It was five years ago that I went to a concert at a small venue in Ee, Friesland, to see Orit Shimoni. A singer-songwriter I had accidentally found trough Facebook.
Shimoni had been on the road, “living from a suitcase”, for ten years at that moment. And she’d been probably doing that for fifteen years now if not for the corona pandemic, that ‘locked her up’ in the city of Winnipeg, Canada. A city she only knew because of the trainstops when she was passing by. When she finally was invited to come to play in Winnipeg the concerts that were planned never happened. Because soon after she got off the train the world came to a grinding halt… the song “Winnipeg”, that she also sang, tells the story.
Joanne
Before Orit Shimoni got on stage there were two support acts. The first one was Joanne. A singer from Friesland who sang four songs, and it was a very surprising selection. From starting off with a song from the movie Barbie, the classic hymn ‘How Great Thou Art’ as well as a very impressive version of Etta James’ “I’d Rather Go Blind”.
Martin van de Vrugt
Next up was Martin van de Vrugt. Martin has had a long career in music and also owns a studio in Deventer where he has recorded and produced many albums. Inluding an album by Orit Shimoni, “Lost and Found on the Road to Nowhere”.
Martin sang his own songs and plays guitar in a creative and impressive way. He really makes his guitar sing! We really enjoyed his performance!
His music is avaliable at BandCamp
https://martinvandevrugt.bandcamp.com/
Orit Shimoni
After the break, in which I had a nice chat with Martin about recording and production of music, Orit went on stage to perform. She played a lot of new songs, written during the lock downs. In between she talked about how they were written or why, told us about her life the past few years, and how she missed being on the road.
The concert in Ee wasn’t listed on the Tour schedule and the original plan was to see her tomorrow in Deventer. However I got a message from her that she was doing a show in Ee, Friesland, also, so I decided to go and see and hear Orit Shimoni in Friesland. It was an evening well spend!
This was the first European Tour after she was stranded in Winnipeg. However, good things happened too during the lock down. New songs were written and recorded. She made a lot of new friends, she told us, and despite the fact the world still seems to be a mess – Orit is back on the road again to see and meet her old friends again!
Her recent performance at Matrix Rotterdam was livestreamed and still availble. If you never heard of Orit Shimoni, check it out. Really worth your time. Since during a concert of Orit Shimino there’s a lot more going on than I can tell you here, you’ll have to see and hear (or better: experience it, go to a concert!) for yourself.
Orit’s music is available at BandCamp
https://oritshimoni.bandcamp.com/
Website
https://oritshimoni.weebly.com/
Concert Pictures
I took a series of pictures however it was difficult because of the lightning of course. In addition, I have an eye infection. That does not make taking pictures any easier. I had to rely heavily on the ‘automatic settings’ of the camera. Below a few of the pictures that are, imho, good enough to be published.