Get ready to shake what your mumma gave you when accordion player and crooner Domenico Taraborrelli brings the sexy sounds of South America to The Lounge next month.
A civil engineer by day, by night Domenico is a versatile and experienced cabaret performer with over 30 years experience. In October, Domenico presents Copacabana Night at The Lounge. “It's a night of Latin flavoured, South American music, which is obviously fairly sensual but also fairly energetic,” Domenico says.
“The hot flavours of South America; I don't know if we have any bossa novas in there but we normally throw a couple in. I'll be playing with a big band but also playing a couple of solo numbers, so hopefully it's going to be a fun-filled night with a couple of shaking maracas and congas and things like that.”
Domenico says that no evening devoted to Copacabana would be complete without a rendition of the Barry Manilow classic of the same name. “No, that's a standard,” he laughs. “You've got to put that in there so people know what you're doing when you're doing the conga line.”
Domenico has been playing the accordion since he was five-years-old and says he's become pretty mobile with the bulky instrument. “It's a bit tricky going underneath things, but I can squeeze it together and try to congest myself up a little bit,” he says.
For Domenico, the mere mention of Copacabana brings back memories of his time spent on the world-famous beach in Rio De Janeiro. “Copacabana Beach is just a wonderful beach,” he says.
“It's right next to Ipanema, which if you know the song 'The Girl From Ipanema'; Copacabana and Ipanema are on the same stretch, it's just a magical place. Nothing like having a 6-lane highway bordering a 200-metre stretch of sand that goes out into the bloody beautiful crystal-clear water and very scantily-clad women and men.”
It's this atmosphere in particular Domenico says he plans on bringing to The Lounge in October. “I wear scantily clad clothes,” he jokes. “No one wears board shorts over there, everyone wears dick-togs and the smaller the dick-togs the better, apparently. They call them 'dental floss' togs as well.”
Domenico also performed his Copacabana show at The Lounge last year and says the audience couldn't help but feel the Latin vibes. “It was a good turnout, it was actually a big party night,” he says.
“The place was jam-packed and there were lots of people dancing; we got a bit of a conga line happening with a couple of maracas. People were really getting into it.
“It's the emotion the music has got in it. They're quite simple songs but also very complex and they give you that warm, relaxing feeling of being in a nice, sunny environment drinking whatever they drink in Rio; sitting by the nice water and nice warm sun, the music flows over you and feels like the South American water.”
