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'At Floydfest in Floyd, VA, the Middle Eastern beats coming from the Global Village attracted music lovers like bees to pollen. The drumming of Raquy and the Cavemen of Brooklyn, NY, brings traditional Middle Eastern music and modern drumming to a pinnacle. The drummers of Raquy and the Cavemen were all once students of Raquy. Raquy has travelled to many distant countries including those in the Middle East, Egypt and India, where she has experienced and absorbed vast amounts of musical culture. She uses all this knowledge to bring an amazing act to the stage.
Raquy performs with the dumbek and the kemenche, also known as the spike fiddle. It is an instrument from Iran, which is much like a violin, except instead of moving the bow around the instrument to hit the different strings, the kemenche sits on a spike that allows the musician to rotate the fiddle itself while the bow stands stationary.
Raquy and the Cavemen allow the listener to experience the musical cultures from The Middle East and Egypt and fuse them with Liron Peled's hard rock drumming background. Incidentally, Raquy and Liron have tied the knot and reside in the ever-hip Williamsburg section of Brooklyn along with the rest of the Cavemen.
The Global Stage was a place of psychic transport when Raquy and the Cavemen took the stage. The name Cavemen is appropriate due to the rawness of the beats, and there is also a timeless property to the music that makes it impossible to dislike. The whole experience of the music takes you on a journey to the roots of Middle Eastern drumming and as soon as that kemenche starts flowing the trip goes deeper. Its sound is like a close stare into the eyes and soul of the Middle Eastern culture that lives inside the music. Raquy brings forth the experience of an ancient culture straight to the stage for everyone to reflect, react and rotate to. Daphna Mor, originally from Tel Aviv, Israel, leaves all who witness her playing with a smiling jaw-dropped expression when she plays two recorders simultaneously that evoke an echoing, resonating sound.
Raquy and the Cavemen played the closing set at Floydfest, and were cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd. Their previous sets at Floyd left a buzz around the grounds that let everyone know where to spend their remaining time at the festival. The Hill Holler Stage hosted the closing set of the fest and had a nicely saturated mud pit in front of the stage. Mud or not, people danced, shook and spun and sooner or later took a face plant into the mess. As the beats flowed, cheers and hollers filled the foggy air of Floyd. The love that each band member has for their instrument is especially evident when they are all on stage. They move fluidly to the enchanted drumming, mystical kemenche and melodious recorder. Find one of their shows and be enriched, encouraged and energized.
Full Story At:
http://www.findwhatyoulove.com/review_live_chris_raquy.html
A different write-up about the same festival, also by Chris Hart:
The quite amazing Raquy and the Cavemen of Brooklyn, NY closed the festival at the Hill Holler Stage on Sunday night with a free-dancing, mud slung crowd who begged for more when the show came to an end. The combination of Raquy Danziger's Middle Eastern musical talent and her husband's hard-rock background, brought Raquy and the Cavemen's powerful sound to the fore. The unreal ability of the band to leave their audiences in awe was the buzz across the Floydfest grounds.'~ Christopher Hart, MSN Music 'Raquy and the Cavemen’s Dust, released at the beginning of the year, was one of the most notable fusions of Levantine riddims with hard rock and electronic touches. Most excitingly, this fusion is contained almost entirely in the songwriting and the playing; it doesn’t sound studio-bound in the least.
Touching down amid the heavily klezmerised Ashkenaz festival, Raquy may have been a little too intense for some of the bubbies and zaydes in the crowd, but their children and their children’s children were swept up in the grooves.
The Cavemen are composed of two multi-percussionists, a bassist, a woodwind player and husband Liron Peled, who played acoustic guitar and hand drums. Immediately the complexity of the music was apparent as bass lines chased percussion patterns against complex time signatures and microtonal harmonies. The opening tune’s strummed yet foreboding chords on guitar added to the distinctive percussive harmonies.
It was a remarkable demonstration of what Page and Plant have always wanted to do but have never succeeded at.
As Peled peeled off one Zeppelin III riff after another, the energy increased and Raquy entered with the kemeche, or Iranian violin. She sawed away at dark harmonies against the guitar, her playing becoming more powerful as the soundman got a handle on how to mix the instrument. The crowd was intrigued but not enraptured until the next few pieces, which were dedicated to traditional forms.
Accompanied by a quartet of hand drums, Raquy showed off her formidable command of the dumbek. She bent the pitch of notes, used a variety of striking techniques and even showed some choreographed moves with Liron — this performance was as much a clinic as a show.
The finale was a suitable climax, departing the Middle East for Bulgaria. Woodwind player Daphna Mor did Roland Kirk justice by jamming two recorders into her mouth and harmonising with the kemenche. Next time, I hope Liron will get into some of the thrashy guitars and menacing electronics that made Dust even more intense, but this was still a very satisfying afternoon.'~ David Dacks, Exclaim Magazine '****
When Raquy Danziger, who plays the Iranian Kamanche, a rare and exotic bowed instrument and the Dumbek an Arabic hand drum teams up with rock musician Liron Peled what you get is an explosive dose of Middle Eastern-Rock-Fusion.
Raquy's second release Jordan is a testament to great music merging together to create oneness. Raquy and The Cavemen will electrify you with their hard hitting rhythms, and progessive drum playing. It's great belly-dancing music. There is not per say any singles on Jordan it's definitely a record that is to be experienced in it's full content.
Backed by Arab and Israeli musician Jordan doesn't only display fun and innovative songs, but uncovers that Raquy and The Cavemen are superior live performance artist. All thoughout Jordan you feel like you are listening to a spectacular live show.
Overall, I view Raquy and The Cavemen's Jordan as a sure crowd pleaser, Jordan will captivate you just playing in the background at a social gathering, bring peace to your soul while listening on a Sunday afternoon. The best of course, is the opportunity to experience them live, that's truly the only way you'll be able to see and feel the electricity that exudes Raquy and The Cavemen. '~ Maurice, Evolution of Media |
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