"Reasons To Live’s greatest assets are its eclecticism and joie de vivre. The musical talent, writing skills, and gorgeous singing on this record would likely have yielded a good album even with average effort, but what lifts Reasons To Live into the realm of excellence is the unmistakable passion conveyed through the synergistic smorgasbord. These are just some of the many reasons to love Reasons To Live."
-Sahar Oz, Delusions Of Adequacy
Viva Patshiva creates a new musical subcountry, somewhere between Transylvania and New York City, where you'll hear the ethereal voice of
Chemda, the evocative violin of
Jesse Kotansky, the gravelly comic genius of
Lloyd Floyd, the immortal howl of Spread Eagle's
Ray West, the velvety croon of
Raven Solano, and the soaring flights of
Mikey McCue, held together by a tight dance rock Gypsy rhythm section.
This stellar unit grew out of the improv comic rock band The Sacred Clowns, which mixed the daring musicians and fearless comedians of New York City's Lower East Side to mount legendary performance spectacles in the late 90s. Everything changed in 2001 and a core group of performers began to develop a full length Rock Opera that combined an over-the-top performance style with the emotionally charged melodies and dance steps of the Gypsies of Hungary and Transylvania to tell a story about love and sadness and triumph over the sadness of love.
Watch Chemda sing "I Need Nothing" as Aron Szekely and Andrea Kalan dance...
It's not all Gypsy though, check out the Comic-Burlesque "Kitchen Dance" with choreography by Chemda...
