(2003-2004 Archived Page)
Welcome to the Jewish Music Page of Rainlore's World of Music. Here, you will find all manner of news and information, including articles,
Jewish music reviews, information on artists, and more, concerning all
types and aspects of any kind of music that is even vaguely Jewish.
News
2004/02/04
A total of seven album reviews have made it onto
the site, however, due to time constraints and in order to not delay the
current update any further it had to be curtailed somewhat, leaving some
artists' profiles and an illustrated review of the phenomenal Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble live at the Pizza Express
Jazz Club, Soho, London, to be added ASAP.
However, the current crop of albums reviewed is a veritable treasure trove! Back in 1984, a remarkable performance of Shostakovich's
song cycle "From Jewish Folk Poetry", Opus 79, took place
in London as part of the first London Festival of Jewish Music. What was
so remarkable about this performance was that the songs had been translated
back into Yiddish from Russian. Fortunately, this performance in Yiddish
was recorded shortly afterwards with the same performers and released on
audio cassette by B'nai B'rith Recordings. The performers were Helen
Lawrence, soprano (now mezzo), Carole Rosen, mezzo, Louis
Garb, tenor, Louis Berkman, baritone, and Antony Saunders,
piano. In addition to the Shostakovich cycle, the recording included extracts
from Samuel Alman's Yiddish opera "King Ahaz", with
piano accompaniment. This historical release is still available in limited
quantities and is now reviewed, along with another
historical B'nai B'rith Recordings release from the same year, featuring Sybil
Michelow, soprano (now alto) and the late Master of the Queen's Music Malcolm Williamson, "In Recital". This features an
outstanding selection of songs covering the period from the late Romantic
to the late 20th century, all by Jewish composers or on Jewish themes.
Both of these historic releases are available from Jewish
Music Distribution UK, and CD re-issues are being contemplated by the JMI,
who own the rights.
If you're even vaguely into chansons and cabaret song, don't miss the
fabulous Alexandra Yaron's stunning album, "Irgendwo Auf Der
Welt...", and most of all, don't miss this incredible performer! Alexandra
Yaron will already be familiar to regular visitors through the review here of her recent cabaret
date at The Spitz. The zany Aussie band Monsieur Camembert who won their second ARIA Award for Best World Music
Album for their 2003 release "Absynthe" provide a super taster of their live performances on the 2002 ARIA Award-winning "Live On Stage". One-time keyboardist/sideman for Tom Waits, Willy Schwarz is an incredibly versatile multi-instrumentalist as well as
an accomplished singer who takes us on a musical travelogue to explore
most major traditions of Jewish music throughout the diaspora with his
album "Jewish Music Around The World", distributed in the
US by Hatikvah Music. One of
the best aspects of this album is also that it presents Ashkenazi as well
as Sephardi and Mizrakhi traditions together and all mixed up nicely. It
also highlights the fact that sadly at present, Sephardi and Mizrakhi traditions
are seriously under-represented in reviews on this site. This is by no
means by design or any kind of bias or preference but simply because artists/bands
(and/or their distributors/labels etc.) have been somewhat backward in
coming forward. A very regrettable state of affairs in my opinion.
Asaf Sirkis, more familiar perhaps as the drum genius at the
heart of the rhythm section of Gilad
Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble, can be heard with his own
trio, Asaf Sirkis & The Inner Noise on their recent outstanding
album "Inner Noise". A kind of fusion for the 21st century, "Inner
Noise" goes far beyond the fusion familiar from Miles Davis and
John McLaughlin and followers, combining elements of jazz, progressive
rock, classical and Middle Eastern music and influences as diverse as Olivier
Messiaen and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. The trio comprises in addition to
Sirkis on drums, organist Steve Lodder on church organ and guitarist Mike
Outram. The work was recorded at St. Michael's Church, Highgate, North
London. While perhaps not falling under the umbrella of Jewish music, this
album is nonetheless of interest here as not only is Sirkis Israeli and
the work was originally partly commissioned by the City of Tel Aviv's Art
Department, but also because of the Middle Eastern elements of the music.
Last but not least, there's more from clawhammer banjo klezmer extraordinaire Andy Rubin, with his regular band The Freilachmakers Klezmer
String Band and their 1998 debut album "The Flower of Berezin",
a joyful blend of klezmer, American Old Time Dance music, Irish music and
more. This stuff is highly infectious!
Some of the major annual klez fests have also been listed
in the Info section and on the links page. If those that are still not mentioned would like to send me details,
I'll gladly add them ASAP.
Finally, with the next (partial) site update it is about time to move
some of the news content of this page to the archives.
More soon.
Rainlore's World of Music
2004/01/17
No less than five album reviews this time, with
lots more in preparation. Be sure not to miss the extraordinary Wolf
Krakowski's albums, Transmigrations - Gilgul and Goyrl: Destiny. Krakowski re-intepretes traditional Yiddish songs in a modern blues based idiom that blends blues, R&B, folk-rock, country-rock,
reggae and Latin flavours in his own inimitable style while fully preserving
the Yiddish essence of the songs. At the height of her career, Yaffa
Yarkoni was probably Israel's most popular singer. Thanks to the endeavours
of Simon Rutberg and his Hatikvah Music label, a collection of her singing Yiddish songs is for the
first time available on CD in the form of Yaffa Yarkoni Sings Yiddish
- Rumania, Rumania. Whether you're into "Early Jewish Music" period
style performances, tsimbl, or you just like klezmer duets, Pete
Rushefsky and Elie Rosenblatt's Tsimbl un Fidl: Klezmer Music
For Hammered Dulcimer And Violin is guaranteed to offer everybody
something. Finally, the recently released Shalom Ireland by CeiliZemer is the soundtrack of the documentary movie of the
same name and there simply aren't enough superlatives to describe this
fantastic album - it's a real blast! CeiliZemer of course features among
others Andy Rubin and David Kidron of The
Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band, of whom more next time.
Coming soon is a live review of a recent Gilad
Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble date at the Pizza Express
Jazz Club, Soho. It's easy to see why they're fast acquiring the status
"legendary"!
More soon.
Rainlore's World of Music
2004/01/01
A Happy C.E. New Year!
Long overdue, a profile of eclectic Aussie band Monsieur
Camembert is finally up. Hoping to catch up with a few more over the
next couple of months.
Also up, a full six album reviews. While not
strictly speaking falling under the umbrella of any kind of Jewish music, The
Amazing Assaf's "Explicit
Lifestyles" and "Damned
If You Do, Damned If You Don't" are nevertheless relevant here.
For starters, they are fine music, period. Moreover, they are very rare
beasts in the present day and age - popular music, in this particular case,
Hip Hop, that actually qualifies as original, inventive, creative and even
accessible and eminently listenable-to. Even if Hip Hop is not your usual
"bag", I'd urge you to give The Amazing Assaf's albums a listen.
This Hip Hop and percussion genius takes the genre and turns it upside
down and inside out with very interesting results. And there isn't even
a loop in sight. Last not least of course, The Amazing Assaf will
already be familiar to regular visitors of these pages as the percussion
wizard of the all-star supergroup Daphna
Sadeh And The Voyagers. For more on The Amazing Assaf and his albums
also check here.
Then there are two more albums from Stewart
Curtis, the multi-woodwind phenomenon also already familiar through
his association with Daphna Sadeh And The Voyagers as well as his previously
reviewed debut album with Stewart Curtis' K-Groove. "Smoked
Salmon Salsa" is K-Groove's most recent album, and Curtis faces
the trio trial on "Saracubana
- The Stewart Curtis Trio Plays B.B. Cooper"; extraordinary
albums both. Equally extraordinary are two more albums from Dutch duo Mariejan
van Oort and Jacques Verheijen, their debut album "Brikele
- A Concert of Yiddsh Songs", and their latest release, "Mayn
Fayfele - Songs of Gebirtig", a tribute to Mordekhay Gebirtig
that includes material only recently discovered.
Several new musical categories and links to them are starting to appear
on these pages. There is a lot of material that is relevant to more than
one sphere of interest, e.g., a lot of klezmer and other Jewish music involves
fusion with jazz and it would therefore be of interest to general jazz
afficionados. Adding other categories and cross-referencing material is
aimed at broadening the appeal of such material. Also of course, there
will always be other material that I find of interest but that doesn't
really fit into the previous limited categories. However, rest assured
that the primary focus of this site will firmly remain all forms of Jewish
music, and a bit of steel pan (which will finally come along real soon
now). The first of the new categories to become "active" are Jazz and Other Music. The latter will
cover all forms/genres of music not already encompassed by a seperate category.
Finally, a "silent" update of the Jewish
Music UK Calendar page will follow, it is hoped, in the next few days.
More soon.
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/12/23
A Happy Chanukah To All!
Chanukah or not, no rest for the wicked here due to this update once
again having gotten delayed. Not easy typing and editing photos etc. with
one hand only (the other one "sprung a leak" and gushed "nearly an armful").
At least the latkes keep cheering me up in my (vain) attempts to
gain weight! Still on the subject of Chanukah, it gave me great pleasure
to notice that the Lubavitch shul in not too far off Ilford this
year wished everybody a Happy Chanukah by erecting a giant menorah on the
Gants Hill roundabout. Nice gesture, and nice to see a bit of pride in
Jewish culture also.
Up at last: reviews of Alexandra Yaron's fabulous Berlin & Paris Cabaret evening at The Spitz last month, and of the final two concerts in the Klezmer Beats on Upper Street series by the World
Quintet and Budapest Klezmer Band respectively. And a couple of CD reviews that really
couldn't wait - the superb Stewart Curtis' Klezmer Groove's (now better known as Stewart Curtis' K-Groove)
debut album "Too Loud For Dinner" that's as fresh as ever, and outstanding Dutch Yiddish song duo Mariejan van Oort and Jacques Verheijen's gorgeous "Benkshaft - Yiddishe Lider" song collection. More albums from both Stewart Curtis and Mariejan van Oort and Jacques Verheijen, including the latter's
recently released "Mayn Fayfele - Songs of Gebirtig" to follow
with the next site update, as well as some truly amazing Hip Hop (yes,
Hip Hop!) from Amazing Assaf, whose leader of the same name may be more familiar to regular visitors
to this site as percussionist Assaf Seewi in Daphna
Sadeh's new all-star Voyagers line-up.
 Returning
to the topic of the recent outstanding Klezmer Beats on Upper Street series of concerts at Union Chapel in Islington, North London for a moment, Geraldine Auerbach MBE (photo left, here introducing the Budapest Klezmer Band's Union Chapel concert on November 29th), head and dynamic engine of the Jewish Music Institute, SOAS, University of London, will be familiar to members of the Jewish-music
mailing list already. A warm and charming lady, Geraldine has devoted
the last twenty-odd years to championing the cause of Jewish music in the
UK and continues to do so unceasingly. It is her utter dedication and sheer
hard work that has brought about the Jewish music renaissance in the UK
almost single-handedly. Klezmer Beats on Upper Street (all
four concerts in the series are reviewed here with
lavish illustrations) was a wonderful and highly successful series giving
a broad "taster" of the many forms of klezmer and klezmer related music
thriving today, yet this was only one small part of the huge number of
wonderfully varied musical and related events, numbering some sixty in
total, that the JMI presented this past autumn season. From Klezmer Jams
at Lauderdale House in Highgate, North London, to South Bank concerts,
from musical workshops to co-sponsored guided walks through Jewish London,
the breadth of the programme presented was simply breathtaking. For thus
enriching us all immeasurably both this past autumn season and throughout
the past twenty-odd years, all friends of Jewish music and Jewish culture
in general in the UK and beyond owe Geraldine Auerbach, and of course her
co-workers at the JMI, a huge debt of gratitude, admiration, appreciation
and affection - so, a little toast seems in order. Three cheers for Geraldine!
May she long continue with her tireless efforts!
Some months ago, the subject of "J4J" (Jews for Jesus) hiring Jewish
musicians under false pretenses came up on the Jewish-music
mailing list. It would appear that this organisation is now expanding
its operations in the UK, having recently opened a new centre in Kentish
Town Road, Kentish Town, North London. So, if you are a UK based musician
and take exception to being hired under false pretenses, look out!
While in the normal run of things, politics have no place on this site,
when racism and religious persecution raise their ugly twin heads, particularly
in the form of proposed legislation, it is my firm conviction that everybody
has an absolute duty to stand up and be counted, no matter where or when.
Sadly, such an occasion has now arisen. For the first time since the Nationalist
government of South Africa and the Nazis of Germany, a sovereign government
is proposing to institutionalise racism and religious persecution through
legislation. The French government is proposing to outlaw the wearing or
display of "prominent religious symbols" in schools, most particularly
aimed at the wearing of Islamic head scarves by girls but also including
the wearing of kipot (note also that only "excessively prominent" crosses are included!). Any such legislation will doubtlessly be only the thin end of the wedge. Perhaps one shouldn't be too surprised
given that the French are certainly among the most xenophobic of Western
European nations, nonetheless, I am utterly shocked and appalled and feel
duty-bound to express my strongest objections and utmost condemnation of
this act of outright racism and religious persecution. One would have thought
that by the beginning of the 21st century (C.E.) the American model of
the "melting pod" through near-forced assimilation would be totally and
utterly discredited and the multicultural societal model (at least aspired
to by, for example, the United Kingdom and indeed largely enshrined in
its legislation) of universal tolerance and mutual respect would have become
the aim of any remotely enlightened nation. Instead, France reveals herself
utterly benighted and attempts to turn back the clock! The legislation
she proposes is a very dark blotch on the face of humanity, a cancerous
lesion even. "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" indeed! Flushed down the proverbial toilet. The stench is nauseating.
Back to the normal business of this site.
More soon.
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/12/09
Alas, been falling a bit further behind still, but it's been in a good
cause, damsels in distress, that sort of thing. Without further ado, latest
updates include three new reviews. Lloica Czackis and the Tangele
Ensemble were at Union Chapel, Islington, North London recently,
while Daphna Sadeh and the Voyagers were bringing the first Brighton Festival of Jewish Music to a triumphant
close at Komedia in Brighton. Both events were simply awe inspiring. Also,
there's a long delayed, long overdue book review. It's not everyday that
a musician has a novel published, let alone a Jewish musician, and when
that musician happens to be of the international stature of the controversial Gilad Atzmon, this is certainly of interest to this site. A Guide To The Perplexed is a nuclear furnace of a satire, very dark and very funny and with a lot more to it than meets the eye.
Geraldine Auerbach of the Jewish Music
Institute, SOAS, University of London, has announced next summer's
Yiddish language and culture course and KlezFest. The former is
slated for Sunday 1st to Friday 6th August 2004, while the latter will
take place Sunday 8th to Thursday 12th August 2004. Full details and registration
form will soon be available on the JMI website. KlezFest
London is fast developing into a tradition that even attracts the attention
of the British mainstream media. Time and circumstances permitting, I hope
to report on KlezFest in 2004 on these pages.
Yet again, apologies to anybody who is still owed email. However, I
am finally getting there and have almost caught up!
More catching up as soon as can be done, including more live reviews.
Among these, the outstanding Alexandra
Yaron's cabaret evening at London's The Spitz last month. Alas,
illustrated reviews of live events are very labour intensive and time consuming,
mainly in editing and layout design and turning into html, hence the fairly
long delay between an event and its review actually making it onto site.
(This is also not helped by logistics such as film processing and high
res scanning, plus the need for "batching" this for maximum economy.)
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/11/17
At last the reviews of Daphna
Sadeh and the Voyagers at Momo in London's Mayfair and world-renown
maestro Giora Feidman and his quartet at Union Chapel, Islington
are up! If you missed these fabulous dates, here's your chance to discover
what you missed. (A lot! An awsome lot!) A whole bunch of further illustrated
reviews of live events is in hand and will be trickling onto the site as
fast as I can make it (along with a long overdue book review), and I'm
also desperately trying to catch up on a whole stack of CD reviews, and
more.
Henry Sapoznik of Kapelye fame, The Jewish Radio Project fame, acclaimed author and last but not least the father of KlezKamp in the US, invites "each and every one of you to join us at KlezKamp19 and celebrate our return to the Catskills with more innovative classes, great teachers and the finest schedule of Yiddish culture programs in the
world.
Please visit our website www.klezkamp.org for additional information and online registration or, if you prefer, e-mail us your mailing address and we'll send you (or someone you love) a hot-off-the-press brochure."
KlezKamp is a wonderful event by all accounts (I've had a fair lot
of first-hand ones from both faculty and attendees/students, and they really
make me wish I could attend at least once in my life!) and by now even
a fine tradition. Long may it, and of course Henry, prosper.
And while I have (dare I hope!) everybody's attention, may I please
draw it to a new(-ish) magazine that I consider would be of interest to
visitors to this site. Jewish Renaissance is a quarterly magazine that started publication in
2002 and is devoted to all aspects of Jewish culture, including of course
Jewish music. I was fortunate in acquiring a complimentary copy of the
Summer 2003 issue that was being generously handed out at the recent Giora
Feidman recital at Union Chapel, and I was utterly delighted with it. Jewish
Renaissance is extremey well written and presented, beautifully
produced and printed, on excellent quality paper, and its coverage of Jewish
culture is very comprehensive indeed and simply wonderful. Informative,
stimulating, and often thought-provoking, Jewish Renaissance is
something that ought to have been around in the UK for much, much longer.
Its mission statement is a fine and noble one. It's also very competitively
priced and currently available by subscription only, at a mere £18.00
for 4 issues in the UK (now that really isn't bad at all for such a quality
publication, compared to general price levels of magazines these days).
So what are you waiting for? Go on, treat yourself or a friend or loved
one (the perfect gift for Chanukah!) to a subscription. You can subscribe
online via their web site,
or by calling (within the UK) 020 8876 1891, and they can also be contacted
by email. Advertising
is minimal (and unobtrusive and contextual), and Jewish Renaissance deserves support and really should not be allowed to fail.
And finally... As of this site update, this page has now moved so if
you had its old location bookmarked, don't forget to change it. New email
addresses have also been provided on the Contact page. Again, if I owe you email and you still haven't heard from me, please
accept my apologies, I am slowly getting there and hope to get through
with catching up with at least the substantial majority of outstanding
mails over the next couple of weeks.
More soon.
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/11/08
(Written after the end of Shabbat.)
Apologies for the long break, due to complete computer (hardware) failure
(once again!) shortly after the last update, fixing of which was further
delayed by health issues. Anyway, system's back up and running, most of
my essential software's restored to health, and so back to business as
usual.
The Jewish Music UK Calendar of Rainlore's World of Music has been fully updated, much thanks to Geraldine
Auerbach of the Jewish Music Institute,
SOAS. And what treats there are in store! If you're able to get to London
and have any interest in Jewish music and Jewish culture in general, you're
bound to find some event that would interest you in the run-up to Chanukah,
from concerts and recitals to workshops and guided walks.
Further updates to the site are to come over the coming weeks and beyond.
For starters, illustrated reviews of Daphna
Sadeh and the Voyagers at Momo in London's Mayfair and world-renown
maestro Giora Feidman and his quartet at Union Chapel, Islington.
A possibly somewhat unusual book review. More illustrated reviews of live
concerts/recitals, including mezzo-soprano Lloica Czackis at Union
Chapel, Islington, and Daphna Sadeh and the Voyagers at the Brighton
Festival of Jewish Music. An awful number of CD reviews are also waiting
to be completed or rather transformed into web pages, as well as to be
written - apologies to all artists that I haven't been able to get around
to yet. More artists' profiles are also awaiting completion, as is an introduction
to the subject of Jewish music.
Some technicalities. I have been having problems with email for the
last couple of months - an awesome amount of messages simply got stuck
on the mail server (due to spam - some very awkward "zero-byte" messages
that apparently can be very tricky to get rid of and prevent other mail
coming down). While this issue now appears to be resolved, it hasn't been
helped by the system failure and being offline for some six weeks, and
now I'm having to struggle with catching up with some 1,000 messages (not
to mention having to delete thousands of spam messages and similar junk
that got past the filters!). So if you have emailed me in the last two
or three months and still haven't heard from me, please accept my apologies
and be assured that I'm trying to catch up as fast as I can. Also, the
email addresses on this site for contacting me will be changed with the
next update as my old email account has simply become a nightmare due to
large-scale spamming (it's a 10 year old account - in those days, spam
wasn't anything like the kind of problem it is now, and nobody bothered
to withhold their email address from their web browsers and the like...).
The URL of this particular page will also change with the next site
update to:
http://www.xxx.xxx.uk/JewishMusic
This is for administrative reasons, to make the site layout a bit more
tidy.
More soon.
Shabbat Shalom
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/09/13
(Written after the end of Shabbat.)
The new Jewish Music UK
Calendar of Rainlore's World of Music is finally up. There were
a few more dates to enter but rather than wait for the full info I decided
I'd get this feature up and running as is. It will be updated frequently.
Staying with the calendar, if you're in London or within easy reach
this coming week, don't miss Daphna Sadeh And The Voyagers at Chatspalace in Hackney on Wednesday night, 17th September!
There's also a little memorial
page to legendary klezmer reedist Howie
Leess (z"l) who sadly passed away in August. Affectionate tributes
by some of those who knew him and worked with him also give an insight
into the wonderful human side of this great musician.
Maria del Mar of YaD Agency kindly sent me their richly varied sampler CD of some of
the artists on their roster, a mix of styles from klezmer to Radical Jewish
Culture and the avantgarde, from world music and ethno-jazz to global electronica
and classical. There's something for (nearly) every musical preference
there. For more, check out the Links page. YaD Agency is part of the non-profit YaD Arts organisation, who describe themselves as "radical diaspora
culture in the present tense: live music, dance, visual and performance
art, film production and educational programmes representing the best artists
from across ethnic Britain."
Adrianne Greenbaum has her own brand-spanking-new website, klezmerflute.com.
A particularly fascinating, informative part of this is the Klezmer Flute Facts page. More also on the Links page.
And finally... If you have this page bookmarked, please note that I'm
having to change its address (for administrative reasons) at some point
in the next few weeks.
Shabbat Shalom
More soon.
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/08/29
(These lines are being written well before the start of Shabbat, and
I'll try and have this update online before then, but if I can't make it,
it'll be up just after Shabbat.)
Having had to escape from the intolerable heat in our apartment (over
110 degrees - the old-fashioned Fahrenheit variety, the C variety doesn't
do much for me so don't ask) during the recent heatwave, I have now been
back a couple of days and have been trying to do some more catching up.
For a start, there's a review of a new album
by a fabulous band from down under, Monsieur Camembert's Absynthe.
If this album doesn't have you jumping out of your seat then probably nothing
will.
There's also a profile of Daphna Sadeh,
whose recent album Out
of Border and recent recital at Leo Baeck College, London, were also reviewed here.
A new Jewish music UK gig calendar page is also more or less ready to
go up as soon as I can get a few more data (and dates) finalised. If you're
an organiser, promoter, or artist and have an upcoming live event, secular
or liturgical, please get in touch and let
me know as much detail as possible as early as possible.
Two recent(-ish) sad events to note. The Gentle Giant of jazz flute, Herbie
Mann (z"l) sadly passed away on July 2nd aged 73, following a long
struggle with prostate cancer. A man of insatiable musical curiosity, Herbie
Mann probably explored more different musical styles and cultures than
any other musician before him, and did so with great sensitivity and artistry.
Credited with raising the status of the flute as a solo instrument in jazz
more than any other artist, it is often overlooked that Herbie Mann was
also a brilliant bass clarinetist. His last album, released earlier this
year, Eastern European Roots, finally saw him returning to
his roots musically speaking. Sadly, we can now only imagine the delights
he might yet have given us had he been able to explore this direction further.
Herbie Mann will be deeply missed.
On August 24th, klezmer tenor sax/clarinet legend Howie Leess (z"l) passed away at his home in Rochester, NY, aged 83. Howie Leess, whose
career peaked in the 1940s and 50s, was still active well into the 1990s,
when he was part of Eve Sicular's original Greater Metropolitan Klezmer Band, precursor to the present Metropolitan
Klezmer, and as recently as last year still took part in a
tour of The Yiddish Radio Project. A recording from his time with The
Greater Metropolitan Klezmer Band featuring the memorable, sophisticated
sound of Howie Leess' clarinet was only earlier this year featured on Metropolitan Klezmer's current album, Surprising Finds. Howie Leess will be deeply missed.
Heartfelt condolences to both these outstanding artists' families.
And now, for something completely different...
To come back to Jack Massarik's review of the BBC Jazz Awards in Wednesday, 30th July's Evening Standard London newspaper, referred
to last time, for one last and brief time. It has been suggested, and the
thought had indeed occurred here, too, that Jack Massarik might possibly
be Jewish himself and a committed zionist, and took exception to Gilad
Atzmon's politics. If that is indeed the case, then Massarik's "review"
is even more inexcusable and un-professional. If indeed he has a problem
with Atzmon's politics, then fair enough, I'm sure anybody could at the
very least understand that. However, in that case, Massarik should attack
Atzmon's politics fair and square. By making a veiled attack by taking
the cheapest pot shots imaginable at the man's art, Massarik
isn't doing himself any favours, nor the cause of zionism. As a reviewer,
it only makes him appear completely unprofessional. Now I'm sure Jack Massarik
isn't some young hot-head upstart, so he really ought to know better. What
makes the whole thing all the more mystifying is the fact that Massarik
also wrote a fairly positive review of Atzmon's previous album, Nostalgico, only a year or so ago. Go figure...
More soon.
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/08/03
At least the review of Daphna Sadeh And The
Voyagers' recital at Leo Baeck College on 3rd July
is finally up now. I know, the html's absolute poo, I'm not happy with
it and the resultant layout at all but right now it's the best I can do.
I'll try to improve it as and when I get a chance and can figure out a
better way.
There's also a new and long overdue link to Irwin Oppenheim's
fabulous and fascinating Chazzanut
Online site on the links page. It's the most comprehensive web site devoted to Jewish liturgical music I've seen.
Some brief news, again much delayed, mainly for those interested in
traditional Jewish and Middle Eastern instruments.
Alexander Fedoriouk,
the renowned Ukranian born cimbalist, makes hand-made tsimbls and is taking orders.
Moreover, yours truly is in contact with a direct source for hand-made
Egyptian qanuns (including microtonal quick-tuning mechanisms)
of the highest professional quality, and at what are very reasonable prices!
(The Egyptian version has a distinct timbre from the Turkish kanun and is often considered to have a warmer quality - afficionados of each
tend to be fiercely partisan.) Should this be of interest to anybody, please
contact me directly.
More details on both these instrument sources are hoped to be included
in the Info section soon.
Last time (2003/07/31), I celebrated Gilad
Atzmon's winning the BBC
Jazz Award for Best CD in this column. A friend in London has since kindly sent me a clipping from Wednesday, 30th July's Evening Standard London newspaper, of a review of the BBC Jazz Awards by Jack Massarik titled "Errant saxman calls the shots" (p36). (Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate an online version of this article.) Ordinarily, I would never comment on or respond to anyone's review, but in this case I feel moved strongly to make an exception.
Jack Massarik writes, "The third year of this annual event was hijacked by Gilad Atzmon, an off-message Israeli saxophonist who managed to pocket
a British award... The laxity of the BBC panel in naming his Palestinian
folk album, Exile, as jazz CD of the year was matched only by his chutzpah
in accepting it."
Woa! What is Massarik's agenda here? Is it anti-semitic? Anti-Israeli?
Where is his problem with an Israeli musician winning a British award,
specifically, a BBC Jazz Award which, last time I looked, were still called
the "BBC Jazz Awards", not the "BBC British Jazz Awards"? (Besides which, Atzmon's being a resident of the United Kingdom would certainly
qualify him even on that score anyway.) Is this yet another voice in the
ever shriller British media chorus of hysteric xenophobia? The latter certainly
seems to ring true here. Massarik certainly doesn't seem to have the same
problem with George Shearing, who although British born has lived in the
US for some 50-odd years and whose presence on the British jazz scene has
at best been sporadic in that time, winning the Lifetime Achievement Award.
To try and dismiss a jazz album that contains one track (out of nine)
that is based on a Palestinian song, as a "Palestinian folk album" as Jack Massarik does, is either a new peak in ignorance or the cheapest
shot yet (and as such wholly unworthy of anybody claiming to be a music
critic, although goodness knows that seems a pretty abysmal profession
generally), and conceivably a combination of both. Massarik, as a freelance
jazz writer, clearly and surely ought to know better. Sadly he doesn't
seem to and instead chooses to spew out diatribe.
More soon.
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/07/31
That date was meant to be 4th July still, but alas, it was not to be.
My CPU finally expired that day, and having a by now rather elderly system
(three years is an eternity in computer terms!) and limited financial resources
meant it took quite a while to get hold of a suitable secondhand replacement
processor. In addition, health issues didn't help either. But anyway, after
much delay, for which sincere apologies to one and all, here's a bit of
catching up at least.
Reviews (still completed just before the system
died!) of the long awaited solo debut album by The Isle of Klezbos, Greetings From... The Isle Of Klezbos, and the equally eagerly awaited latest album by Metropolitan Klezmer, Surprising Finds, are up at last. They're sensational! (The albums that is, of course!)
The equally long-delayed review of Daphna Sadeh And The Voyagers' 3rd July recital at Leo Baeck College in London will be up in the next
few days also. Not having had a computer in a usable state meant I can
only now edit the photos.
This week also saw the presentation of the prestigeous BBC
JAZZ AWARDS at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at London's South Bank
on Tuesday, 29th July. It's wonderful to see that an outstanding Jewish
artist, Israeli born Gilad
Atzmon, walked away with the more than well deserved award for Best
CD for Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble's "Exile", far and away the most exciting jazz album in decades. Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble were also nominated for the award
for Best Band. The prominent mainstream exposure that Jewish music receives
through this certainly has to be most welcome. So I'd like to say not only,
warmest congratulations on winning the Best CD award Gilad and the (extended)
Orient House Ensemble, but also, thank you.
More soon.
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/07/04
Newsflash - Having just got back from Daphna Sadeh and the Voyager's gig at the shul of Leo Baeck College in London, I'm pleased to be able to convey some good news to all friends of Jewish music on the US East Coast. Daphna Sadeh will be in Albany, NY with Eve's Women next week - be sure not to miss this fabulous young lady and her ensemble if you possibly can, it's sure to be a rewarding experience. Tonight's gig was outstanding, and the audience hugely appreciative and enthusiastic, filling the shul with applause every bit as thunderous as the wonderful music. Watch out for a full, illustrated review of this marvellous performance soon.
Also, I propose to add some sort of events diary to this site soon,
focused specifically on (all and any) live Jewish music events in the UK.
If you're an artist, band, ensemble, artist's agent, promoter, gig organiser
or whatever with forthcoming Jewish music events, please contact me and
let me have as much detail as possible, i.e., who, what, where, when, cost
of admission, etc. Please do bear in mind I need a little notice, so try
and let me know as early as possible but at the very least two weeks ahead.
More soon.
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/06/30
Just an interim update to present a review of
Daphna Sadeh's latest album, "Out of Border". It's something real special, so don't just read the review, listen to the music. Daphna may be more familiar to many as a long time member of Israel's East West Ensemble and the founder/leader of Eve's Women. If you hurry, you can also catch her live on Thursday, 3rd July, at Leo Baeck College, 80 East End Rd., Finchley, London N3 2SY, nearest tube Finchley Central (Northern Line/Barnet
Branch). Featured with Daphna Sadeh on electric double bass will be Tigran Aleksanyan on duduk, clarinet and flutes, and Koby Israelite on accordion and percussion. An illustrated review of this performance should be up
here in around a fortnight's time.
More updates over the coming week, including reviews of exciting new
albums from The Isle of Klezbos and Metropolitan Klezmer, just being released in the UK, and also a whole backlog of other reviews, plus additions to the links page including to Irwin Oppenheim's wonderful Chazzanut Online site. Also shortly, a profile of Daphna Sadeh.
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/05/18
A review of Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble's colossal, stunning latest album "Exile" is finally up. This album is musical history in the making!
Yet again, I'm getting way behind. There's a bunch of other reviews
ready and awaiting posting here, hopefully I'll get the pages into shape
for the next site update. Also, some fascinating new releases are on their
way to me, as well as some perhaps not so new but new to me albums.
Koby Israelite's profile is also up, and the one of Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble has been updated.
More soon.
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/05/05
The following (excerpted) press release announcing the release of Koby Israelite's new album, "Dance of the Idiots", arrived here the other day:
Dear Friends,
At long last the release of my album ‘Dance of the Idiots’ due out on April the 22nd. But, if you can’t wait (and why should you?) you
can order it direct from www.tzadik.com. Just go to recent releases and look out for the cover above. Check out a couple of reviews below, it will give you a good idea about the album.
“Koby is a young Israeli musician living in London who enjoys smashing genres together and grinding them into dust. Koby has absorbed
an astounding array of musics, and blends them together here in a dynamic
and colorful musical world of his own. As complex and finely crafted as
Naked City, Frank Zappa or Mr. Bungle at their best, the music on Dance
Of The Idiots, Koby’s debut recording, is a passionate exploration of the
Jewish experience. Cantorial Death Metal, Nino Rota Klezmer, Balkan Surf,
Catskills free improvisation. You’ve never heard such sounds.” (John Zorn)
Needless to say, the review of this outstanding album's now up. A profile of Koby Israelite will be available with the next site update.
If Jewish dance forms are your thing, you may want to check out Helen
Winkler's excellent site devoted to Yiddish dance. A link and brief intro can now be found on the Links page.
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/04/24
A few more reviews - one of these days I'll really
catch up, I'm sure. More new stuff to come shortly, as time permits. Work
is in hand on an introduction to Jewish music (what does one leave out?
This could grow into a book without a lot of cutting and leaving out!),
and also on a sort of gallery feature covering Jewish music in art. Apologies
in advance if the quality of pictures won't always be too great and the
size often smaller than one might wish, but bandwidth for this site is
limited...
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/04/05
Jewish Music Distribution
UK's spiffing new web site is finally up and running, do go and have
a look. In addition to CDs and cassettes, sheet music, books and more are
also available. To go with the new site, there's a new email addy also. More details on JMD UK can also be found here.
Profound thanks to everybody for helpful info etc. concerning Jewish
music in art, in particular to the ever helpful Helen Winkler, Yiddish dance expert and allround treasure on the Jewish-music mailing list.
More reviews and profiles are up as well - catching up, even if slowly.
2003/03/26
A couple more reviews - there are loads more lined up, and I'm really trying hard to catch up, honest! Likewise,
I'm trying very hard to also catch up on artists' profiles, at the same
time trying to juggle getting more general content into shape on pages
like this one.
An idea for a new feature has also cropped up. I'm considering adding
a sort of "gallery" page of works of art of interest in the context of
Jewish music, i.e., depictions of Jewish musicians in art, Jewish artists'
works of musical themes, and the like. The subject popped up on the Jewish
Music mailing list some time ago, and the idea kept going through my
mind ever since. Not long after, I vaguely recalled having once seen a
picture of a musician by a well-known Polish born South African Jewish
artist, Wolf Kibel, whose subjects prominently included Jewish themes. This image turned out to be The Bass Player, a monotype that had remained in the family until the mid-1960s when it was sold. The artist's son kindly made a copy of the image available to me to get things started, and there we are..
2003/03/21
Just an interim update, with a couple of new reviews and artists' profiles, as well as some expansion of this, the Jewish Music Page.
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/03/14
This week's site update is getting terribly delayed, but on the other hand, the Guzikow Archives are finally getting off the ground with a first instalment. Who is or was this Guzikow then, you ask? You can find the answer to this in a brief intoduction and biographical and career overview written by yours truly. And with that, Alex Jacobowitz's Michael Joseph Guzikow Archives, to use their full title, are well and truly open!
In addition, I've managed to catch up on a couple more artists' profiles and CD reviews.
Also, I've optimised the site a fair bit, resulting in substantial savings
of space.
Rainlore's World of Music
2003/03/03
A first batch of Jewish music CD reviews is finally up. Likewise, the first artists' profiles are now available.
This page should also see some more content coming along soon.
Work on the Guzikow Archives is in hand - at the moment, all the material
is being gathered and indexed. Shouldn't be too long before something's up there.
Rainlore's World of Music
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