“Yes, music can be elegant too. And the sound of the concert evening was impeccable, not infrequently I had the impression that I was listening to a band. But there’s no question of that, because Pink Martini is one of the most professional bands in the world. You can feel it, from the instruments so tight, to the atmosphere of the band, which seems to have known each other forever. They complement each other, support each other, play off each other.
Pianist Thomas Lauderdale opened the concert, telling us in Romanian how happy he is to be back in our country. The band was accompanied in this concert by soloist China Forbes. In 2013, Pink Martini came to Romania with Storm Large.
The first two songs, Amado Mio and Je Ne Veux Pas Travailler (which China almost sang with the audience) were just a warm-up for what was to follow. Songs in English, French, German, Japanese, Croatian, Spanish delighted the audience for an hour and twenty minutes.
Timothy Nishimoto remained as we know him. Charismatic, crazy (in the best possible sense), a mountain of energy. He danced on unsaturated singing Donde estas, Yolanda? and invited us (also in Romanian) to put on our seatbelts while he performed Zundoko-Bushi.
“Anyone want to dance? There’s plenty of room on stage, come on!”
That’s all Thomas had to say at one point, as the stage filled with people dancing as if no one had seen them. To be able to do that while 4,000 people are watching you…says something about the vibe the music gives you.” (Metropotam.ro)
“The music played and the emotions conveyed in the nearly two-hour concert were gathered from different cultures of the world. Spanish and Italian passion, oriental love, Brazilian energy or Romanian longing, all found their place in the concerts. The songs “Quizas, quizas, quizas”, “Ich Dich Liebe”, “Anna (El Negro Zumbon)”, “Donde Estas, Yolanda”, “Ov Sirun Sirun”, “Una notte a Napoli” were all on the setlist of the Bucharest show.
Pink Martini elegantly switched from one emotional register to another, from English, Spanish, German to Arabic or Turkish, proving that music is one of the best ambassadors in the world. There was no shortage of humour either, especially in the performances of “And Then You’re Gone” and “But Now I’m Back”, which simulated the dialogue between two arguing lovers.” (iConcert.ro)
