On Sunday evening, the Purple Lounge at Casino2000 in Mondorf-les-Bains hosted a concert fearuring performances by two young and talented artists from The Grund Club Voices.
The Grund Club Voices is an association that provides an opportunity for young local talent to perform on stage accompanied by experienced musicians. For this concert, Priscila Da Costa and Sitta were the performers.
Priscila is a singer-songwriter who, in 2014, was a member of the Luxembourg group "The Filthy Broke Billionaires", one of the revelations of the national rock scene. She is already a proven and very promising talent.
Sitta is an author, composer and performer who was influenced early in life by her mother, an opera singer, Maria Callas and then later the icons Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.
Before the entertainment started at 21:00, concert-goers could enjoy a meal at the popular venue - the menu in the very price-competitive Purple Lounge also included a seasonal option of asparagus dishes, along with burger, chicken and salmon options - a great start to the evening.
With a sultry voice, Sitta started her initial 20-minute set with a low-tempo soulful rendition of Complicated, not the song made famous by Avril Lavigne, but one composed in Luxembourg. Upping the tempo and the volume, the 3-person band (guitar, bass, drums) then played a couple of more rock tunes in which she demonstrated the range of her vocals. She then performed one song of another Luxembourg singer-songwriter, Kid Colling, with the musicians proving the beat in tune with her sultry voice ebbing and flowing, with the audience clearly favouring these over the faster, rock songs.
Priscila then took to the stage, with the same musicians, with an entirely different repertoire of songs showing her rock-chick side, with a healthy dose of blues thrown in. The audience - a great turn-out ensured that the dinner-concert was almost at full capacity - lapped up the high- and lower-tempo renditions, with her vocals hitting the spot each time.
Both singers then performed together on stage - with the two contrasting voices feeding off each other in perfect harmony, with the musicians too obviously enjoying themselves - keeping the best until last and finishing off the hour-long set with an incredibly soulful and emotive rendition of Kozmic Blues (by Janis Joplin). Interestingly, all the introductions and thanks were all delivered not in Luxembourgish or French, but in English.
The Grund Club comprises three different components: Voices, Jazz and Singer-Songwriters, which invariably leads to much cross-over in what is undoubtedly an inspiring innovation hub for upcoming musical, singing and sing-writing talent in the Grand Duchy.
Photos by Geoff Thompson
