Zorras Reviews
Performance Reviews:
“I made my entry half-way through the Lavender Girls event just in time to catch Sandra Alland and Y. Josephine who together comprise the alternative performance troupe, Zorras. A medley of poetry, music, video, megaphones – and drumming that would put Sheila E to shame.”
– Jane Czyzselska, Diva Magazine, London, November 2011
full review here
“In Spanish their name translates to 'female fox' or 'vixen,' but for alt/art group Zorras, the meaning is pure performance magic. Whether it’s the words of Sandra Alland, the intricate guitar work of Y Josephine, or the mesmerizing video images created by Alland and Ariadna Battich, Zorras lives up to its foxy namesake with stories ripe with sexuality, gender and sly humour.”
– Serafin LaRiviere, Xtra!, Toronto/Ottawa, October 2011
full review here
“...though I’d seen Zorras on video and heard Zorras on CD, I’d never experienced them live. They were fantastic. Personable, talented, spontaneous, and crowd-pleasing.”
– Stuart Ross, Canadian writer, Cobourg, October 2011
full blog here
“Zorras blew the crowd away with their splendid mix of poetry, film, singing and music. Words of great insight and humour, fantastic stage presence, wonderfully bluesy vocals and percussion that had many a pulse racing and other parts throbbing; they rocked the house. Looking around the happy, smiling, enraptured faces of the crowd, overhearing the accolades, it’s clear that Zorras were a complete hit with both me and the rest of the audience.”
– Lysander Dove, wotever world, London, August 2011
full review here
“They make me do a bit of a sex wee.”
– K Anderson, London musician, May 2011
“...much of the brilliance of Zorras comes from the integration of the separate elements of their work. The parts alone would be incredible enough, given the talent of Sandra’s words and performance, Y’s way with making a noise and a rhythm you have to listen to, and the gorgeous lyricism of Ariadna’s films. As a whole, something really special happens.”– Rachel McCrum, Inky Fingers, Edinburgh, April 2011
“..a live show like nothing else.”– Ste McCabe, Queers Make Music, Manchester, April 2011
“These last couple of years Zorras have been like a breath of fresh air in Edinburgh's poetry scene, raising the bar of what's possible, bringing a much needed experimental avant-garde approach to performance art... inspirational and entertaining.”
– Kevin Williamson, founder of Rebel Inc., Edinburgh, January 2011
“The highlight of the evening... spellbinding.”
– The Aberdeen Voice, Aberdeen, October 2010,
original review here
“A very unique mix of poetry, music, stories and just plain weird. The poetry was sharp and funny, the placement effective, the visuals fitting; a rather unforgettable experience... At some point after Zorras, I turned to someone I had met at the festival and said 'How the hell do you follow that?'”
– Ultimate Metal, Edinburgh, Autumn 2009,
original review here
“Alland’s cadenced recital combined with Josephine’s amazing and powerful vocal range and rapturous guitar and rhythms made their performance utterly mind-blowing. Their show was accompanied by a slide-show, compiled and presented by (Alland and) Ariadna Battich, which was...projected onto a white sheet hung on one wall of the hall.
It gave the often surreal display...a distorted and twisted aspect, which brought out a sense of a warped world. For me, Zorras were the highlight of the evening and I would thoroughly recommend them to anyone.”
– Wisrutta Atthakor, The F-Word: Contemporary UK Feminism, Autumn 2009,
original review here
“The place is rammed...and the show does not disappoint. Reminiscent of Miranda July and complemented by a deadpan delivery, Alland's words are at once both drolly funny and sweetly strange...Y. Josephine's vocals and percussion really shine and embody the set with the kind of soul spoken word frequently lacks.”
– Lock Up Your Daughters Magazine, Glasgow, Spring 2009
“This is not My Coming Out Poem of Pain, this is Sandra Alland's brilliant Beckett cut-ups...The images come so fast you sometimes feel like a Slinky falling down the stairs, yet the emotion and intention are clear, moving, and often funny...Y. Josephine plays guitar, somehow gets a whole drum kit out of a Peruvian fruit box, and sings in a sweet, smoky, untouchably cool voice.”
– The Skinny, 4-star review, Edinburgh/Glasgow, December 2007,
original review hereCD Reviews (We Apologise For Any Inconvenience):
“Check out their shows, invite them to your town!”
– Black Coffee Poet, Toronto, September 2011
full review here
“...a sweet mix of song, poetry, storytelling and audio art...mock-dramatic deconstructions of relationships gone awry break into awesome stretches of scat singing, acoustic beat-boxing accompanies a rap woven from a melange of languages and images, sung choruses punctuating the words.”– Vince Tinguely, Canadian Review of Literature in Performance, Montreal, May 2011,
original review here
“(Zorras) do a great job of injecting humor into their poetry and are the first spoken-word group to have actually captured my interest. Also, I was intrigued by their song about someone stealing avocados by shoving them down her pants.”
– Mia Jones, AfterEllen.com, LA/New York, “Your Weekly Women To Listen To”,
March 2011, original review here
“My favourite Edinburgh music ensemble, full-stop.”– Ste McCabe, Dandelion Radio, Manchester, September 2010
“Scottish-Canadian poet Sandra Alland and musician Y. Josephine have a more experimental take on spoken word performance than your average word-spitter. Having emerged from the Edinburgh queer cabaret scene a few years ago, Zorras deliver their musical stories bilingually, mixing text, sound poetry, percussion, guitar, megaphones, singing and projected visual images. Though I'd wager their live performance is more true to their artistic vision than an audio recording, they are still interesting on CD, mixing it up between more musical numbers like the guitar-folk 'Nest' and more radio-dramatized pieces like 'Here's To Wang.' I personally love the 'In the Details' spoken interludes, humorous musings on the idiosyncrasies of the Bulgarian language.”– Curve Magazine, San Francisco, February 2010, original review here
“After listening to experimental music for a number of years, it becomes very rare to come across something which truly sounds new to you, so Zorras came to me as a real breath of fresh, seaside air. The Scotland based act describe themselves as "Poetry-music weirdness fusion. With megaphones”, and that is honestly the best way to describe them. The main composition of their music is very quirky, sharp spoken poetry over percussion box or guitar accompaniment....
The highlight of the album for me is in the final track "Head Games” featuring very interesting abstract poetry and hilarious vocal performances from both members. Makes me laugh every time I hear it.”– Avant-Garde Metal, Edinburgh, December 2009, original review here
