Concert Review: Balkan Beat Box

When it comes to moving your body and elevating your spirit, no one beats Balkan Beat Box.

By ASI GAL
balkan beat box 224.88 (photo credit: )
balkan beat box 224.88
(photo credit: )
Balkan Beat Box Barby Club Tel Aviv February 7 Had I gotten the chance to introduce Balkan Beat Box at its show on Saturday night, I would have quoted from the movie Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny and said: "This band did not ask me not to do this, but I'm going to do it anyway. I love this band! They are the best band ever! Period." Sure, other bands might be better as background music to contemplate your life after a breakup or when you need to solve an algebra problem, but when it comes to moving your body and elevating your spirit, no one beats Balkan Beat Box. And I'm not alone in this sentiment. A full, packed Barby welcomed BBB and jumped up in a wave of ecstasy, screaming gibberish back at Tomer Yosef, the lead singer. The crowd jumped up onstage only to jump down again and it radiated an energy bigger then you and me. A feeling of love and joy filled the club. No one could stop moving during the two-hour show. And the band loved it. Each member took his own solo, showing how incredible each is separately - but quickly joined his fellow band members to emphasize how amazingly they work as a group. A word about their messages for peace: When Yosef shouted, "We won't play your war games," my first instinct was to cringe. The audience wouldn't take well to this, I thought. Even if there were shouts of joy, people were probably thinking, "Don't be naive." But then I realized this band isn't from Germany. They're Israelis, they have families here and they decided to broadcast a message for peace. And it's legitimate. When the band played oriental melodies with Jewish music and sang in Arabic and Hebrew, and you knew that's the same way it had just performed in Turkey, the message came through. Balkan Beat Box is not placing blame. The band is just saying that we're all people and we all enjoy music.