Profile - Daphna Sadeh

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Israeli born Daphna Sadeh is now enriching the British cultural scene, being based in the UK since 2002. Ms. Sadeh is a composer and double bass player gifted with unusual depth and imagination as well as outstanding musicianship and seemingly boundless energy and enthusiasm.

After graduating from the Manhattan School of Music in New York, Daphna Sadeh returned to Israel and became a double bass player with The Israel Orchestra, The Israel Northern Orchestra, The Israeli Opera Orchestra, and The Beer-Sheva Sinfonietta, with whom she gained wide experience in symphonic and orchestral chamber music performance from 1990 to 1993. She also joined one of Israel's premier world music ensembles, The East West Ensemble, in 1990, recording and touring with the group in Europe and the Far East until 1997. Additionally, Daphna Sadeh has participated in theatre, dance, and TV productions in New York and Israel. In 1997, she co-founded the all female group Eve's Women, whose specialty is a fusion of jazz, klezmer, and rock. Ms. Sadeh's compositions are an integral part of the group's repertoire. In 2002, Daphna Sadeh recorded her album Out of Border with a temporary line-up of what was to become her latest band project. The summer of 2003 saw Eve's Women perform in a joint concert with Israeli folk legend Chava Alberstein in Albany, NY, before a crowd of some 4,000 who gave the ensemble a rapturous reception. Also in 2003, Daphna Sadeh formed a further ensemble, Daphna Sadeh And The Voyagers, arising out of her most recent album, as well as her exposure to a wide multi-cultural spectrum throughout her life in Israel and particularly also with The East-West Ensemble. The Voyagers present contemporary world jazz at its organic best, based on mainly Middle Eastern music, including traditional Jewish and Arabic music, blended with other Mediterranean elements, klezmer and world jazz. The melody reigns supreme both in Daphna Sadeh's compositions for the ensemble as well as in their improvisations.

As a composer, Daphna Sadeh's works not only reflect but organically integrate the great diversity of musical cultures she has experienced, from Western Classical to Middle Eastern/Arabic Classical music, traditional Jewish music from the Mizrakhi (Oriental Jewish) and Sephardi traditions, and beyond. Her compositions are like a seamless musical tapestry, weaving together different traditions in a natural, unforced manner. Likewise, in her ensembles Daphna Sadeh brings together performers from a variety of contrasting backgrounds and traditions, facilitating natural, organic cross-cultural dialogue.

Daphna Sadeh's numerous performing credits, with various ensembles, include prestigious international world music and jazz festivals such as The International Red Sea Jazz Festival (Israel), The International Jazz and Blues Festival (Tel Aviv, Israel), The Oris Jazz Festival (UK), The Roskilde Festival (Denmark), The Beijing Music Festival (China), The International Three Cultures Festival (Spain), The Jewish Music Festival (Berlin, Germany), Europa Jazz Festival Du Mans (France), Celebrate Brooklyn (USA), and Mercat De Les Flors (Barcelona, Spain). Her recording credits include Zurna with The East West Ensemble (1993), The Galilei Spirit, Arabic-Israeli world music (2000), Eve's Women with Eve's Women (2001), and Out of Border, with Daphna Sadeh And The Voyagers (2002/2003).

Warm and charming, Daphna Sadeh is a highly charismatic performer who will hold any audience spellbound. Of graceful, even delicate appearance, she might not seem a likely player of that most unwieldy of instruments, the double bass, but that should not fool anybody for she is indubitably one of the most outstanding masters of this instrument of her generation. Her compositions are often possessed of a haunting beauty, never lacking in musical wit, always sparkling with an unstoppable flow of fresh ideas, sometimes surprising the listener with an indefinable touch of deja-vu, and always speaking straight from and to the heart.

© 2003 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore

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See also separate profile of Daphna Sadeh & The Voyagers

Reviews of albums and gigs by Daphna Sadeh & The Voyagers