by Lisa Maloney - Center Facebook Fan
The accordion is a powerful instrument: It doesn’t take much to cross the line from rollicking to grating. Fortunately, front-man and accordion player Terrance Simien of The Zydeco Experience Band uses his powers for good instead of evil. He picks “the line” up and charges off with it, daring you to catch him if you can.
A Zydeco Experience performance is fully interactive. They play, you dance in your seat. Simien hops around barefoot on stage, tossing beads into the audience with his toes. You dance some more. And when he pulls his Grammy award out for you to admire, it comes across not so much as ego but an invitation to join him in unabashed celebration.
Simien presents with the exuberant energy of a Disney character, rooted in a powerful celebration of self and cultural history. He squeezes a quick Creole history lesson in between songs, then retreats beneath a wide-brimmed Senegalese hat that renders his face an intriguing shadow, the joy he takes in his culture and music betrayed by a flashing grin.
In any other band with such a boisterous front man, it would be easy to overlook the other group members. But playing comes naturally to every man of The Zydeco Experience, leaving them free to emote. They all contribute to rhythms and harmonies that are simultaneously sweet and bursting at the seams--simply uncontainable. It takes a skilled hand to guide that kind of energy, driving a positive experience instead of grinding away at your nerves. Lucky for us, Terrance Simien and The Zydeco Experience are consummate professionals. It’s like the beads they toss out into the crowd are rays of sunshine with a side of gumbo. Spicy, zesty, flavorful--riding just on the edge of control, where it’s the most fun to play.
Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience Band
Alaska Junior Theater
Friday, November 5, 2010 at 7:30pm
Atwood Concert Hall
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