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Sept. 7, 2007
An eccentric roster of songs
Soulful music, once sung by Kermit, and eclectic Israeli melodies.
KATHARINE HAMER EDITOR
The sophomore album from Russian-Israeli-Canadian jazz sensation
Sophie Milman features late-night lounge renditions of a wide array
of songs.
At just 24, Milman has already cracked the international market
– appearing on stage with the likes of Aaron Neville, Stevie
Wonder and Chick Corea. She also received a Juno Award nomination
last year for best jazz vocal album.
As evidenced by her work on Make Someone Happy, Milman
is less throaty than her fellow Canadian chanteuses, Diana Krall
and Holly Cole – but has no less of an impact.
Her clear tones ring out across a number of tracks intended for
youthful voices, such as "People Will Say We're in Love,"
from the musical Oklahoma! and the classic "Matchmaker,
Matchmaker," from Fiddler on the Roof.
She also belts it out on some more unusual choices – Stevie
Wonder's power ballad "Rocket Love" and Randy Bachman's
"Undun" – which, like several other tracks on the
album, gets the bossa nova treatment from Milman's backing musicians.
And who would have imagined that Kermit the Frog's lament, "It's
Not Easy Being Green," could have been reworked as a pretty
jazz standard?
Meanwhile, "Fever," made famous by Peggy Lee, is revamped
here with dense layers of piano, saxophone and slowed-down rhythms
to the point where it's almost filmic.
But Milman's character as a singer is perhaps best expressed in
the jaunty "Like Someone in Love" – a track previously
embodied by artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra and Bjork. When
she trills, "Lately, I find myself gazing at stars/hearing
guitars, like someone in love...." her delivery is entirely
believable.
Make Someone Happy is in stores now. For more information,
visit www.sophiemilman.com.
A land beyond conflict
On the heels of an explosion in adventure travel, Putumayo World
Music began releasing compilations of international artists who
might otherwise not get exposure to North American audiences. Fourteen
years later, the label has a back catalogue of dozens of CDs, featuring
music from as far afield as Africa, Brazil and Eastern Europe.
Their latest entry, Israel, was designed to highlight
"a new generation of Israeli musicians who transcend the political
strife on the evening news."
The music included here reflects the true melting-pot nature of
Israel as a country: there are influences from North and South Africa,
Eastern and Western Europe and even some of the Arab states.
The artists also rank among some of the most popular in Israel today,
from Idan Raichel, who has, for several years, collaborated with
musicians from the Ethiopian, Arab, Yemenite and Caribbean communities,
to Tea Packs – the quirky septet chosen as Israel's entry for
the Eurovision Song Contest this year.
Old and young voices meld in "Ha'rikud Ha'muzar Shel Ha'lev"
("Strange Dance of the Heart"), a duet between up-and-coming
singer Rona Kenen and veteran entertainer Gidi Gov, which is rippled
with accordion-fuelled Gypsy rhythms. In a completely different
tone is "Ta'alu" ("Come On"), by Palestinian-Israeli
songstress Amal Murkus.
Putumayo has recently opened an office in Israel, run by Israeli-Canadian
Nomi Zysblat. Two per cent of the company's proceeds from Israel
will be donated to Latet – Israeli Humanitarian Aid, which
provides support to needy populations in Israel and around the world,
and to A New Way, which strives to develop tolerance, friendship
and co-operation among Jewish and Arab children and parents in Israel.
The album will be released Sept. 25. For more information, visit
www.putumayo.com.
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