DBR and DJ Scientific DBR and DJ Scientific: Dance Hall
Friday 25th March
Hobart City Hall
Ten Days on the Island

Is it an electric guitar, or a violin? Certainly, for the first set you may have been confused, as DBR arced about the centre of the stage, looking (and sounding) like a lead guitarist from the 1980s, channelling his six-stringed instrument and allowing it full reign.

Unfortunately, his frenzy lacked contagious elements. Yes, there were beats and a little mixing going on from DJ Scientific underneath, but the performance seemed to fall somewhere between music that could actually be danced to, and music that was interesting enough to make you want to
just sit and listen. For a dance hall, that’s something of a problem. Guest vocals from Emeline Michele brought a little more engagement with the audience, providing a way into the performance, but this was too soon dissipated by an interval.

Post-break, the lights went down, people were encouraged to come forward and DJ Scientific brought a more traditional, rhythmic mix to the table, with DBR’s sparer use of violin facilitating an atmosphere more conducive to dancing. The hall appeared appreciative, but even at its height the
crowd was relatively small. Perhaps the higher ticket prices kept the mass of punters away.

Possibly the set-up was part of the problem. Dominated by tables in the centre with a small area up the front for those wanting to shake it, Hobart’s City Hall resembled a well-resourced but slightly dreary cruise ship, enabling sitting and listening, eating cheese and drinking wine – but sad to say, hardly appropriate for a feverish dance hall.

Ben Walter

Virtuosic performance builds slowly to driving crescendo

The combination of virtuoso violinist DBR and DJ Scientific with Haitian vocalist Emeline Michel was an interesting choice for the opening night of the Dance Hall on Friday night. Not because the somewhat subdued initial atmosphere in the beautifully tarted up City Hall transformed instantly into wild dancing when DBR began to play, but rather because the audience’ focus was drawn instantly to the amazing talent and performance of the artists on stage.

Beginning with a beautiful classically-inspired bowed melody backed by lilting sampled piano riffs, the music was led right from the start by DBR’s unusual six-stringed violin style. His instrument transformed at once into a beat box, bow hitting the strings like a drum stick, then into a plucked double bass and again to wild electric lead guitar reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix.

Backed by DJ Scientific with hip hop singing, driving drum and base, scratched rythmns and world music snippets the music ranged through jazz, classical and hip hop to wall of sound dance music. Emeline Michel added her earthy and beautiful voice to the mix for a few traditional heart-felt songs sung in French with much grace.

By the second half of the program DBRs rapid fire fingers and wired stage presence drove the music into full-blown dance beats and everyone was soon up on their feet (and even onto the stage) cheering and stamping for more as the midnight curfew brought this fantastic evening to an unwanted close.

If this concert sets the standard for the season of Dance Halls across the state then don’t miss the chance when it comes to your town.

Gai Anderson

This review is originally published by the Write Response blog team: an independent team of Tasmanian writers have united to create WriteResponse, a platform to review all types of art and creative endeavour.

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