Drunk on Pink Martini
> The little orchestra from Portland took fans on an intoxicating ride around the world
THOSE who were at the recent Pink Martini One Night Only concert at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (DFP) in KLCC got much more than just a musical experience. They were taken on a travelogue around the world in music and song.
This diverse musical group, founded in the US city of Portland, Oregon, in 1994, comprises a dozen musicians offering a multitude of genres ranging from classical to classic pop, Latin and jazz.
Right from the start of the concert, the audience was taken to Spain in the Maurice Ravel’s composition Bolero, to the US with Amado Mio from the 1946 American film noir Gilda, to France with Sympathique, the title track to Pink Martini’s first full-length album (1997), and to Germany with Ich Dich Liebe, the first song in the band’s Get Happy (2013) album.
According to band leader and pianist Thomas Lauderdale, that night was not the first time Pink Martini performed at DFP. The band made its debut here in 2010.
Lauderdale shared the story of how he started off as an aspiring politician, but in 1994, went and founded Pink Martini instead.
The band’s first song, Sympathique, went on to be nominated for song of the year at France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards.
Continuing with its musical trip, the band next took the audience to Spain with Donde Estas?, Turkey with Askim, China with Dang Zhe Ni Hui Lai (I am Waiting for You to Come Back), and Italy with Anna.
An instrumental piece called The Flying Squirrel marked the end of the first half of the show.
What was most astounding was when the band encouraged the crowd to come up on stage to dance – something that I have never seen happened at the DFP.
The band’s invitation did not go unanswered as it was hard to resist the pull of their songs.
After the interval, Pink Martini returned with Let’s Never Stop Falling in Love from its 2004 second full-length album, Hang on Little Tomato.
The song, a duet, was performed by the band’s own China Forbes (who sings in 15 languages!) with guest singer Sean Ghazi. This was followed by the album’s title track, which, according to Lauderdale, was inspired by a Hunt’s Ketchup ad campaign ‘Hang On, Little Tomato!’ in a 1964 issue of Life magazine. The journey continued that night with Al Bint Al Bint Al Shalabiya, an Arabic song from Libya; Lilly, another original duet with a Latin American beat; and Yo te Quiero Siempre, a Cuban song sang by the band’s conga player and percussionist, Miguel Angel Bernal.
Pink Martini’s Timothy Yuji Nishimoto next took centre stage with a very bright rendition of a Japanese pop song, Zundoko-Bushi.
According to the band, the song composer is unknown. The version performed that night was inspired by Japanese rock and roll band The Drifters, who, in 1967, performed the song in a variety show.
Pink Martini’s version came with the lines “Ooowhh … big one!” during the instrumental section in reference to Nishimoto’s uncle Hire who does not speak English except for two words. You can guess what they are.
The band wrapped up its performance with Pata Pata, Hey Eugene, and Get Happy – a total of 18 tracks that night.
However, the night was not over yet as Pink Martini returned to perform three more numbers – Una Notte a Napoli, Gong Xi, and Brazil.
As more of the audience came on stage to dance, Lauderdale called on Sean to lead a conga line that grew as it snaked across the concert hall for the last song.
In a word, Pink Martini One Night Only was fun. The music turned the concert hall into a virtual lounge, one that musically travelled across the globe.