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Nov. 30, 2007
Israeli band is plenty tuneful
New CD demonstrates international influences on music scene.
RON FRIEDMAN
Eran Kats' new album, Eran Kats and Maim Rabin in Concert, should be made mandatory listening for all the delegates in the Annapolis peace summit this week. Its relaxing tunes and soothing words would inspire peaceful emotions in even the most hard-lined political hawk. Though I am usually not a fan of jazz adaptations, Kats' ability to blend jazz with Middle Eastern, African and Oriental tunes worked for me.
Kats began playing the guitar when he was 16, growing up in Herzeliyah. His musical beginnings were in the genres of Israeli rock and reggae. In the army, he served as a youth counsellor all across the country.
The inspiration for the music in the album was Kats' frequent visits to India where, during his journeys, he met with musicians from all over the world and was exposed to the local music. "I was in India for 14 months after I completed my military service and there I absorbed the Far Eastern influences that affect my music," Kats told the Jewish Independent. "I woke up one morning and it was very clear in my mind that I was to become a musician. This realization made me happy and felt intrinsically right for me."
Kats returned to Israel and formed Maim Rabim (Plenty of Water). After a series of performances and several changes to the makeup of the band, they came out with the live concert album.
The album is made up of only seven tracks, some of which are regular songs and some merely instrumental pieces with a repeating line of vocals. "The music is inspired by religious mantras which I heard being repeated over and over in India and in the music of African people I met in my travels," said Kats.
Kats' songs talk about the beauty of simplicity in daily life. He sings about the wonders of nature and the act of observing and enjoying the world around us. His songs preach to finding harmony between humankind and the world and within the community. He also sings about the joys of worship before God and several of his songs have a spiritual message of completeness and oneness with the world.
The music is at once both technically complex and harmoniously simple. Kats and his band blend together a variety of musical instruments, ranging from the ubiquitous guitar and drums to the more exotic darbuka and djemba to the outright outlandish didgeridoo. There is also a pleasing mix of male and female vocals that combine in the touching song "Bright Light," for example.
"Our band is really an ensemble, all the members work very close together and each has a chance to give his or her input. The players are all professionals and don't need me to tell them how to play," said Kats.
Although the music can get a bit repetitive after a while – you probably shouldn't listen to it while driving, it might put you to sleep – it would make great background music for a quiet evening at home or, even better, beside a bonfire.
My favorite song on the album and the one I most highly recommend to Ehud Olmert, Mahmoud Abbas and company is track number four, titled "Beneath the Tree." Its only lines are "Let us sit beneath the tree and in its shade we'll be sheltered together / Let us all sit under the same tree of love" and they are repeated continuously to a soothing rhythm, with the didgeridoo playing softly in the background.
Another good one is called "Mizmor Le David" ("A Psalm for David"), which is partly taken from the biblical book of Tehillim (Psalms) and is partly Kats' own invention. It is actually a song dedicated to a friend of his named David, a person with disabilities, of whom Kats helps take care.
Since releasing the CD, Kats and his band are busy planning for the future. "What I'm looking for now is a producer who will take us to the next level. We'd like to release another album and start touring regularly. I'd also like to expand to performing outside of Israel and hope to begin doing so soon," he said.
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