Asaf Avidan

It is not an easy task to describe an Asaf Avidan's concert. Maybe it is not an easy task to describe Asaf Avidan's music, to start with! I heard so many different comments, ranging from people who completely idolize him to people who praise his songwriting and people who simply cannot stand his high-pitched voice. I discovered his music via a friend who had already seen him live multiple times. To be honest, it was not until I saw him live for the very first time that I started to understand. Or maybe not "understand". Just "feel"... There's undeniably something amazing happening when Asaf Avidan is on stage -and that thing did not happen for me the first time I listened to one of his records. I had to live the live experience...

I lived that experience even more intensely last year when the singer came to Barcelona to play his first concert in Spain. Alone on stage. I guess my fascination could be primarily explained by some obvious facts: Asaf Avidan seems to be able to play any instrument he touches as a virtuoso. It also sounds like there's nothing his voice cannot do. Ragged, tortured, bluesy edge? Check. Acrobatic vocals that end up in a dramatic shriek or in a primal growl? Check. Yes, he's the kind of artist who can be alone on stage, make it sound like there are actually five people playing, and still manage to make you hold your breath when he maintains a note for what seems like an insanely long time (because yes, you might wonder how he's doing that, considering that you've been holding your breath in the meantime and have nearly suffocated!).

So yes, it's probably all these things. But not only: it's also the dark, sometimes desperate, sometimes dreamy lyrics. And it is the interpretation that his singular voice brings to these modern poems, giving them life on stage, and actually LIVING them...

"Slow is the night
When you reach for the light
But the dark lingers on
Slow is the bite
Of the words that you write
When it’s finally dawn"

Love It Or Leave It

And then, just when you would expect everything but this, it turns out Asaf Avidan can also be described as some kind of cabaret entertainer. No, seriously. He may be praised for his songwriting but he definitely has to be praised for his storytelling as well. Almost between each song, the singer talks to the audience, comparing his first love story to the upheavals of tectonic plates, explaining how he wrote his first songs after his first break-up, joking about how many depressing songs he has in store, etc. After the primal, devastating song "I Want You To Die", which left me dazed, the artist lightly said to the audience "It's a love song, you know! I know it may not sound like one but it's a love song!"

So all this happened almost one year ago. I just never took the time to publish these photos. But it was high time: I will see Asaf Avidan in June at Solidays in Paris, and in July at Cruïlla in Barcelona. So... looks like more photos will be coming up soon!

"I said, baby you're my dream
She said, no hun, just your wish"

Your Anchor

And as it is tradition now, here are a couple of videos.