(2008-2009 Archived Page)
This is the Jewish Music section of Rainlore's World of Music, covering all types of Jewish music, even vaguely Jewish.
In order to secure its future as an ongoing project, and indeed resume regular activity such as new reviews, Rainlore's World of Music urgently needs to raise substantial funds through some kind of sponsorship or similar. (Please also see The Future of Rainlore's World of Music on the About page, and the News entry for 2008/11/09 on the Home page.)
It has regrettably become impossible to keep Rainlore's World of Music going on a purely spare-time basis. The amount of work involved is simply too overwhelming. At the rate that for example CDs kept arriving for review and gigs were covered during 2004, there was enough work to keep two people busy on a full-time basis!
Of course, I wish to preserve the non-commercial and not for profit nature of Rainlore's World of Music, but without some kind of sponsorship the site simply cannot continue in any meaningful active way. Despite not having had any updates for about four years until its re-launch in October 2008, Rainlore's World of Music remains a popular site. The reviews and artists' profiles have always achieved excellent visibility in search results, and have also been referenced widely. There are also many new features I would like to add to Rainlore's World of Music, such as a Gig calendar to replace the old one
and a Features section that should have been added during 2004 already, plus more.
Sadly, without some form of sponsorship none of this will be possible and the site will at some point soon become purely archival.
If you think you might be able to help in any way, please get in touch through the sponsorship form. |
News
2009/12/03
At last caught up with doing a review of Asaf Sirkis And The Inner Noise's 2007 release, The Song Within. Another fine, outstanding album from one of the true all-time greats not only of the traps but also of, very broadly, fusion / crossover / 'Third Stream'. I say 'very broadly' advisedly, as Israeli-born Sirkis is not only a genre-bender par excellence but utterly genre-defying. Influences are as broad as prog-rock, fusion, classical, Middle Eastern, Jewish, Balkan. And there's a fab sample track from the album to accompany the review.
Chag Sameach
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2009 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2009/10/01
Available at a CD store near you as well as online anytime just about now should be jazz flute titan Mark Weinstein's latest album, Tales From The Earth, a collaborative effort with Cuban mallet and piano wiz Omar Sosa, reviewed here. An album with an uncommonly wide appeal, Tales From The Earth will please world music and free jazz fans equally, and of course it has the added interest here of Weinstein being a Jewish musician with an album paying homage to his Jewish musical roots, Shifra Tanzt, under his belt. A further point of note is that this album was not only recorded in Berlin, but moreover in a recording studio housed in a complex that once accommodated the big-mouthed criminal thug Goebbels and his murderous ilk in the form of the 'information ministry'. A little bit of poetic justice, to have the music of Weinstein and assorted other 'untermenshen' permeate this former bastion of the murderers of the shoah.
Hopefully coming soon also will be the fabulous Koby Israelite's two albums from this year, and maybe some more catch-ups, time and time on a friend's computer permitting. In the meantime, there is a new Koby Israelite A/V Page full of all the best of Koby Israelite videos in one place.
L'Shana Tova
Rainlore's World of Music
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2009/08/30
An excellent new video has been added to the Daphna Sadeh & The Voyagers A/V page, featuring excerpts from the recent Reconciliation album. Not only great music but also some fine cinematography from Rafi Neu. Far better quality than you usually find on YouTube, too.
There is also a new index page listing all available A/V pages.
Still no change on the financial front. While there have been a couple of offers of (text based, discrete) advertising, this doesn't seem to be a solution and in any case the amount of revenue this could generate for the site seems too small to even consider it. What this site really needs is substantial sponsorship of some kind.
Rainlore's World of Music
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2009/07/26
Courtesy of a friend's computer, I'm able to squeeze in three album reviews that should long have been up. Three momentous releases these. Gilad Atzmon may be something of an enfant terrible to many, but you simply cannot ignore the man's music. And these three albums you'd ignore at your peril, for you would miss out on something that's more than just special.
First, there is Atzmon's historic release from March this year, In Loving Memory Of America, popularly aka Gilad Atzmon With Strings. Although following in the footsteps of Charlie Parker With Strings, this is no simple tribute album. Like the latter, In Loving Memory Of America is however simply some of the most beautiful music ever recorded and has received more superlative critical acclaim than any other jazz album in decades. Of course, there also are the Middle Eastern / Jewish musical references that Atzmon is renowned for.
Then, it's time to catch up with Atzmon's two preceding releases, alas long overdue. Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble's Refuge from 2007 is a very different OHE album from previous ones. This should hardly surprise, as one really ought to be used to Atzmon continuously re-inventing himself. Much the same could be said about 2006's Gilad Atzmon Presents Artie Fishel And The Promised Band, Atzmon's most misunderstood work yet. Remember Mickey Katz? Remember comedy klezmer? Well, Artie Fishel's right on the button here. Atzmon takes comedy klezmer as his starting and reference point throughout this album. The result is some forty-odd minutes of biting satirical humour and hilarity. Unless, of course, you happen to be humour-impaired. It's either that why most reviewers anyway didn't get it, or maybe the comedy klezmer type of thing is something you can only get if you're Jewish? Nah, surely not.
No change in the situation here, alas. I'd love to devote a lot of time to this site, even all my time, but sadly the realities of my financial situation make this impossible at least for the time being. Substantial sponsorship of some kind certainly would help change things, but until such time it is unlikely that I will be able to work further on the site.
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2009 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2009/07/01
Any final 'catch up' update will, I regret, likely be some considerable time in coming. I don't have the loan of a computer anymore, no computer at all for some time most likely and certainly no regular internet access, no assets left, and my financial situation is critical. So certainly in the absence of some kind of sponsorship, this may be good bye for some time.
Rainlore's World of Music
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2009/06/21
Having decided to split up the remaining "catch-up" updates, there are two album reviews today. Both albums were sent by LA based label Craig 'N Co. in 2007 but regrettably had to await a review until now. One is a compilation of the best of the label's Celebrate... series, titled, naturally enough, Best of the Celebrate Series. This two-CD set covers both religious as well as secular music for a great variety of occasions on the Jewish calendar and is a good introduction to a variety of Jewish music for those not familiar with it already.
The other comes from 'America's favorite Jewish rock band' Blue Fringe, in the form of their then latest release The Whole World Lit Up. Solid rock on Jewish themes, with mixed English and Hebrew lyrics.
Last week's review of Daphna Sadeh and The Voyagers' recent release, Reconciliation, now sports a fabulous sample track for your listening pleasure, and a new Daphna Sadeh & The Voyagers A/V page has also been added. One of the videos there is from the recent Accordion Festival Vienna 2009 and includes an interview with Daphna Sadeh on Austrian TV.
Rainlore's World of Music
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2009/06/14
Two reviews of two very exciting albums. Daphna Sadeh And The Voyagers have, since their inception in 2003, remained the most exciting band on the UK's world music scene, continually growing and evolving. Their recently released Reconciliation represents the latest stage of that ongoing evolution, with an exciting new sound. Commissioned by John Zorn's prestigious Tzakik label in New York, this album has strong leanings towards swing-klez.
Back in 2007, while Rainlore's World of Music was effectively in hiatus with the new version of the site already in development, several pre-release promos arrived from LA based label Craig 'N Co. These included award-winning Hollywood actress and acclaimed singer-songwriter Merle Winningham's then new - and still most recent - release, Refuge Rock Sublime, which finally sees its sadly delayed review now. A kind of Jewish folk-country-bluegrass and singer-songwriter album, this is a stunning release regardless what angle you come to it from. Merle Winningham can justly lay claim to being a kind of all-American Chava Alberstein with this album. Yup, Refuge Rock Sublime really is that good. Yee-hawwww! (Oy vey!)
Rainlore's World of Music
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2009/06/07
One album review for today, plus some exciting new, for now experimental, features.
The solitary album review is furnished by Israeli-born premier jazz drummer of the age and leading contemporary exponent of jazz fusion, Asaf Sirkis, with his Asaf Sirkis Trio's recent release The Monk. True to form, Sirkis has completely re-invented himself with this compelling album. You can hear a fabulous sample track, Stoned Bird, on the review page, where you can also watch a short video clip from the album's launch date. This takes care of the first of the new experimental features.
The second one sees the addition of an A/V page with a variety of video clips featuring Asaf Sirkis as well as players letting you listen to short clips from all his recent albums as leader. A/V pages have also been added for two further outstanding Jewish musicians from the world of jazz. One is the controversial and one and only Gilad Atzmon (and of course Gilad Atzmon and The Orient House Ensemble), the other veteran jazz giant Mark Weinstein. In addition, the reviews of Weinstein's three most recent releases, the fabulous Con Alma, Straight No Chaser, and Lua E Sol, have had a superb sample track added to them.
Of course, internet (speak, generally, YouTube) video is rarely of great quality and even the sound can be less than good sometimes, but that said we have some really excellent examples here as well.
For the time being, all these features remain experimental and may be withdrawn at any time.
Rainlore's World of Music
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2009/06/04
At last, the penultimate of the 'ketchup' updates of reviews, from the period 2004-2006! There are two gig reviews and one album today.
The solitary album comes from down under. Ernie Gruner's Klezmeritis is one of the most popular klezmer bands on the Aussie scene and beyond. Their eponymous debut album amply demonstrates why!
The first of the gig reviews is the fabulous Daphna Sadeh And The Voyagers with Special Guest George Youssef Samaan at the Purcell Room on 28th November 2004 with a programme titled Different Points on the Same Line: A Musical Dialogue, part of the Jewish Music Institute's superb day-long series of events at the South Bank Centre under the umbrella title of Musical Dialogues of East and West. Israeli Arab musician and composer George Youssef Samaan should need little introduction to aficionados of either the Israeli music scene or the Arabic musical scene. Famed throughout both Israel and the Arab world, Samaan is one of the most outstanding of composers and performers of both Arabic and Israeli/Jewish music. This review is not illustrated owing to health issues at the time which also meant that this was a very last minute arrangement.
The second gig review features the somewhat controversial by indisputably brilliant Gilad Atzmon And The Orient House Ensemble at The Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, on 10th March 2005. As objectionable as his politics may be to many, this modern jazz giant, who frequently incorporates elements of Jewish (as well as Arab) music into his music, is just too good to miss out on. This review is lavishly illustrated as usual. However, photographs have been more strongly compressed than usual, thus exhibiting stronger artifacting than usual. This is on account if shrinking web space on Rainlore's World of Music, and also to hopefully help reduce the problem of copyright infringement and bandwidth theft.
On the subject of photographs, a new web site of the work of photographer Richard A. Sharma is in progress and currently features a very special offer of fine art photographic prints at very special prices.
The final catch-up update will be a bit longer in coming along, as there is still a lot of work involved including some albums that arrived during 2007 that yet have to be reviewed.
In the meantime, however, we will have some newer reviews coming along very shortly.
Rainlore's World of Music
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2009/05/24
Today's 'ketchup' updates from the 2004/5 period consist of just two outstanding albums. Both are by the equally outstanding young British composer Rohan Kriwaczek. Salon Concert Music for Violin and Piano features Kriwaczek on violin (and on chalumeau on a bonus track) and John Human on piano. "Does what it says on the tin", but with more than a flavour of Jewish, Middle Eastern and Indian music. An astonishing and surprising album that has remained a firm favourite here even until now. And much the same can be said for Rohan Kriwaczek's Ghost Train. An expanded work based on Kriwaczek's original score for the incredible Carnesky's Ghost Train arthouse funfair ride/installation, it is both fantastic and fantastical, and quite an experience. Do turn out the lights, maybe light a candle, and prepare for something otherworldly...
There also are minor updates to a couple of artists' profiles. The superlative Daphna Sadeh and The Voyagers, who keep going from strength to strength, have seen a fair few changes in personnel, as well as another recent album release, this time on the prestigious New York based Tzadik label. And there's Voyager Stewart Curtis, also leader of his own Stewart Curtis' K-Groove Quartet, likewise going from one triumph to another, and of late attracting not only public but critical and peer acclaim. However, dyslexia seems to rule, and you might find a fair lot of more recent press references to Stuart Curtis and Stuart Curtis' K-Groove Quartet!
Rainlore's World of Music
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2009/05/10
This current batch of 'ketchup' updates from the 2004/5 period is something of a novel mix. There's the review of the major world music event in London of that season, Cultural Co-operation's Diaspora Music Village 2004 Festival Weekend at Kew Gardens, London, on Saturday, 3rd July 2004, which included two artists of particular Jewish interest, the fabulous London-based Daphna Sadeh And The Voyagers, familiar on this site already, and a Polish klezmer band, Yarehma, not so fabulous as things turned out. I do not enjoy giving bad reviews or even not-so-good ones, but sometimes there really is no choice in the matter if one wants to preserve one's integrity and credibility. That said, the event itself really was fab on the whole though. Regrettably, it took place on a Saturday, and although I do my best to avoid doing anything connected to this site on Shabbes, there was simply no choice if I wanted to include the superb Daphna Sadeh & TheVoyagers.
There are also two fascinating albums reviewed. Canadian singer-songwriter Allan Soberman's extraordinary album Searching for my Voice, seeking - and succeeding! - to reconcile his Jewish upbringing as the son of a chazan or cantor with the folk and popular music of the 1950s and 60s that had such an influence on him, is a wonderful, kind of 21st century Beach Boys meet Sabbath prayers album. Surf 'n' Spirituality - works great for me! Even though my tastes are generally pretty conservative when it comes to religious music. And there's British composer Rohan Kriwaczek's outstanding The Wandering Jew. To call it merely "contemporary classical music with a Jewish slant" would be doing Kriwaczek's music a very grave injustice. Truth is, it really doesn't fit any convenient pigeon hole, nor should it be thus confined, like most good music. It's almost like a musical journey through the Jewish diaspora in time and space. Riveting.
Rainlore's World of Music
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2009/05/03
A very special update today consisting of two new reviews of albums that I found completely irresistible. The first is Carl Nelkin's recent release, The Little Trees Are Weeping, a fabulous collection of Yiddish songs from the ghettos and the Jewish partisans. This is probably the largest collection of such songs on a single album, and a very fine one too - inspired, inspirational and inspiring. Carl Nelkin is a part-time chazan (cantor) from the small Irish Jewish community in Dublin. This dual Jewish-Irish heritage is particularly reflected in his 2003 debut album, Irish Heart - Jewish Soul, which is the second of today's reviews. A delightful collection of favourite Irish and Yiddish songs, the latter coming principally from the Yiddish theatre, where both have been enriched by the other tradition.
The next regular "catch-up" update will be along ASAP.
Rainlore's World of Music
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2009/04/26
A further batch of "catch-up" updates of reviews from the 2004/5 period is now up. Album reviews comprise two further albums by Cantor Bruce Benson, one mainly liturgical entitled The Rock Service, the other predominently non-liturgical religious songs, The Journey: Songs Along The Chai Way. And from the contemporary Klezmer scene there is The Alexandria Kleztet's outstanding debut album, Y2Klezmer.
In addition, there is a special feature in the form of a review/overview of a fascinating documentary film that received its UK premier in 2004, Things. Places. Years. by Austrian Klub Zwei, which also featured Geraldine Auerbach MBE of London's Jewish Music Institute, SOAS. This unmissable documentary consists of interviews with twelve emigre women living in London and provides a fascinating and unique window on history and the Holocaust and its effect on emigre families, as well as on the emigre condition and Jewish identity. Almost five years after attending its showing in London, Things. Places. Years. is still vibrant in my memory.
More ASAP, though as previous, I really can't put any sort of schedule on this except to say another three batches or so of updates should see things catching up with the 2004-onward period at last.
Rainlore's World of Music
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2008/12/21
Another bunch of "new old" reviews from the 2004/5 period that had not previously made it onto the site are ready and finally up. Two are gig reviews, and four album reviews. There are two recitals from 2004's Leamington Spa Festival's Terezin Day, one an outstanding recital by the acclaimed Martinu Quartet, with violist Miroslav Sehnoutka and bass-baritone Nigel Cliffe, both equally acclaimed, featuring Sylvie Bodorová's Terezín Ghetto Requiem for baritone and string quartet. The other, an equally outstanding recital by extraordinary mezzo-soprano Lloica Czackis with Andrew Quartermain, piano, entitled Terezín Cabaret and featuring a wonderful selection of art, cabaret and tango songs by Terezín composers written before and in the ghetto.
The album reviews comprise the wonderful Alexandria Kleztet's Delusions of Klezmer, featuring their outstanding brand of "new" klezmer, and the delightful Rebecca Kaplan and Pete Rushefsky's On The Paths, a collection of traditional and original Yiddish songs for voice and tsimbl and a number of tsimbl solos. And finally, there are two cantorial recordings, one a contemporary interpretation of chazanut, the Erev Shabbat service to be precise, the other a collection of liturgical and non-liturgical religious songs. The former is Cantor Bruce Benson and Kenny G's The Jazz Service (an oxymoron if ever there was one, Kenny G and Jazz! To most jazzmen worth their salt mentioning the two in the same breath is almost akin to blasphemy), the latter the same Bruce Benson's Ki Sarita. (Two further reviews of albums by Cantor Benson are to follow.) Worth a listen even if you prefer your chazanut and non-liturgical songs more traditional. If, as one has to assume, at least part of the intention is to attract more people to attend shul and if it works, then surely that's not a bad thing.
More of the "missing" reviews will follow ASAP, but this will take time.
Please note that the old Rainlore's World of Music site has now been defunct since the end of November - almost two months of re-direction should have been enough. So if you haven't done so already, please update your links to the site. Bear in mind that the structure of the new site is different from the old, and so are many file names, so if you are linking to any particular page please check it out first.
Chag Sameach to you all, and a Happy secular New Year!
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2008 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2008/10/21
Two more CD reviews have been added. I just had to put Adrianne Greenbaum's sensational new release FleytMuzik in Kontsert ahead of older reviews. How could I resist. Especially as her FleyMuzik album was the one that really brought this site into being, as it were! FleytMuzik in Kontsert is a superb live recording with all new material, consolidating the lead role of the flute in traditional klezmer. To balance this, there's Yiddishe Cup's Meshuggene Mambo from 2004, klezmer comedy at its very best. Meshugeh? You bet!
The next update may be longer in the making as it will include at least one or two gig reviews from 2004, whose photographs still await editing. This is a fairly time consuming process.
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2008 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2008/10/05
"Updates" that are included at present are just a few of the album and gig reviews as well as artists' profiles that should have gone up during 2004/5. They are listed here in purely alphabetical order, not in order of date. Please note that many of these may be later than other reviews still outstanding, this is on account of them having been prioritised at the time.
The rest will follow ASAP, though no timeframe can be given at this time.
However, we will do our best, especially as even after about four years without updates, the site has remained surprisingly popular and busy.
Reviews include the fabulous Daphna Sadeh & The Voyagers' gig at the Purcell Room in March 2004, the sizzling The Soul Of The Fiddle concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall the same month and year, a momentous album release from 2005, Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble's Musik, and more.
"New" and/or updated profiles include the first jazz legend of the 21st century, Gilad Atzmon, world music supergroup Daphna Sadeh & The Voyagers, and multi-woodwind phenomenon Stewart Curtis.
More soon.
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