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
2010/07/21
Not strictly speaking in the area of Jewish music as such, but an album from a leading, world-class Jewish musician and hence of interest here also. Having arrived here hot off the presses in the last couple of weeks from drum and jazz fusion titan Asaf Sirkis, the Asaf Sirkis Trio's long anticipated new album Letting Go, to be released on 23rd September, gets an early review. Advance copies are available now on Sirkis' web site and from Jazz CDs UK. Be sure not to miss the album's launch gig at The Spice of Life on 23rd September. Details are:
The Spice of Life, 6 Moor St, Cambridge Circus, London, W1D 5NA
Telephone: 020-7437-7013 Fax: 020-7437-7013 E-mail: info@spiceoflifesoho.com
Admission is a bargain £10, or £8 for MU members and students.
It's bound to be a very special occasion, and if you go and buy the CD (and whip off the shrink wrap and bring along a permanent marker pen) and ask him nicely, I'm sure Asaf Sirkis will oblige and autograph your copy for you, time permitting - Asaf's really one of the nicest people you could possibly hope to ever meet, and so are Yaron and Tassos.
Rainlore's World of Music
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2010/07/04
Just one quick review today, of Breslov Bar Band's outstanding and highly infectious newly released debut album Have No Fear. The band is Binyomin Ginzberg's latest project and explores the music, both traditional and contemporary, of the Breslov Chassidim, in a modern idiom and features, among others, guitarist Allen Watsky and Kleztraphobix bandleader and clarinetist Mike Cohen. Whether you're specifically into Chassidic music or not, this fabulous album is bound to appeal!
Extraordinary Yiddish blues artist Wolf Krakowski, whose albums are also reviewed on this site and are among the most popular reviews, can now also be seen on YouTube videos. As and when I get a chance, I might compile an A/V page, but in the meantime, here are a couple of links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2rw1LK0Z24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CI4fWeIK6k&feature=related
Enjoy!
Regrettably won't be fully up-and-running again for a while yet.
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2010 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2010/05/02
Two reviews of albums, although not of Jewish music, ought to be of interest as the principal artist is Argentinean-Jewish Latin (among others) singer extraordinaire Guillermo Rozenthuler - a kind of modern day João Gilberto and Carlos Gardel in one! If you haven't heard him before you've really been missing something extra special. The albums reviewed are Guillermo's The Blue Hour - Songs From Argentina (La Hora Azul), an outstanding collection of originals and traditional Argentine songs recorded in Buenos Aires and released in 2004 - basically, a singer-songwriter album - that will simply blow you away, and with his own band, formed ion 2003, Guillermo Rozenthuler & Rioplatenses' A Route To The Roots, their live debut album released in 2008, a superb collection of Argentine and Uruguayan songs (given the inimitable Rioplatenses treatment), a journey of exploration that takes the listener beyond the better known tango and milonga (although a few of these are also included, of course) and introduce him to a variety of less well known regional rhythms and styles. You really don't want to miss these fabulous albums and tanguero maravillosa Rozenthuler.
Rozenthuler is already familiar on this site through his association with Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble through a gig review (at the Pizza, Soho) and a review of outstanding album Musik. Rozenthuler also regularly appears with all the UK's (and beyond) leading tango ensembles, most recently including classically-oriented El Tango Ultimo and the London Tango Orchestra.
I expect to likely have to take a break from updating the site for about six to eight weeks due to surgery shortly, but more will follow ASAP.
Chag Sameach
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2010 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2010/03/07
The 2008/09 version of this page has now been archived.
I may now be able (from about a week's time or so) to accept a limited number of new submissions for album reviews. Please check the Review form, accessible from the Contact page, in about 7-10 days' time.
Finally, it has come to our attention that there appear to be a few minor problems with our web forms, specifically with radio buttons and check boxes, with some browsers. This is continuing to be checked out, but as everything seems to work just fine in Internet Explorer, it seems likely that the problem lies with the other browsers in that they may not have fully implemented this aspect of forms. In which case there appears little that can be done about it other than to suggest you temporarily switch to Internet Explorer in order to use our forms, if you are affected. Flash based forms might be another option longer term.
Chag Sameach
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2010 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2010/02/28
Of special interest here should be the review of Eyal Maoz & Asaf Sirkis' album Elementary Dialogues, released last year. While the music is not based on Jewish music per se, nonetheless both players are strongly influenced by their roots. Guitar wizard Maoz should be familiar enough on the transatlantic side, having become a mainstay of the Downtown scene in NYC and leading several bands, among them the acoustic Jewish music ensemble Dimyon, as well as performing as a soloist. Sirkis is probably the most in-demand contemporary drummer principally in the jazz/jazz fusion worlds on both the UK and international scene and indeed has become an icon of the trap set of modern times. He also leads his Asaf Sirkis And The Inner Noise organ trio as well as the Asaf Sirkis Trio. Maoz and Sirkis have remained friends and occasional collaborators since their childhood days in Israel, and this is their second album together. Essentially improvised musical dialogues, this music is impossible to imprison in any particular genre. It vaguely fits under the broad umbrella of jazz, but just think of it as great guitar and drum music. A tasty sample track with the review will give you some idea and hopefully tempt you to explore this thrilling album further.
Meanwhile, Mark Weinstein's latest and hottest-ever album Timbasa, reviewed last time, is making big waves not only on this site but all over! Even on this side of the pond, it is already becoming available in UK supermarkets thanks to the Jazzhead label's excellent distribution and PR - kudos!
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2010 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2010/02/15
Of interest here also will be the review of Jewish jazz flute and Latin jazz / Afro-Cuban jazz giant Mark Weinstein's latest album Timbasa, hitting the streets from 9th February. Of interest particularly in that historically, there have been Arabic/Hebraic influences contributing to the make up of Afro-Cuban music. Timbasa is Afro-Cuban or Latin jazz at its very finest and Weinstein's hottest release yet. So hot, it's likely to set anything on fire. A sensational sizzler of a party album that needs to be heard to be believed. To help with this, the fiery Miles Davis classic Milestones serves as a mouth-watering sample track on the review page. For more news on Mark Weinstein, also see the Jazz page.
Rainlore's World of Music
© 2010 Rainlore's World of Music/Rainlore. All rights reserved.
2010/01/31
A "catch-up" review of exquisite Yiddish singer Fraidy Katz's enterprising 2006 album, The Eternal Question - Di Alte Kashe. Katz should already be familiar here from her previous album with The Klezical Tradition, Family Portrait, and a solo album - or any new album! - has surely been long overdue. The Eternal Question has been well worth waiting for though and presents Yiddish song with a twist. Co-produced by the one and only Wolf Krakowski (with Jim Armenti), the album puts Yiddish song into more contemporary idioms. Delicious! And don't miss out on the very tasty sample track that goes with the review. If you don't have Flash Player 8 or later set up, what are you waiting for?
Rainlore's World of Music
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