New York, NY. (Top40 Charts/ Viva DeConcini Official Website) - VIVA plays guitar like a flaming sword, a screaming train, a scratching chicken and a ringing bell. Her music combines a gorgeous sound with righteous feminine power, embodying the essence of outlaw glam, and on November 25, 2008, VIVA (Viva DeConcini) releases her duel-edition opus, Electric Cabaret Volume One & Volume Two.
The single disc, double album of psychedelic rock guitar starts off with five lush, orchestrally arranged rock songs co-written, arranged by and featuring Peter Apfelbaum & his 11 piece band The NY Hieroglyphics. The second half is all VIVA and sports shorter, more eclectic pieces in a more intimate setting.
Having performed everywhere from Bonnaroo with Cyro Baptista and Beat The Donkey to The Monterey Jazz Festival, VIVA's original songs roam the wild open spaces of alternative americana, psychedelia and world beat.
VIVA moved to New York in 1996, and within 7 months she met Baptista, (outrageous wild-man percussionist for Paul Simon, Sting, Herbie Hancock etc...) and became a founding member of his astounding group Beat the Donkey "BTD" (meaning Giddi-up!). She spent the next nine years touring, playing percussion, guitar, violin and singing with this innovative tour-de-force Brazilian funk-rock-dance spectacle.
One night Cyro called VIVA from San Francisco and said "Viva, tonight I played with Carlos Santana, and you know what? I like you just as much!" Indeed, VIVA's independent spirit and guitar screaming for freedom became a distinctive voice on the American jam band scene. She's jammed with Medeski, Martin and Wood, Trey Anastasio, Jo Jo Kuo (Fela Kuti) and Marc Ribot, to name a few. In 2003 jazz genius Peter Apfelbaum asked her to join his NY Hieroglyphics where she learned more about music than she ever dreamed possible.
In 2005, Viva left BTD to write, record and tour with her own project. Since then, she has toured the Northeast Coffee-House/Rock Club Circuit, been selected for the prestigious Songwriter's circle at the Bitter End and her 6-piece band Viva La Sextet featuring Peter Apfelbaum is rapidly becoming a must-see show at downtown NYC hotspot Nublu.
VIVA gained enormous respect and knowledge of "World Music" through her various projects and began to ponder the term's meaning. To rejoice her album and the music she has made, while clarifying that "America Is A Part Of the World," we've set up a double-bill with VIVA La Sextet featuring Peter Apfelbaum and Scott Kettner's Nation Beat at Southpaw in Brooklyn on Tuesday, Dec 16th. The show will be opened with the psychedelic avante-rock of the MONIKA H. BAND. The genre defying evening will blend rock, country, funk, Brazilian and Jamaican music to dazzle you with a kaleidoscope for your ears.
VIVA will release Electric Cabaret Volume One & Volume Two on November 25, 2008.
WORDS on VIVA
"Blues - rock guitar... pinpoint timing." - Jon Pareles, The New York Times
"Guitarist Viva DeConcini gives Trey Anastasio a run for his money." - Dennis Cook, Jambase.com
"You should get your own band!" - Trey Anastasio (Phish)
"Masterful" - Stephen Bernstein, (Sex Mob, Musical Dir for Leonard Cohen's "I'm A Man")
