The Ayoub Sisters Concert Review

Live at Crazy Coqs, 2^nd July 2018

My first experience of The Ayoub Sisters was at the Classic FM Live concert at the Royal Albert Hall in April this year, where their performance was a highlight for me in a fantastic evening of varied music – familiar and not so familiar.

It was without a moment’s hesitation therefore that I booked to see The Ayoub Sisters at ‘Live at Zedel’ as soon as I saw that they would be performing their own show on 2^nd July.

Describing themselves as Scottish-Egyptian multi-instrumentalists, Laura and Sarah Ayoub were born in Scotland to an Egyptian family and raised in the Glasgow area (as evidenced by their accent when they speak). Their musical training began at an early age and their passion for music shines through in everything that they say and in their faces as they play.

Crazy Coqs is an intimate cabaret-style venue within Brasserie Zedel, a stone’s throw from London’s Piccadilly Circus. It seats about 80 and was nearly full by the time the lights went down for the sisters’ entrance.

The show opened with a lively performance of Csárdás, with Laura on violin and Sarah at the piano. There was clear delight on their faces as the audience began to applaud during a dramatic pause – only to find the music resuming at an even more frenetic pace.

A beautiful medley of Melodies from Scotland followed, reflecting the girls’ upbringing.

In her introduction to Die Fledermaus Overture, Laura recounted how they had commissioned this arrangement from Paul Campbell to highlight both instruments (violin and piano) rather than one being an accompaniment to the other. They had asked for it to be as flashy and virtuosic as possible, but on receiving the score they were somewhat dismayed to find that it was too hard for them to play. Undeterred, they persevered and overcame the difficulties, resulting in a fantastic performance.

Next came a lovely arrangement of Greensleeves, and all too soon the first half of the concert concluded with ‘Quick Tune’ – a spectacular number incorporating some interesting effects, including Sarah reaching inside the piano to produce a strange muted sound with her fingers on the strings.

For the second half, Sarah abandoned the piano and took up the cello, whilst Laura stayed true to her violin. The first piece was a thoroughly enjoyable country music rodeo style romp, reminiscent of Aaron Copland’s Hoedown. It may indeed have been based on Copland’s work, but was unintroduced so I cannot confirm this.

Next was a soft 6/8 adaptation of the pop song Billie Jean.

For a number of pieces in this half, the sisters made use of a ‘loop box’ where they played and recorded an opening sequence which repeated as a backing to the subsequent music. This was used to great effect for Uptown Funk and Mother’s Pride.

For the folk song Misirlou, Sarah and Laura managed to make their instruments sound quite Middle-Eastern in timbre – I am not quite sure how.

Sadly, it was now time for the final number – the gorgeous Ashokan Farewell. The audience were invited to participate in this by providing the drone backing along with the cello – a task which we commenced with reasonable vigor but failed to sustain with any great conviction – we were all too entranced by the beautiful sounds coming from the stage.

The enthusiastic applause thankfully produced the desired effect, and for an encore, we were treated to a delightful arrangement of Paul McCartney’s Blackbird.

Most of the music from this concert also features (with full orchestral accompaniment) on Laura and Sarah’s debut album with the unsurprising title “The Ayoub Sisters”, released by Decca and available from the usual sources.

To learn more about the Ayoub Sister’s visit Facebook and their Official Website.