Karina Zeviani/Aphrodizia - Black Cat Backstage - Nov 20 2008

Ahphrodizia opened the show in front of 5 rabid fans which swelled to thirty something by the end of their set. Yoko K is the vocalist electronics whiz and she did a nice enough job with the electronics and created a harder ambient feel. Augmented with a violinist who mostly plucked lightly and sometimes inaudibly and a percussionist on bongos. Eventually a sax/flutist showed up during the set. Decent set received warmly.

Karina Zeviani is a Brazilian ex-model who sings for Thievery Corporation as well as other projects and under her name. She apparently lives in NYC and just came down for a show with a nice ensemble. A really excellent set with nicely varied songs. The Circus song was a mindblower and there was another hot song that she said she was intending to sing with Os Mutantes, but never got that to happen. A great extension of Tropacalista, I suppose, but that's kind of an obvious reference (which reminds me that I just finished Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso's book which was fantastic--what a writer). Great set which had the swelling crowd of 50-60 happy and swaying. Really a surprise hit for me. I hope her success in Turkey (crowds in the thousands) continues world-wide.



Quote of the Night: Yoko K explaining: "that we are missing a member who had to pickup his daughter, but that's ok because we're a little drunk."