By Roland Eyerich ….
Music lovers now know this great little coffee house with live music – The Soulist Coffee and Music House, Alsancak.
Last weekend (10th/11th/12th May) there was diversity and culture on offer at the meeting place of different music lovers. On Friday 11th, there was Alternative / Heavy Rock with The Ladderman from Larnaca, on Saturday 12th, Nu-Soul with the Paper Thieves from Berlin / Germany and on Sunday 13th, the monthly Breakfast with Jazz featuring the Jazz Trio – The Verigo.
Once again The Soulist has proven to be the “Live Venue in Northern Cyprus”. Courageous, “The Soulist Live” is on its way. Alper Cengiz has the courage to bring new or different genres of music into his music offer. His cultural offer on the different music genre is unique. 3 days of live music – 3 different music genres on offer … Wow … Even if some styles of music are not accepted that way. Alper dares.
For the young audience, the Friday event was particularly hot. The band The Ladderman came from Larnaca with alternative and heavy rock in their luggage. Their album “Not A Six” and songs by Led Zeppelin and the Queens of The Stone Age were performed. The performance of the band around Andreas Matheou on Guitars/Vocals, Rolandis Lazides on Guitars, Stelios Mosfiliotis on Bass, Stefanos Eliopoulos on Drums, was just great. Thanks The Ladderman.
Saturday was dedicated to Nu-Soul. A style of music that has its roots in jazz and indie rock. For this event it was possible to win the band “Paper Thieves” from Berlin/ Germany. Hey what a performance. Great performance and an audience that appreciated this particular style of music … It was just different – no jazz, no rock, it was music with the roots in jazz, indie rock and of course the roots of the band’s countries of origin like Cyprus and New Zealand, Usually a 5-piece band – they debuted as a 3-piece band for their appearance in The Soulist.
On bass Candas Erdener (Cyprus), Guitar: Eric Wermke (Germany) and piano and vocals Leah Christensen (New Zealand). Just a great performance, which the audience could have listened to again and again. Outstanding, was the extraordinary voice from Leah Christensen.
The group is from a former divided country, Germany, and also a divided city, Berlin. They will come again. These musicians will be supporting the Friends Across Borders event in aid of Tulips (Help Those with Cancer Association) so there will be a reunion on 28th September. They are part of the line up for the second day. Thank you Candas, Eric and Leah.
The conclusion of the weekend was the now traditional monthly (Sunday) Breakfast with Jazz. The musical framework for this matinee was The Verigo. The Jazz Trio – Arda Baykurt (drums), Zeliş Şenol (vocals), Ersen Sururi (keyboard + midi bass). Their program was smooth jazz, contemporary jazz, bossanova, swing, jazz standards and some blues too. Of 
course, there were also songs by Sade, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone, Etta James, Aretha Franklin and Roberta Flack just to name a few. This setting was just right and the great “Soulist Jazz Buffet” could really unfold.
Without this great buffet – no jazz matinée with this high popularity would be complete. Advance reservation is now necessary.
Responsible for this jazz buffet is someone who is always in the background – Adeleh Mozafari “chef de cuisine”. Her buffet and the arrangement is the heart of Breakfast with Jazz. This buffet is just the “hammer”.
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Upcoming Events for the rest of May
15 Wednesday – Hot Club of Cyprus (Gypsy Jazz)
17 Friday – The Healers (Reggae)
18 Saturday – Alper Cengiz & Friends (Blues & Rock)
22 Wednesday – Lady M. Jazz Trio
25 Saturday – Soul Stuff (from Istanbul)
26 Sunday – Classical Concert with Atakan Sari & Ahmet Evan
29 Wednesday – Lady M. Jazz Trio
31 Friday – Alper Cengiz & Friends (Blues & Rock)
