayal of it on the stage.



This was a night that was every wonderful thing music can be.  It was inspiring, unforgettable, brilliant and captivating.


While I love to play a guitar, it cannot hope to match the diversity of musical expression possible with a synthesizer.  I use a Roland GR-20 guitar synthesizer sometimes but even that doesn't permit the performance of multiple voices at the same time as one can with a keyboard synthesizer.  The colors in the performances this night were from every part of the spectrum giving such a beautiful rainbow of sound.  Utter musical magic!


And Cat and I danced!


This isn't the best shot of us dancing but it shows Reis exploding in color on the stage and this was one more part of a musical kaleidoscope.  Absolutely marvelous!



Cat and I danced for long after the show was over and everyone went home.  We hadn't said much to each other during the performance as we know the love for each other and didn't need to say anything.  Both of us were awestruck by the performances and we danced and we danced.  I told her the report would be such a pleasure to write and it has been.  Thank you to Cat for staging it and to Michi Renoir and Reis and Aldo for performing it.  This really was a night to remember!

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