Have you, by any chance, heard of the American hip hop duo „Black Violin“? No? Well, I actually went to see them in concert, so let me tell you about my experience.
Here’s a quick introduction of the artist I’m talking about. Black Violin is a duo composed of two African-American instrumentalists from Miami, Florida. Will B plays the viola, while Kev Marcus has mastered the art of the violin. Both of them are classically- trained. Having roots in both hip hop and R’n’B music, they’ve made it their mission to, I quote, «reinvent the Violin, that’s been around for over one hundred years and put our one twist on it ». Even though they play a variety of different music, they’ve been catagorised as hip hop artists, due to their distinctive beats and rhythm. These changes of style are what makes them unique.
After having spent almost two weeks in the US, I got the opportunity to see them perform live in Virginia. My uncle Santino and I had started our American journey in Boston, traveled down to New York and ended the trip in Washington where we visited some family friends. They introduced us to a cool music venue called « The Wolf Trap » , which is located in the only National Park for the Performing Arts in the States, just outside of D.C.
On the 30th of April we drove up there to see „Black Violin“ in concert. Peter and Frank, a lovely gay couple and the friends that we’d been staying with, had bought the tickets as a gift. They knew how much I liked going to concerts and thought it would be fun if we all went together, on my uncle and I’s last night in the States. I had never heard of „Black Violin“ before and wasn’t really sure what to expect. I only knew what instruments they played and that it wasn’t just classical music. I’d also never been to a concert I hadn’t chosen myself, but I was open for a musical surprise (I just hoped it would be a positive one).
When we arrived at the venue at about 7:30 p.m, there were already a lot of people there, waiting to go in. Since we had some time to kill before the concert, I decided to grab some snacks and something to drink at the bar. The first thing I noticed, when I took in the people around me, was what a mixed bunch of different races, cultures, and ages there were. This surprised me, mainly because
I normally went to concerts where the target audience wasn’t hard to make out. The second thing that came to mind though, were the constant news about the riots in Baltimore, which had been going on for a few days now. I was well aware of the troubled situation over there, a news reporter on the radio had even talked about it on the car ride to the concert. Knowing that Baltimore was very close by, it somehow felt weird to see black and white people sharing a room so peacefully, but it also made me feel somewhat happy.
The building where the concert took place, „The Barns at Wolftrap“, was an actual old wooden barn from the 18th century, that was now used as a popular venue for all kinds of different concerts. I know, right? How many people can say they’ve been to a concert in a real barn? Fascinated, I couldn’t stop looking up the wooden pillars and ceilings when we took our seats, which were unfortunately at the very back of the room. Our seating arrangements didn’t bother me very much though, since you could still see the stage pretty well and I was simply there for the music anyway. With only about 382 seats, the setting was very intimate.
When the lights went out, the audience started clapping and cheering loudly. Soon enough, only the lights on the stage went back on and two guys stepped out. One of them, the DJ, took his place behind a DJ table, where turning tables and other devices had been set up. He started to spin a background track that was very hip hop sounding. The other guy sat behind his drum set and started to play a groovy rhythm to the track. Lastly, the two members of „Black Violin“ stepped onto the stage, playing a catchy melody on their instruments. After a while, the viola player stopped playing and picked up a microphone, while the other guy continued his steady melody on the electric violin. He started to shout a few words into the mic, mostly „Yeah’s“ and „Yo’s“ and „Make some noise’s“. I figured he probably functioned as an „MC“ as well.
After their first song ended, Kev Marcus, the violin player, greeted the audience and talked a bit about their musical background. He said that the duo had met in highschool, but had individually been introduced to their instruments, against their choice, when they were kids. Apparently it had been both their parents ways of keeping them out of trouble. I thought it was very likable, how openly they talked to the audience and that they both seemed very down to earth and real. Kev also mentioned that tonight was their eighty-third show of 2015, which I was deeply impressed with. As the night and the concert went on, quick song changes and basic hip hop beats were clearly dominating. You could really tell that both of the main instrumentalists were clasically-trained. Their finger play was super quick and confident. Throughout various songs they each took turns playing solos, and then came back in together in the chorus. The atmosphere in the room was amazing and bursting with energy. The catchy music they played made you want to get up and dance. The „Black Violin“ guys encouraged that by interacting with the audience during their songs, telling them to clap, cheer or wave their hands.
„We want to reinvent the violin!“
A few songs in, they started to play some cover songs, one of them being „Radio Active“ by Imagine Dragons. I 
was completely surprised when Kev started to finger pick and strum his violin, almost like a guitar, whilst his smooth, rich singing voice filled the room. At the beginning, I didn’t even recognise the well-known song because they put such a different twist on it. I was also very fond of the times they used their instruments to create other sounds, like dubstep, with a synthesizer. A very interesting part of the show for me though, was when the whole band improvised. Starting off with a simple beat, the four guys created something different for the audience every night. This, to me, was what I admired most about those musicians on stage. You could really tell how much they loved and felt the music they were creating. Will B and Kev Marcus had so much experience of making music together and were geared to each other perfectly, almost like they had an invisible musical bond. They were sure and confident about every strike on their instrument. One person started to pick a random melody and the other joined in with some creative freestyling, mixing it up. Then the drums came in, breaking the whole thing up. Awesome.
They did a few mashups of other popular, mainstream songs as well, playing the strings over the background music. This didn’t impress me much, as it felt sort of repetetive and boring after a while. Of course I still danced and had fun, but if I had to judge it on purely musical originality, I’d say it was rather weak. Overall, this is definitely something I’d critisize, looking at the whole concert. Apart from one or two unique, outstanding songs/covers a lot of it sounded the same to me, due to the almost never changing hip hop rhythm and beat. I definitely wouldn’t download their album and for me this is music you have to experience live to enjoy.
Still, I was very glad that I got to experience a fun night like that. I will definitely never forget the image of my fifty seven year old, 1.90 m tall, gay uncle trying to do all those „cool“ hip hop dance moves. The night reminded me once again, that music brings people together, no matter what race, age or background and for that, the concert was totally worth it.
Jamila Awad – 22. 6. 2015
KSTaway 