Future of Jewish music

Kyra Folk-Farber

One little CD goes a long way. By making any of these CDs Chanukah gifts, you'll also be giving the recipients a gentle, loving push on a journey into the future of Jewish music. Experience a fresh, young klezmer band, an enthusiastic Jewish drummer, a contemporary Jewish composer and a singer who spins magical sounds. Some of these CDs are debuts, but none of them are the last you'll hear from the passionate artists who put them together.

Stylized, modern sound

Celestial Dialogues is from the Milken Archives of American Jewish Music, which was founded in 1990 to bring some generally unknown music to the public ear. Born in 1955 in Haifa, Ofer Ben-Amots studied composition with such contemporary greats as George Crumb and has had international success with both his secular and religious works. Celestial Dialogues presents four sets of Jewish content, including a haunting version of the prayer "Hashkivenu" for chorus, organ and percussion, and a set of Yiddish folk-style songs for soprano and piano.

Most of Ben-Amots' music is so stylized, without much room for the musicians' own interpretations, that it is tough to find the authenticity in his attempts at traditional Jewish sound. In general, however, Celestial Dialogues is a wonderful, and rare, representation of a contemporary Jewish composer.

Visit www.milkenarchive.com or www.naxos.com.

A passionate beginning

Khevre captures you from the get-go. The first poignant, rhythmic melody on the band's recent release Oyfn Sheydveg – At the Crossroads is performed with defiance and allure. This album bares the responsibility of full-throttle conventional klezmer brought to new heights. Violinist Eylem Basaldi adds Turkish modality to the unique sound of Khevre; the rhythm section of the band infuses Latin style into the mix; vocalist Dana Sandler uses her jazz skills and her very personal sound; and clarinetist Michael Winograd leads the group with a combination of control and abandon. His klezmer skills pervade the album through to its core.

Among the best tracks on Oyfn Sheydveg is Mordechai Gebirtig's typically folksy but edgy composition "Reyzele," which Khevre thoroughly explores, adding unexpected depth of sound and harmony to each new verse. Even if the songs on Oyfn Sheydveg don't at first seem familiar, the arrangements will soon have you humming and tapping along.

Brave Old World singer Michael Alpert's liner notes describe the evolution of the klezmer revival from his own efforts in 1977 until this, Khevre's album: the pinnacle of the new generation of klezmer. But Khevre is only now beginning its own evolution and there is potential for more excitement – perhaps their next CD will have them throw in every last ounce of their individual energies and talents. In the meantime, Oyfn Sheydveg makes history.

Order the CD from Winograd via [email protected]. The band's website, www.khevre.com, is coming soon.

Difficult to compare

Vocalist Ayelet Gottlieb glides with ease from Hebrew to English to wordless sound, and she uses every "language" with striking sophistication. Each song on her CD InTernal/ExTernal is unique, yet the album flows from beginning to end. It starts with "Peace," the oft-played but rarely sung jazz standard by Ornette Coleman, with Gottlieb's own text describing the emotions that accompany a journey from her home town of Jerusalem. It ends with Gottlieb's original "Internal/External," a largely improvised piece with text from an essay by painter Wassily Kandinsky.

In another Gottlieb composition, "Al Mishkavi" ("As I Lay"), the Hebrew text extracted from the biblical "Song of Songs" is sung as a powerful duet with trumpeter Avishai Cohen. Gottlieb's use of her talents is perhaps the most straightforward here: the song's structure is simple and strong; she treats every word with care, and sings with a deep, warm sound to express the underlying message about love. Other tracks, though, have her integrating into group improvisations that foray into unknown worlds, and still others have her vocalizing sounds beyond your imagination. Gottlieb has been compared to Bjork, the late Jeanne Lee and other great singers. Their shared quality is simply this: they all paved their own roads.

Check out www.ayeletrose.com for more information. This CD can be purchased at www.amazon.com.

Musical innovation

Drummer Aaron Alexander's Midrash Mish Mosh has chutzpah. The CD is produced on John Zorn's Tzadik label, and amazing skills shine through from each talented musician, including such hall-of-famers as trumpeter Frank London. The most exciting aspect of this album is, of course, Alexander's drumming. It's not just the rhythms that change expertly from style to style within an instant; it's the sound of those sticks beating down, forcing you to acknowledge the powerful place they hold in this music.

The fact that almost all of the tunes' titles are in Yiddish, and that they describe some familiar traditional forms, is deceptive. If you're looking for good old-fashioned klezmer, you'll have to unwrap layers upon layers of musical innovation. "Khosidl for the Mixed Marriage," for example, is about as deeply saturated with irony as you can get. A personally pertinent subject to composer Alexander, "Khosidl" is an exquisitely played slow Jewish wedding dance with such surprising elements as rhythmic hiccups and short, wailing electric guitar solos.

For more information on Midrash Mish Mosh, go to www.aaronalexander.com. The CD can be ordered from www.tzadik.com, under the category of Radical Jewish Culture. (Seriously.)

Kyra Folk-Farber, a recent music degree recipient, is now working locally as a singer and freelance writer.

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