Saturday, May 31, 2008

EXIT Thursday

Earlier this week Jenny & I were lucky enough to introduced to pianist Alexander Kohanovski. Kohanovski is a big deal. He straddles both the contemporary classical world and Ukraine's underground alternative music scene. There are not enough superlatives in the world to describe what he does with a piano.
The Exit club has a battered old piano tucked away under the curtains. We persuaded him to play for us last night. This is a man used to playing in grand national theatres and yet he agreed. So generous is he with his time that after his performance he invited some of Odessa's fresh music makers on stage. Encouraging actress Twiggy Pop to develop her musical side. As with such spontaneous gigs there was technical hitches and nothing ran smoothly. Yet our club was laughing - bewitched by Twiggy's humour and grace. The night ended with DJ Max Vega spinning original grooves from his many beat bands. Looking across the room it was great to see our new Dutch theatre friends Wunderbaum, Odessa musicians and audience lingering by the stage sharing a beer together - reluctant for this special night to end.

No comments: