Noticing a flier on a petrol station till area, I only had time to scribble down the details regarding date, time, venue and artist’s name.
We hadn’t previously heard of the Bohemia musical ensemble, so we weren’t sure at all what to expect from them when we arrived to hear this musical ensemble.
Having really enjoyed the Yaiza Municipal Brass Band the previous evening, we arrived tonight at a venue just down the road from there, in the square in front of the church in Playa Blanca. Our two must-remain-anonymous reporters were already there, and had ´saved´ seats for each of the four of us in the back row of the open-air seating arrangement.
´It’s going to be loud,´ said xxx, , knowingly jerking his thumb back to where the high platform stage was set up. I could certainly see why he might think so, given that twelve microphone stands and musician’s stations were set up. There was a pretty high tech sound and lights system being tested and professional attention was being paid to the presentation of the sound.
It turned out to be a great concert that genuinely deserved to be nominated as the best concert of the festive period here on Lanzarote. However, I think my opinion is more subjective than objective, because Bohemia played the sounds I love so much. This was Spanish Language Americana, and I could hear the intertwining musical roots (and routes) of Spanish folk lore, the songs that were heard on the cattle drives and sung round the night-time campfire by the Spanish and Latin American migrants who became cattle drovers: cowboys, with those songs carrying British folk and influences from Texas and Mexico.
There was plenty of ´jingle bell rock´ with the three female singers dancing up a storm behind their mic stands, and their audience was clapping along with great enthusiasm.
The strings, brass, keyboard and percussion of this tightly bound band frequently ´relaxed´ by performing slower, more ballad like songs, and it was at these times when I heard soaring harmonies between the male and female vocalists and tender deliveries of some beautiful verses.
If forced to give clues to their sounds I would say that Bohemia reminded a little of the Eastern European sounds of raggle-taggle gypsy groups and the fusion sounds of Britain’s Jools Holland And His Big Band,
I swapped business cards with one of the major male players after the show, and we have agreed to conduct a ´who, what, when, where, why´´interview. There seemed to have been twelve to fifteen people on stage but I haven’t yet found an on line presence to authenticate that guess.
I hope this review will stir your interest in an energetic band that entertained us and that the interview we might secure will facilitate us in giving our readers of Lanzarote Information more information about a band that is fully worthy of further consideration. We will work really hard to find details of forthcoming appearances and would advise you to try really hard to catch a gig to hear a group of consummate musicians and vocalists deliver a unique, danceable sound.
