Venue: Orto Bar – Ljubljana
Concert date: 11.04.2007
Attendance: 0
Ticket price: 8 EUR
Yesterday, as part of Orto Fest, Spain’s Obrint Pas properly got Orto Bar in Ljubljana moving.
First off, the practically non-existent turnout was an unpleasant surprise. I only got to Orto a few minutes past ten in the evening, and there were no more than fifteen people there. Things did pick up by the time the show started, though, and around half past ten Orto was filled to a bit over half.
Around 10:45 PM a gang of hot-blooded Spaniards from Valencia took the stage.
Obrint Pas are probably the best-known band from that part of Spain. Their main goal is to preserve and spread Catalan culture and language. They even had the honor of playing with superstar Manu Chao, a big supporter of Mexico’s Zapatista movement EZLN, which is no stranger to the guys from Obrint Pas either.
Obrint Pas (which means Breaking Through in English) are nine young musicians with the following lineup: two trumpets, drums, two guitars, keyboards, a “mixer”, bass and percussion. The band’s special trademark is undoubtedly the Dolçaina. It’s a Spanish woodwind instrument that comes from Valencia. It looks a bit like an oboe, but sounds like some kind of Arabic reed instrument.
With their energetic ska with a touch of punk, their Spanish temperament and, last but not least, the distinctive sound of the dolçaina, they got the crowd on its feet, hurling itself from one end of the venue to the other. In short, slightly dangerous, because I’m not exactly sure how safe that kind of thing is on the first floor, on the already somewhat wobbly floor of this Ljubljana club.
They played for a good hour and fifteen minutes. Their set included some of their better-known songs, such as Esperant, La Flama and Som.
I’d say their music is a little reminiscent of Manu Chao’s songs. Especially the ones along the lines of Rumba De Barcelona.
Around midnight Obrint Pas were planning to wrap up the show. But Slovenes don’t get sent home that easily, and the crowd was already so fired up that it wanted even more. After a short deliberation, and a group chant of “We Want More” in Slovenian-accented English, Obrint Pas came back. But get this! Not onto the stage. They took the drums apart, grabbed the essentials, the trumpets and percussion, and set up right in the middle of the crowd, who closed in around them. They threw us a proper little homegrown Latin party. Unbelievable. Now even the last skeptics were up and spinning to the sounds of Spanish rhythms. After about 15 minutes of direct contact with the audience, who were clearly more than happy with the ending, the guys finally had to say goodbye.
Despite the rather meager turnout, Obrint Pas gave it everything and put on an excellent show that’s not easy to forget. I’ll gladly see them again when they visit our little Alpine country once more.
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