It wasn’t the warmest of evenings and it was also a Sunday, so I supposed Bucharest was going to be a little subdued rather than its normal high paced self at 9 o’clock at night – I supposed right! Stepping up the pace on a strangely quiet Calea Victoriei, I was keen to find the Club where Berti Barbera & Nicu Patoi were scheduled to play, to get out of the evenings chill and warm up with some music.
Club Tribute is an easy place to find on the main street – once through the brightly lit passage, into the main entrance and down the steps I found myself in an ambient lit spacious room, with classy but not too pretentious decor, snappily dressed good looking young bar tenders (all male, I hasten to add), hosting mainly thirty something aged, largely middle class customers.
Kashmir, the song that Led Zeppelin brought to life all those years ago and also brought joy to my ears on many occasions whilst brooding in my room as a teenager was pretty much in my mind an untouchable song to cover. Not only because the song in itself is so indelibly fingerprinted as Zepp’ but also because any one who dared cover it could and most probably would fail miserably.
Berti Barbera & Nicu Patoi however blew that assumption of mine out of the water on their recent television appearance on TVR. Performing Kashmir (and other songs) acoustically and with the Sangam String Quartet was courageous in delivery, quietly powerful in its understatement, rhythmic and totally bombastic.
So, waiting for my drink and sitting on my tod at Club Tribute on a chilly night in a rather swish place, I was intrigued to know how the evening would reveal itself and what Berti & Nicu would have in store for the evening’s musical mix.
The dynamic between Berti and Nicu was evident from the moment they entered the stage. They were poised, enthusiastic and alert to the audience and begun with ease into the set, as if continuing a conversation with the audience, like old friends parted by a day or two. It reminded me of how musicians particularly in folk operate and with immediate effect I was drawn like everyone else into the ‘family’ of audience members – we were all taken under the fold, easily surrendering and warming to the music.
It was striking to see two musicians on stage hold the attention of an audience, with just voice, light percussion and guitar (and on one song, a kazoo)!
Voice matters and in my opinion its better if the lyrics can be heard too. Berti’s vocal tone is very powerful, comparable to Paul Carrack and many of the cover songs that were chosen brought Berti’s voice out in to the open.
Nicu’s fundamentally blues approach to guitar’s like a knife through butter, cutting through effortlessly – not intrusive, harsh, or bringing on the noodle for noodles sake. He’s solid in execution and embellishes perceptively, allowing Berti Barbera to rise vocally to the song and supporting him in doing so.
Berti & Nicu know how to work the dynamic between them and know how to work an audience too. This isn’t to say they do this by hamming it up, they just confidently choose good old familiar songs, but add to it a twist - putting the seal of individuality to the material, sometimes in a totally unexpected way, such as a dirty, funk groove to Hendrix’s Crosstown Traffic and a vocal skiffle/scat vocal ending to Billy Jean or a wickedly sparse blues twang to Depeche Modes, Personal Jesus. I realised on that Sunday evening that Kashmir wasn’t the only different adaptation that this duo can come up with. And I’ll probably be more surprised with twists to other covers they may have up their sleeves.
For Berti Barbera’s upcoming gig listings please log onto :-
http://www.bertibarbera.com/
http://www.facebook.com/people/Berti-Barbera/711576643
SAVOURING THE SET-LIST. Some of the songs played at Club Tribute.
Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell
CrossTown Traffic – Hendrix leading into...
Purple Haze - Hendrix
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Eleanor Rigby - Beatles
Billy Jean – Michael Jackson
Crazy – Gnarls Barkley
Kingston Town
Pride n’ Joy – Stevie Ray Vaughan
Light My Fire - (Jose Feliciano’s version)
Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
Kashmir - Led Zep’
Lately - Stevie Wonder
Hey Joe – Hendrix
Every Breath You Take – Police
Redemption Song - Marley
Hush Little Baby
Summertime Blues – Eddie Cochran
I Can’t Dance – Genesis
Perfect Day - Lou Reed
(Real Crowd pleasers - I can’t dance, Light my fire, Personal Jesus)
Written by LU
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