04-07-2008 The Auratones ft Boris

Location: Zuiderpark, Rotterdam (Netherlands)
By: Sabine van Gameren

When the summer comes, clubs and venues preparing for the summer break. Some clubs close for a month, some just keep it low with booking bands. Most people are on holiday or not in the mood to hang out in a venue while the sun is shining outside.
Of course, many festivals arise. Rotterdam (Netherlands) is very driven in organizing summer events. Their main target is to unite people from different cultures. What unites people more than music?

So music is a big main factor in all the events that are organized in Rotterdam during the summer. The best thing of this is, that all those small and big festivals are so well organized that they all fit into each other like a big puzzle. Each piece of the puzzle representing a culture.

Since a few years, Rotterdam is the host of one of Europe’s biggest and most interesting jazz events called North Sea Jazz. Many people from all over the world travel to Rotterdam to see this event. North Sea Jazz will take place on 11,12 and 13 July. To warm up the city, there are a lot of smaller events organized under the name North Sea Round Town. Literally everywhere in Rotterdam there are evenings with jazz music, expositions and showcases. This happens in the two weeks before North Sea Jazz.
Tonight I went to Zuiderpark where a stage was built for an evening with jazz performances. This stage in this park will be used two days later for metropolis festival. A free festival with the best upcoming talent from Netherlands and other countries. Another example of how these organizations work together to make the summer a nice time for you.

But back to this evening now. I went to this stage to see The Auratones which would bring Boris as featuring artist.
The Auratones are from Rotterdam so no wonder that quite some people gathered in the park to see them. The atmosphere was great. Many different people, many different cultures were there and all in good harmony. The Auratones started in 1996 so their fame has been growing for a while already now. Their music can be described as Nu Jazz with a lot of funk and soul influences. The first half an hour the band played without the help of their featuring artist of the night: Boris. The music was cozy, warm and made people dance.
It seems like most people were waiting for the main surprise of the evening: Boris. (a.k.a. Bo-Rush)
This guy got known by winning the Dutch Idols. He simply refused to get transformed into a B pop artist, he stayed true to his roots! During the time he was in Idols, an old friend of him thought to get easy money by releasing old tracks Boris had made with the formation Sofuja (SOul FUnk JAzz) via a magazine (The cd was a gift when you bought the magazine).
Under the name of Sofuja Boris had some success in Spain. He also performed at the national songfestival in 2003.
When he came in at the show, he kind of took it easy. I heard this guy better before! It took a few songs before it got better. After one hour with Boris, the show reached it’s highest level. They performed a cover of Prince (Kiss) and this song was done so well that I could have sworn that if I closed my eyes it was Prince singing.
Thereafter the band started an improvisation jam and the audience watched it with full attention.

Overall this evening was great! The atmosphere in this park was just amazing. From young to old, from Arabic to Swedish. I saw so many different people. When I walked to the bus station on the other side I had to smile when I read the line an artist draw on there: The whole world is my home country. With underneath it, in gravity: But I live in Rotterdam.
These lines completely summarized my feelings from tonight. I can’t wait to next week when North Sea Jazz starts! Music really unites people!

More pictures of this gig available at sabinevangameren.com

Links:
The Auratones MySpace
The Auratones Official
Boris MySpace
Boris Official