Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band
Live @ ZeroMusiClub (BG) - 12.05.2006

THE REVIEW

The sky was increasingly lowering menacingly, determined to decide where best to deposit its heavy load of electric water… I reach the venue, located in an industrial area that seems abandoned, on the edge of the fields that separate it from the city and the highway. An architectural monster that appears to have decided to abandon itself there to spend the last agonizing years of its sad life. The climate, the place… “seems made on purpose for the Silver Mount Zion concert,” my brain thinks independently. And I swear, the “post-atomic” atmosphere of the place was truly suggestive.

At 11:20 p.m., they start. There are 7 of them, arranged in a semicircle on the stage, cramped for the small orchestra that they are… the journey begins with Efrim's voice introducing us to “God Bless Our Dead Marines”, the violins open this modern pagan dance, Gypsy in its martial-flavored gait… and the audience is instantly captivated and involved in this sublime collective ritual that unfolds through the entire latest work “Horses In The Sky”, with the mystical peak reached by “Teddy Roosevelt's Guns”, where all members are vocally engaged to follow Efrim's lament as he tries to disintegrate the words of the Canadian anthem.
A splendid new track, “Blind Blind Blind”, is gifted to us before the very long final suite, leaving the devoted spectators with a bit of bitterness for the “only” 90 minutes of concert, hopeful and in need of more spiritual purification. I find myself outside the venue emotionally tried, happy… despite small technical problems and Efrim's voice not being well, as admitted, a result of the little care he dedicates to himself…

I conclude with a special greeting to Thierry and Sophie, who, even if they will never read my words, are two truly splendid people. Kind and available. “Still Believes…”