In a conversation that I had with Anton (vocals, guitar, and harmonica of Los Caparos) before to the show, he told me that in Russia they didn’t use to celebrate Valentine’s day, or any other love-related holiday and so International Women’s Day became this big deal where all guys gave their women—mothers, girlfriends, sisters, wives—flowers. On that one day all the men walking through the streets with roses in their hands. And on Saturday night—on International Women’s Day—Los Caparos didn’t spare us the roses either. Years later and on a different continent, they still walked with flowers on that day and still gave them to their women—a crowd filled with their women.

For the third year in a row, Los Caparos gave a special concert, entrance was free of charge for women as to celebrate International Women’s Day. It took place at the Comfort 13, a two-floor concert-venue/dance-bar that’s located in the dark and trendy Florentin neighborhood. Unsurprisingly, there were just as many guys as there were girls who came to enjoy the vibes and the phenomenal strange presence of Los Caparos who play reggae–ska-groove-jungle and sing in Russian, English, and Hebrew.

Los Caparos started out as a venture… three guys Anton, Archie (vocals, guitar) and MC Goga (mc, voices) but has since expanded and joined by 5 others (and now includes a trumpet player, a trombone, bass, keyboards, percussion and drums). Having immigrated to Israel from Russia, Los Caparos are “old-immigrants” i.e. comfortable in where they’re from, comfortable in where they are, and so they are able to create something that encompasses, with pride, both of their cultures.

Years ago, they only had a Russian crowd following them, but now they’ve broken out of that circle, probably with the help of a trend…everything that is Russian seems to be cool lately, which says a great deal about the cultural changes that Israel is undergoing.

On Saturday night one woman got a special rose. Marina Maximilian Blumin, who was one of the finalists in the Israeli version of American Idol collaborated with Los Caparos on one song, which may have been the highlight of the evening for me, because it sounded more distinct, it was different, and beautiful. Marina—also Russian—and Los Caparos kept on swinging between Russian-typed ballads with an accordion and ultra-contemporary reggae. And in this, they didn’t only bring cultures together, but also history and geography and it was wonderful and bittersweet.