I have read many reviews of this band and the reviews are always about the music. While I do love the music, I want to share with you a different part of the show, the stage performance. Sure, they occasionally have belly dancing (and there are plenty of ways to talk about that sensual art), but I want to talk about the sensual art that is Dendura. This band is a treat for both eyes and ears, with or without belly dancing. Sometimes when you see a band play live, once is enough. Those are the performances that leave you thinking about the value of the money you spent on your ticket as you watch their feeble attempts to entertain you. At the other end of the spectrum are the groups that you would do anything within your capabilities to go see – including taking time away from work and family and driving to any location withing a few hundred miles. These are the bands that held you captive at that first performance. No matter how many times you have seen them, you would do almost anything to see them again. Dendura is one of those bands. There is so much to take in visually and musically, that there is no way to take it all in at one show.
I have had the pleasure of attending several of Dendura’s performances and have noticed that they reward the audience with displays of the same intensity and passion for their music at both the small and large venues. To them it does not matter if there are technical difficulties, if they are just the opening act or headlining, or even if they have just played the night before. Once they step foot on the stage, it’s show time, and absolutely nothing gets in their way. Once the lights go down and the music begins, the rest of the world disappears, and it seems like they are playing just for me. It’s as if nothing else matters but the music, the lyrics, and the artists before my eyes. If my mind at all makes an attempt to pull my focus away from Dendura, to think about my day, or to ponder something stressful in my life, it is quickly brought back by a change in tempo, rhythm, style or volume. I also cannot help but pay attention to the visual performance that is going on before me. And what a captivating performance it is. Each member of Dendura has their own style, but together on the stage they blend as if they have been playing together for an eternity. Every member brings something different to the stage, while at the same time all being amazing musicians and performers. I am a big admirer of each one of these artists: Justin, Jason, Steve, Aziza, and Paul, as well as the magic that happens when they play together. It takes little effort to get swept away in both their music and the performance before me.
The first thing I notice is this beautiful woman on stage singing with a conviction as if her life depended on telling this amazing story she and her band-mates have written for me to hear. It is a challenge to look away from her at the rest of the band or to close my eyes and get into the music completely like I can at home. I know I will miss something, and I don't want that to happen.
There is so much passion and intensity that takes over her face and body as she moves.
Her expressive face and body show fear when she is singing about something utterly terrifying that happened so many centuries ago making me believe in the truthfulness of her words.
The music then leads her to dance in a style that is part belly dancing and part her own personal style. In each performance, there are moments that move the crowd to screams and Aziza's captivating dance is one of those moments. Her head-banging ability never ceases to amaze me- most people who would attempt to move like that would quickly lose their balance or injure their neck! My favorite movement of hers is the most subtle- that smile that creeps over her face, that knowing smile that seem to tell us that there is so much more to her than meets the eye. I believe her and want to know more. You will, too.
Once I manage to tear my eyes away from her, close them, and just listen, I can hear that behind the driving music is Justin laying down an intense beat on his drums that makes my hips move and I start to rock.
I can’t help but watch his long, curly hair sweeping over his face, and his upper body seeming to hold tightly to a tremendous amount of tension. It’s almost as if he has to play in order to release that tension, to let it go and to take us with him.
As with Aziza, Justin also has the ability to move the crowd to screams - when he removes his shirt.
Justin’s position on stage is behind the rest of the band, hidden by his drums, which seem to serve as a way to hide another amazing performer. Our trade-off is the pace he sets and the expert control he has over his drums, and thus, the band. It’s incredible moment to be able to get a glimpse of what is going on behind those drums. The flurry of almost frantic movement is the expert motions of his hands and drumsticks.
Aziza drifts across the stage to Steve, who is completely immersed in his guitar and the music he teases from it.
His entire body moves with the riffs and his strong hands coax the strings into a release of screams. The audience joins in with screams of their own.
then the raw look of a metal guitarist who is there simply to kick ass and drive the audience into frenzy.
The song ends and the next one starts with Jason's driving bass reverberating deep within my body and soul.
I look up to see that he is in that zone with me.
He then smiles as if no one is watching, and returns to his previous intensity. He seems to easily teeter from being deeply serious to expressing incredible joy on his face. Aziza walks over to him while she is singing and they move together for a time. His head is down and his body moves to the beat while she drapes herself over him, joining him in the moment.
His head comes up and she is gone, as if she had never been there, and he is again left to his bass, his passion, his joy, and his music.
On the other side of the stage is Paul, whose passion and love of this music doesn’t show in the more obvious ways of the band members, but instead is much more subtle in his expressions.
Paul may not be as animated as the rest of the band, but virtuosos rarely are. What he brings to the show is much like Justin’s performance in that I feel and hear it much more than I am able to see it. The trade off is a technically amazing sound from an obvious virtuoso, and we are all privileged to hear this master play.
When the performance is over, my horns are up and I am hot, sweaty, exhausted, and riding an emotional high. Just beneath that high is the knowledge that it’s over for now, and I will have to wait for the next show. They are traveling all over the
Fire Spirit
Priestess of the Temple of DenduraAka Dendura Street Team Leader
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