Category: Music

Help celebrate Israel’s 69th

Jane Bordeaux – Amir Zeevi, left, Doron Talmon and Mati Gilad – perform at the Chan Centre on May 1. (photo from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver)

What better way to bring folks together in song and celebration of Israel’s 69th birthday than with folk music. And what better band to unite Diaspora Jews than one that writes and performs American-style country-folk songs in Hebrew!

Tel Aviv-based Jane Bordeaux – Doron Talmon, Amir Zeevi and Mati Gilad – will headline this year’s community Yom Ha’atzmaut concert at the Chan Centre on May 1, 7:30 p.m. The trio regularly plays to sell-out crowds.

Their debut album was well-received, with songs such as “Eich Efshar” (“How is it Possible”) and “Whisky” radio favourites, and the video of their song “Ma’agalim” (“Circles”) went viral. A second album is nearing completion and is expected to be released in June.

Talmon and Gilad met in 2012 at Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Ramat Hasharon, Israel. It was in a contest of original songs. “The idea was to perform some of my songs, and get some practical experience of a band format – you know, finding musicians, getting a name for the band and that sort of thing,” Talmon told the Jerusalem Post in a 2016 interview.

“We kept on playing after that one,” Talmon recently told the Independent, “and, when we needed a new guitar player, Amir, who’d been serving with Mati in the military band, had just returned from the U.S., and joined the band.”

Though the band has only been together five years ago, they have all been performing for much longer than that.

“I’ve been singing since I was a little child, always had the attraction to writing songs and singing them,” said Talmon. “After I returned from a long trip in South America, I decided to go and study music professionally, so I went to Rimon school for three years, learning music, songwriting and how to form a band, eventually.”

“I’ve been playing since I was 5, piano and then bass guitar,” said Gilad. “When I went to Thelma-Yellin arts high school in the jazz department, I started also playing the double bass. After high school, I served in the military in an army band and simultaneously studied at the Tel Aviv music conservatory. After the army, I started learning in Rimon school and was there for a year learning both classical, jazz and pop music.”

As for Zeevi, he has been playing the guitar for as long as he can remember. “My high school in Holon had a music major, that’s when I started taking the guitar more seriously, meeting great players and teachers,” he said. “In the army, I’ve played in the air force band and, after my release, I decided to go and learn music in the New School university in New York City, learning both jazz and country music.”

Usually, it is Talmon who comes up with the idea for a song, both the lyrics and melody, then the group starts playing with it, sometimes changing its harmony or structure, and building the arrangement. “Since we perform a lot,” they said, “we often try these new songs in shows, to get the feeling of what it is like to perform with them onstage and how does the crowd react, and each time improving and adjusting the song till it feels complete.”

In true country music fashion, many of Jane Bordeaux’s songs have to do with love and loss – ol’ American hurtin’ songs with a modern, Israeli twist.

“American folk-country, the way we see it, is storytelling, about the dark and the bright sides of life, wrapped in beautiful harmonies and joyful rhythm,” the band members agreed. “How can you not get excited from it? Also, we are addicted to the banjo’s sound and it’s going to feature a lot in our new album.”

“The songs are inspired from life, of course, mine and my friends,’” explained Talmon. “Sometimes, a song may be very close to a personal experience or feeling I had and, sometimes, it can be an idea I borrowed from a book I read or a movie I’ve seen, even a sentence I’ve heard.”

“Ma’agalim” is a bittersweet song about life: “It’s not me that’s progressing / It’s just the time that’s moving on.” The video features a wooden doll in a penny arcade. As the cylinder turns, she walks along her track, bundled up in a coat and scarf, passing people in various stages of life, from cradle to grave. Produced by Israeli animators Uri Lotan and Yoav Shtibelman, it really is a must-see (vimeo.com/ 162052542).

“The minute Uri and Yoav, the creators of the clip, showed it to us,” said the band, “we were so amazed by the beauty and sensibility of the video they made, so we can’t really say we were surprised that it went viral – we never had seen such animation before. We feel that there’s a unique connection between the music and the visuals that’s very moving, so people get excited by it, even without understanding the lyrics.”

No doubt a similar connection will be formed between the band and their audience in Vancouver, where they will sing in both Hebrew and English.

“It’s not going to be the same as in Haifa or Tel Aviv,” they said about the Yom Ha’atzmaut concert. “We love adjusting our set to best fit the place we are going to perform. Since the show date is Israel’s Independence Day, and we guess some of the crowd is English-speaking, in addition to our originals, we’re going to play some English covers and Hebrew all-time favourites – and even some special surprises for the Canadian crowd that obviously we can’t tell in here!”

The group starts their tour in Vancouver, then they have a few shows in North America, including one in Toronto.

“We are super-excited about the show in Vancouver,” they told the Independent. “It’s going to be the first show of our first tour outside of Israel and we’ve got a lot of great stuff planned specially for it, so we’re hoping to see you there!”

Tickets for the May 1 community celebration ($18) can be purchased at jewishvancouver.com/yh2017. In addition to this year’s co-sponsors – Canadian Friends of Hebrew University, Consulate General of Israel in Toronto, Georgian Court Hotel, the Jewish Independent and Jewish National Fund – the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver event is supported by 46 other community organizations.

A life playing the bassoon

George Zukerman, who retired his bassoon in 2012, will be honoured on April 27 with a tribute concert at Bell Performing Arts Centre. (photo by Lauren Kramer)

George Zukerman well remembers the day he was first introduced to the bassoon. It was 77 years ago, and he was a new arrival from London, England, attending New York’s High School of Music and Art.

“One day they told us, ‘Boys and girls, you’re becoming an orchestra!’” he recalls. “All the pushy kids grabbed the instruments they recognized and I picked up this anonymous black box, the only thing that was left. I said, ‘Excuse me sir, what is this?’ Our teacher replied, ‘Oh, you’re our bassoonist!’ And I never looked back.”

That moment launched Zukerman, 90, on a lifelong journey wherein he became an international bassoon virtuoso. He conducted 40 world tours and was frequently the first bassoon soloist ever invited to tour with the national symphony orchestras in which he played.

But Zukerman is nothing if not extremely modest. Of his musical ability before he picked up the bassoon, he declares during an interview in his White Rock home, “I played a little piano but I wasn’t really musically talented.”

He didn’t even take to the bassoon at first, he says, “until I decided to practise. Then I got work because it was a time of war and other bassoonists were getting drafted for the war, which meant I had some amazing opportunities. Four or five years later, I didn’t know how to do anything else, so I decided to become a musician.”

Vancouver left a deep impression on Zukerman’s life when he first visited in 1950. The Vancouver Symphony’s bassoon player was unwell and Zukerman received a desperate call from a conductor he knew, asking him to come and play. Just 23, he flew into the city to perform for six weeks. During that time, he met Abe Arnold, then editor of the Jewish Western Bulletin (the Independent’s predecessor).

Arnold introduced Zukerman to a social worker at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver who encouraged Zukerman to audition for the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He recalls practising for the audition at Carnegie Hall, alone in a room. No one arrived to hear him and he was about to leave when Leonard Bernstein entered. “You’ve got the job,” Bernstein informed him. “I’ve been listening to you practise for the past half hour!”

Zukerman spent 18 months with the Israel Philharmonic in the early 1950s, when the Jewish state was still brand new. “Back then, members of the orchestra were admired as some of the most prestigious people in the country!” he recalls. By 1953, he had accepted a position with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and relocated to Vancouver.

It was a bittersweet time for a performer in the small city of 300,000, he says. “Musically, whatever one did in 1953 in Vancouver was being done for the first time, so I was able to have an influence on musical activity and life around here. But, the orchestra was half amateur, poorly financed and not well-supported, so it performed a season of alternate concerts.”

In his spare time, Zukerman formed a concert service called Overture Concerts, with the goal of arranging performances by other artists in small communities throughout Canada. He knew ticket sales would be an impossible way for the concerts to stay afloat, so his idea was to sell subscriptions.

“Basically, we ran a membership campaign, raised the money and then figured out who we could afford to bring in. It worked wonderfully in small towns and it became very successful, with up to 500 performances in 74 towns across the country,” he explains.

Zukerman was fascinated by life in small towns and was thrilled to bring high-quality musicians to their halls. “We sent tenor Ben Heppner to Swift Current, Sask., the Canadian Opera Company to Nelson, B.C., tenor Richard Margison to Prince George, and pianist Anton Kuerti to Merritt, B.C., and Medicine Hat, Alta. Almost any small community would have enjoyed concerts by major Canadian and non-Canadian artists.”

The artists didn’t just perform – they also talked to their audiences about themselves and their music. “It gave a humanity to the concerts and it’s one of the reasons we could succeed at this,” says Zukerman.

His career with the VSO came to a close in 1963 after he led a strike campaigning for more work. “The symphony was running on 23 weeks of pay and we wanted at least 35 weeks, so we were asking for more opportunities to play,” he says. The VSO board refused the demand, settled with the other musicians and did not renew his contract. But, looking back, it was all for the best, he says.

“I became a soloist and, because I had my little business operation with Overture Concerts, I had the potential to get some engagements for myself,” he notes. “I suddenly found myself with the chance to play repertoire that no one knew existed, and I became known as ‘the High Priest of the Bassoon’!”

It would be years before Zukerman would begin to understand the extent of his influence on others. In 2007, while on tour in South Africa, he met several young bassoonists with the symphony of that country and was gratified to learn they’d taken up their instruments after listening to recordings of him performing.

White Rock Concerts was one of Overture Concerts’ first ventures and it flourishes to this day. It was founded on two principles, Zukerman says. “The first is quality attractions, and the second is a refusal to sell tickets, only subscriptions.”

The subscription policy is key, he explains. “The minute you sell tickets, you’re obligated to cater to the common denominator, and classical music is not geared for the common denominator. Good music survives because it’s an elite enjoyment and pleasure, and thank goodness for that!”

While Zukerman retired his bassoon in 2012, he remains active and instrumental in the world of classical music. This spring, his efforts are focused on bringing classical concerts to Parksville, Port Alberni and Agassiz. He’s toying with the idea of writing a book and is excited about an upcoming tribute concert in his honour at the Bell Performing Arts Centre April 27.

If he has one regret, it’s that he never became a father. “I traveled so much I never felt able or willing to have children,” he says sadly. “It’s one of the failures in my life. But, in a way, as a result of the influence I was able to have on a new generation of bassoon players, I’ve had thousands of children.”

White Rock Concerts’ Tribute to George Zukerman is on April 27, 8 p.m., at Bell Performing Arts Centre, and will feature the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Borealis String Quartet, clarinetist James Campbell and the Bergmann Piano Duo. For tickets ($30), visit bpac.stage.digitalshift.ca/event/a-tribute-to-george-zukerman-w or call 604-507-6355.

Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net.

Adding jazz to people’s lives

Although he plays several instruments, the trumpet remains Gabriel Mark Hasselbach’s first love and his first choice. (photo from Gabriel Mark Hasselbach)

Music is a dazzling mistress. Once Gabriel Mark Hasselbach fell in love with it, he could never let it go. His music brought him from Denver, Colo., to Vancouver, where his jazz performances have been in high demand for many years.

“When I grew up in Denver, they had a new school education system. They allowed good students, and I had 4.0 average, to choose classes. I devoted almost all my junior and senior years to the art and music classes,” Hasselbach told the Independent.

He started playing professionally in his teens. “I’ve been an opportunist, in the best sense of the word, all my life,” he said. “When I recognize an opportunity, I follow it. When I was 14, I wanted to perform, so I went to the local restaurants and ski resorts and fashion shows and asked, Do you need a musician? Maybe on certain days, when the business is slow? And I offered to play.”

Gifted in multiple creative disciplines, he had a choice of several careers paths in high school. “At some point, I contemplated making ceramic sculptures as a career,” he said. “I liked it, but ceramics take time. You give it all, and then it cracks in the oven. Unlike ceramics, music is immediate.”

By graduation, he was sure he wanted to be a musician. “I hit the road when I turned 18,” he recalled. “I answered an ad for an audition for a band. It was in a bad, dangerous part of town, but I went there anyway and I got the job, with the soul band Nitro. All the other players were 10 or 15 years my senior.”

He played with that band and toured the Midwest with them for awhile. He also got a recording his first year.

When Hasselbach returned to Denver, he worked a few non-music jobs, but his calling wouldn’t allow him a long respite. In the 1970s, he came to Canada as a musician, and here he stayed.

“I brought my bicycle, my trumpet and a stack of music books,” he said. “That’s how I learned. I never went to a conservatory, but I read the books, I practised a lot and I performed a lot, alone and with the others. I think, this way, I kept my musical self, my uniqueness as a musician.”

In his early years, he was known in Vancouver by his middle name, Mark. “I changed my performer’s name to my full name, Gabriel Mark Hasselbach, in 1992,” he said. “Gabriel is my first name, and Gabriel was the original angel with a horn – it fit.”

Time and again, his creativity pushed him to explore other avenues besides music. “I used to write for several music magazines,” he said. “I also wrote a wine column for awhile.”

Predominantly, though, he remained a jazz musician, and he was among the original members of the jazz/pop/blues band Powder Blues, which was founded in 1978 in Gastown. “I toured the world with this band,” said Hasselbach. “We played often in Canada and the U.S. We garnered several multiplatinum record awards and the JUNO Awards. I was with the band for five years.”

But he wanted to play and record on his own, so he left the band and made his first solo recording in the early 1980s. By this time, he had more than a dozen albums to his name and multiple awards, including JUNOs and Smooth Jazz Awards. He’s had numerous top 15 and higher Billboard hits and he represented the Vancouver jazz scene at the Beijing and Vancouver Olympics in 2008 and 2010, respectively.

Since settling in Canada, Hasselbach has performed with many renowned national and international musicians. From 1996 to 1999, he hired Michael Bublé to sing with his band. When Bublé achieved stardom, Hasselbach worked for him as his music director from 1999 to 2003. Hasselbach also has performed or recorded with Nikki Yanofsky, Jim Byrnes and many others.

Although he plays several instruments, including trumpet, flute, flugelhorn and trombone, trumpet remains his first love and his first choice. He also writes music. Most of the pieces he performs and records are his original compositions.

In the early 1980s, Hasselbach added a new kind of gig to his repertoire. He began performing at Jewish events.

“I’m an honorary Jew,” he joked. “I was first hired to play at a Jewish wedding by a Jewish man who knew me from my restaurant playing. The word spread, and many others invited me. By now, I know all the music pieces required at a Jewish wedding. I know all the procedures and ceremonies. I’m the go-to guy and bandleader for many organizers of Jewish events and rabbis in Vancouver and Winnipeg, have been for years.”

In addition to his active schedule as a lounge musician and at Jewish events, he frequently plays at high-level corporate bashes. “I performed for Bill Gates twice, once in his home. He likes jazz,” Hasselbach said proudly. “I played for the president of Singapore at his birthday gala in Singapore, at the Montreux Jazz Fest, Switzerland, and the North Sea Jazz Fest in Netherlands. I played for the international APEC congress and for the world ice-skating convention.”

The impressive list will continue to expand this year.

“I’m going to perform at the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans and St. Lucia Jazz Fest,” he said. “I’m also going to have a week of concerts in Tel Aviv in 2018.”

But Vancouver is home. He performs here regularly, most Saturdays and Sundays. For upcoming shows and more about Hasselbach, visit gabrieljazz.com. His corporate and wedding website is sassabrass.com.

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].

Fiery fusion of musical styles

Lyla Canté’s Cristian Puig, left, and Cantor Alty Weinreb. (photo from Chutzpah!)

The best creative ideas often come when you least expect them. This was certainly the case for Lyla Canté, which performs on March 9 as part of the Chutzpah! Festival.

“In the summer of 2012, I walked into a New York City SoHo bar,” Cantor Alty Weinreb told the Independent. He and flamenco guitarist Cristian Puig are Lyla Canté’s front men.

“The room was steamy, hot and teeming with people. I heard the sounds of a guitarist, dancer and singer, and felt the intense passion coming from the stage,” Weinreb recalled. “The guitar is preening and screaming. I was floored by what he was doing without a pick. I hadn’t seen an acoustic guitar played like that. This was raw, urgent and beautiful. I had an epiphany. I started singing Sephardic and (Shlomo) Carlebach melodies over these tunes and they’re working.

“After the show, I approached the guitarist – Cristian Puig – and met with him to see if our musical styles could mesh. They did. We started performing ballads as a duo at chuppah ceremonies [weddings]. We then began arranging dance tunes and added some wonderful musicians: a Cuban percussionist, a blues electric guitarist and a rock-and-roll bassist. The happy result became Lyla Canté, which combines the Hebrew word for ‘night’ and the Spanish word for ‘song.’ We now perform our music at concerts, festivals and private parties internationally.”

While both musicians are based in New York, it was an unlikely encounter, given the men’s diverse backgrounds.

Puig was born in Buenos Aires; his parents also flamenco artists. He began studying classical guitar at 19, in addition to flamenco guitar with his father, before branching out into various other styles. He plays with and has co-founded various groups, and he composes both for himself as a solo performer and for different flamenco companies. He also teaches, composes music for film and works as a flamenco singer.

Weinreb, on the other hand, was raised in New York City in a strict Orthodox, Jewish family, where, he said, “secular music was off limits.”

“As a child,” he said, “the sound of my synagogue’s cantor was some of the first music I remember hearing. Listening to these cantors wail with yearning left an impression on me – this is how a Jew sings.

“Years later, I had another watershed musical moment. Hearing James Brown for the first time felt like a rhythmic ‘burning bush.’

“For the past 20 years, I’ve been cantor at High Holiday services and chuppah ceremonies across the United States. I currently sing with the Simcha All-Stars (jazz klezmer) and Cuban Jewish All-Stars (Cuban klezmer). I teach drums and percussion to children.”

As to where Lyla Canté fits into their busy schedules, Weinreb explained, “The creative process generally starts with me writing an arrangement idea for a song. I then play it for Cristian, who puts it through his blender, which turns it into something else. We then take it to the full group, where it’s further transformed.”

From their solo work and collaborations, it is obvious that both Weinreb and Puig are drawn to the concept of fusion.

“Since I love many different styles of music, I naturally incorporate them into the music I write and arrange,” said Weinreb. “Also, I don’t want to copy all the wonderful Jewish music that I love (including Jewish fusion). By being true to my musical myself, I can’t help but be original. Like everyone alive, I’m blessed with unique experiences and influences.”

Puig said his idea of “fusion is to have a musical style (flamenco, for me) and take elements of other musical cultures and experiment.”

About whether the Judeo-Spanish element changes the traditional flamenco melodies and/or rhythms, Puig said, “It does not really change my approach much, since the flamenco art is a mix of different cultures, among them Jewish. Many melodies and harmonies are similar in both Jewish and flamenco music.”

As for how flamenco influences traditional Jewish melodies and rhythms, Weinreb said, “Flamenco adds a tremendous musical and historical component to our music. Flamenco, which has deep Jewish roots (and Arabic, Gypsy, Moorish and Roman), is really the intersection of Eastern and Western Jewish culture.

“Paco De Lucia, considered the greatest flamenco guitarist in recorded history, said he discovered ancient Sephardic music transcriptions in Spain and was struck by the profound influence Jewish music has had on flamenco music.

“Musically, Cristian’s flamenco guitar adds a fiery energy to our music with its immediacy and earthiness. He then can turn on a dime and be heartbreakingly beautiful as well. I’m fortunate and grateful to play with him.”

Lyla Canté performs March 9, 8 p.m., at Rothstein Theatre. For tickets ($29.47-$36.46), call 604-257-5145 or visit chutzpahfestival.com. In addition to other musical offerings, the festival also features dance, theatre and comedy.

A musical consensus

Sound of Dragon Ensemble plays at Orpheum Annex on March 9. (photo from Sound of Dragon Ensemble)

Sound of Dragon Ensemble takes the name of its upcoming concert, Consensus, from a work of the same name by Vancouver composer John Oliver. Oliver’s “Consensus” will be featured in the ensemble’s March 9 performance at Orpheum Annex, along with a number of other works, including one by Israel-born, Vancouver-based Itamar Erez.

In its mission to preserve the traditions of Chinese music, the Sound of Dragon Society “celebrates diversity and creativity in the contemporary applications of this music…. By presenting musicians and ensembles from different ethnicities, nationalities and musical trainings/genres, Sound of Dragon Society redefines Chinese music and reflects Vancouver’s multicultural environment and a highly creative music scene.”

According to the concert’s promotional material, Oliver’s “Consensus” “is a metaphor for inter-cultural music making…. Regardless of where [musicians are] from, there is one thing most can agree on: music was born of about four or five notes in all cultures. This idea inspired Oliver to build his piece on four notes with ever-changing rhythms between different instruments to create great complexity.”

On March 9, the ensemble will also perform pieces by local composers Mark Armanini, Farshid Samandari, Bruce Bai and Lan Tung; Toronto composer Tony Leung; and Italian composer Marco Bindi. The concert includes Vancouver conductor Jin Zhang and dancer/ choreographer Dong Mei.

Erez’s “Rikkud” is described as “a kind of a chaotic, ecstatic dance, with some moments of relief until the very exhausting end.”

“This piece is based on the last movement of my ‘Piano Trio,’ which was premièred by members of the Standing Wave ensemble back in ’99,” Erez told the Independent. “It is a very rhythmic and playful piece, influenced a lot by East Indian rhythms, and based on a simple pentatonic motive, which is a scale used often in Chinese music. Rikkud simply means dance in Hebrew. I had to rewrite the composition in order for it to work for the unique instrumentation of Sound of Dragon Ensemble.”

Erez, on guitar, is also part of the ensemble’s “plucked strings” section, with Zhimin Yu on the ruan (Chinese lute). The ensemble’s bowed strings are played by Tung and Nicole Li on erhu (Chinese violin) and Marina Hasselberg on cello; winds, by Charlie Lui on the dizi (Chinese flute) and Mark McGregor on the flute; and Jonathan Bernard plays percussion instruments from around the world.

“I played with the ensemble in last year’s festival,” said Erez. “Lan got in touch with me few months before, asking if I would be interested in taking part in this – of course, I was delighted.”

This year’s concert program features two poetry-inspired works: Armanini’s music is set to two poems by China’s Wong Wei (circa 692-761 AD) and Bindi’s “Hymn to Aphrodite” gets its inspiration from Greek poet Sappho (circa 630–570 BCE).

Bai’s “Fall” is locally inspired, by a Vancouver autumn, and Tung’s “Oriole” takes “a 1940s Chinese pop song and pays tribute to Shakti, the highly influential 1970s

Indian fusion band led by John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain.” The choreography of Mei, one of whose specialties is the Uyghur style, “developed at the crossroad of the ancient Silk Road in northwestern China,” adds her touch, both traditional and modern, to Leung’s “Desert Dew” and Samandari’s “Breath of Life” (which is described as “a metaphor for how Persian and Western music have influenced each other”).

Tickets for Consensus are $15 ($10 for students, seniors and children) and can be purchased at brownpapertickets.com or soundofdragon.com.

Singing around the world

Maya Avraham will perform on March 7 at Rothstein Theatre, as part of the Chutzpah! Festival. (photo from Chutzpah!)

With two highly praised albums under her belt and a third one in the works, Maya Avraham has come a long way from Rishon LeZion and her days as a backup singer. All her experiences have made her the talented and entertaining artist she is today, as Chutzpah! Festival audiences will see for themselves on March 7.

Avraham told the Independent that she will be coming with two of her band members and two musicians who live in Los Angeles. “From there,” she said, “we’re flying out to Vancouver to perform at the Chutzpah! Festival.”

Avraham has been performing since she was a teenager.

“At 14, I was in a band called Kol Rishon [First Voice] in my hometown,” she said. “And, at the same time, I also sang in my school band. There, I realized how much I enjoy singing and performing. We performed at all festive events in Rishon LeZion.

“I began private singing lessons at age 16,” she continued. “Already, from a young age, the atmosphere at home was musical – we heard Egyptian music and Yemenite.

“At 16, I joined the Moroccan band Sahara, which performed at major family events throughout the country. With them, I was exposed to the Moroccan music that I still listen to and am influenced by today.”

In the Israel Defence Forces, Avraham was in the army’s music ensemble, where she was a singer and also responsible for the ensemble’s schedule. “Of course, we performed all around the country, and I gained more experience,” she said. “In this group was also where I met Moran Gamliel who, eventually, wrote and composed the song ‘Lama’ [‘Why’] with Adam Perry.”

“Lama” was Avraham’s first single.

“In addition to my involvement with the band Sahara, I was also a backup singer in different studios across the country and sang with various artists who recorded albums,” explained Avraham. “In my work as a studio singer who does vocals and harmonies, I gained a lot of professionalism and accuracy. At one point, I was singing backup vocals for the album of a singer named Amir Benayoun. Amir decided to write me songs and I sent them to Helicon, the company with which he was signed. As a result, the manager of Helicon chose to sign me and we started working on the first album. That was at age 23 and I was with Helicon for five years before I ended the contract.”

It was also at 23 that Avraham met fellow Israeli musician Idan Raichel.

“While searching for musical materials for my first album after I signed with Helicon,” she said, “I had the privilege of meeting with Idan Raichel about a song he wrote for his album that he wanted me to sing. So we met. After the success of the song, Idan approached me and wanted me to be part of his project. I agreed, and started the path to my own career by being part of a larger project, called the Idan Raichel Project, which was a success worldwide.

“Working with Idan was very enriching musically and professionally. I learned a lot from him and I was privileged to work with other talented people who were also part of the group. During the many performances in Israel and abroad, I got to know a lot of talented musicians and I was always learning, gaining knowledge and experience from, for example, singers like Martha Gómez and Shoshana Damari.

“I was part of the project for 12 years and the experiences were many,” she said. “Every performance we did or country we visited, we received a lot of respect and admiration, and I am certain it also shaped and strengthened my own personal career.

“The album Rak Ratzit Ahava [All You Wanted Was Love] came out when I was signed with Helicon and the album La Yom Haze Chikiti [This is the Day I’ve Waited For] came out recently, produced by Rafi [Refael] Krispin of Ze-Nihal.”

In a 2016 interview with French magazine TipTopTelAviv, Avraham said she was nine months pregnant when she met Raichel. Two months after her second daughter was born, she said, “Idan telephoned me and asked me to leave for the United States [for a tour], which was to begin a month later. I agreed and my husband stayed with the kids!”

Avraham and her husband have four kids now: Ruth, 12, Jonathan, 10, Tamar, 5, and Hadas, 3.

“Throughout the years with the project, when I toured abroad, I always had help along the way from my parents and my husband,” Avraham told the Independent. “They’re good kids, so it’s easier to trust that everything will be fine and the support from home is important, assuring me that everything is in order. Of course, you always have to come back with gifts.”

Avraham said she is happy and excited about coming to Vancouver. According to the Chutzpah! website, she and her band will be performing her own hits, songs she sang with the Idan Raichel Project and some of her favourite covers.

Maya Avraham Band performs March 7, 8 p.m., at Rothstein Theatre. For tickets ($29.47-$36.46), call 604-257-5145 or visit chutzpahfestival.com. Other music offerings include the Klezmatics 30th Anniversary Tour (Feb. 23), David Broza and Mira Awad (Feb. 28), Marbin with the band MNGWA opening (March 3), Shalom Hanoch with Moshe Levi (March 8), Lyla Canté (March 9) and Landon Braverman and Friends (April 2). The festival also features dance, theatre and comedy.

Terrific music and message

David Broza (below) will be joined by Mira Awad in concert on Feb. 28, as part of this year’s Chutzpah! Festival. (photo by Nahum Leder)

Israeli singer-songwriter David Broza is returning to Vancouver – and he’ll be joined by friend and fellow Israeli, musician (and actor) Mira Awad. The two will perform in concert on Feb. 28 as part of the Chutzpah! Festival, which runs Feb. 16-March 13.

“I have known Mira Awad for about six years,” Broza told the Independent. “First time I saw her perform was at the Tel Aviv Cameri Theatre, which is one of the most important theatres in Israel. I was very impressed and started following her work. When I was ready to go into the studio to record the album East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem, I asked her to come and sing a couple of duets with me.”

While Awad and Broza may have met only a handful of years ago, Awad told the Independent, “I grew up on Broza’s music and persona, and admired what he did.”

The two crossed paths on more than one occasion after their first meeting, said Awad. “Later on, we met several times on stages and in life, until he called me and asked that I collaborate with him on his album and movie East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem. I was proud to join him on that brave project, and we’ve been performing together since.”

East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem, which features mainly Israeli and Palestinian musicians, was recorded over the space of eight days and nights in Sabreen Studio in East Jerusalem in 2013 and released the following year. Co-produced by musician (and actor) Steve Earle and music producer Steve Greenberg, the creative journey was filmed and made into a documentary by the same name, which also came out in 2014 – and is currently available on Netflix.

“(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?” is among the songs featured on the album and in the film. As is clear from human history – and current events – peace, love and understanding are downright scary to some people. Nonetheless, Broza and Awad have dedicated their lives not only to music, but to peace and other social issues.

“I am a human being and I feel kinship with all other human beings. It is beyond my grasp how people can hurt other people like what is happening in the world,” said Awad. “I just cannot understand how one man can think that another is less than him, or deserves less. So, inequality and injustice, no matter where, are total obscenities in my opinion, and I feel obligated to do anything in my power to banish them.”

photo - David Broza
David Broza (photo by Ilan Besor)

“I have always been involved in social activities, ever since I was a young boy,” said Broza, giving as an example his continuing work with people with disabilities and, in particular, with the Israel Sports Centre for the Disabled in Ramat Gan, which his father helped found when Broza was about 6 years old. “He would then take me along and ask me to help around,” said Broza of his father.

Broza also brings music to Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, which he discusses in the documentary East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem.

“The coexistence initiatives I have been involved with since I was 19,” he said, “are much due to my grandfather, Wellesley Aron, who, amongst many other initiatives, was one of the founders of the Israeli Arab village Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, where the essential curriculum for peace studies and conflict resolution is developed. So, when I recorded my first written song ‘Yihye Tov’ (‘Things Will Be Better’) and it became a big success, I joined in all activities … in support of the peace process which had just started, [in] 1977.”

On the peace front, both Broza and Awad – and many others advocating for peace – face strong and even dangerous opposition.

“I would think that Mira probably has more of an issue since she is very committed to finding a way and is ahead of the pack,” said Broza. “I have been at it for so many years that it has become part of my being. I also believe in working with everyone when it comes to coexistence and conflict resolution, so I don’t exclude either the Palestinian side or the settler side. Of course, I am not immune to controversial and sometimes harsh commentary and opposition.”

In an interview last year with British online media outlet Jewish News, Awad – who was born in Rameh, in the Galilee, in northern Israel, and whose father is Palestinian and mother is Bulgarian – describes her situation.

“You call me Israeli Arab – but I call myself Israeli Palestinian and even that causes controversy,” she told the paper. “If I say that I am Israeli Arab, then my fellow Palestinians think that I am trying to disown my Palestinian roots and if I call myself an Israeli Palestinian, then the Israelis feel offended. They say: ‘If you are so Palestinian, go live in Gaza.’

“So, I identify myself only as an Israeli and not Palestinian. It mixes things up when you say both. The mere fact there is controversy around the definition might show you just a little bit of the situation faced by Israeli Palestinians in Israel. We are walking a very thin line all the time.”

In the song “Bahlawan” (“Acrobat”) and in a TEDx Talk, Awad describes how she maintains her balance in life, using the metaphor of an acrobat, who, she explains, must keep looking forward, both in order to not fall, but also to potentially “fly” (again, metaphorically).

“When you believe in something, when your vision is clear, you are like a good acrobat, you look onto the horizon and keep your balance,” she told the Independent. “If you start looking down, and calculate your risks, you will certainly fall and be eaten by the wolves waiting for you to trip. I think both David and I have a clear vision for what we believe in and, therefore, we keep our balance.”

“Empathy is the key,” said Broza. “You cannot think of yourself as the one who knows better than the other. Must learn to listen, always. I learn all the time from being exposed to such diverse people. With music, there is only one way, and that is to harmonize, so we keep eyes and ears open and stay in tune together.”

“The evidence is there, everywhere, that people just want to live, go to work, raise their children safely and take them on the occasional holiday,” added Awad. “We just need to encourage these silent masses to participate in the change process, to push their leaders towards resolution that is good for humans on both sides of the fence.”

One of the ways in which Broza attempts to do this is through music, giving benefit concerts, performing in hospitals and in crisis areas, offering workshops, and participating in or leading other social-minded projects and collaborations. “It is the backbone of my world,” he said of music.

“Music is my personal therapy,” said Awad. “As a musician, I deal with my thoughts, pains, joys, through music. Nothing stays cooped up inside, it is all put out into the fresh air, where everyone can see and hear it. But, in addition, I really feel that music has an advantage, it aims straight to subconscious levels, where people have fewer defences and borders, therefore, we as musicians can penetrate where other change-makers cannot.”

Broza is “very much looking forward to returning to perform in Vancouver and finally to take part in the Chutzpah! Festival.” He said his show will cover songs from his 40-year career, including some of his biggest hits, such as “HaIsha Sheiti” (“The Woman by My Side”) and “Yihye Tov.”

“It also covers my Spanish albums and some of the American albums,” he added. “The highlight is my having Mira join me on our songs from the album and film East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem, and she will be performing a couple of her own songs.”

For her part, Awad said she is “looking forward to arriving in Vancouver with this powerful collaboration. I cherish the friendship with David and the magic that happens when we are on stage together. I hope we convince all the people present how stupid and foolish all these disputes are, and that the things we have in common are way deeper than the stuff that divides us.”

David Broza and Mira Awad in concert takes place Feb. 28, 8 p.m., at Rothstein Theatre. For tickets ($43.75/$31.35), call 604-257-5145 or visit chutzpahfestival.com. Other music offerings include the Klezmatics 30th Anniversary Tour (Feb. 23), Marbin with the band MNGWA opening (March 3), Maya Avraham Band (March 7), Lyla Canté (March 9), Shalom Hanoch with Moshe Levi (March 8) and Landon Braverman and Friends (April 2). The festival also features dance, theatre and comedy.

Maya Rae launches first CD

Maya Rae performs on Feb. 23 at Frankie’s Jazz Club. (photo by Saffron Kelly)

Vancouver jazz singer-songwriter Maya Rae will celebrate the release of her debut CD, Sapphire Birds, on Feb. 23 at Frankie’s Jazz Club. The album was produced by jazz impresario Cory Weeds, and features an ensemble of some of Vancouver’s greatest jazz musicians, including Miles Black, who played piano and acted as musical director, Weeds himself on saxophone, Joel Fountain on drums, André Lachance on bass and Vince Mai on trumpet and flugelhorn.

Rae’s burgeoning musical career – she is only 14 years old – had its genesis in nothing particularly special: band classes at school, a few musicians on her mother’s side of the family. Yet, from these modest beginnings, she has arrived on the Vancouver scene with a beautiful, textured voice well ahead of her years and a first CD that showcases excellent musicianship, both hers and that of the experienced ensemble brought together by Weeds and Black.

“If I had a dime for every time someone tells me they have a 14-year-old with tons of talent,” Weeds told the Independent, “I’d have retired in Mexico by now. When I heard Maya, I was pretty wowed, pretty shocked.”

Weeds said he carefully scrutinizes projects that are brought to him. “I don’t do these things for the money,” he said, “I do it because it’s a project I believe in. Miles Black was the X-factor behind the thing. He helped Maya select the music and charted it. It’s rare that a project goes so smoothly. The whole band gelled so well the album practically produced itself. It was just a real pleasurable experience.”

Rae agreed. Asked if working with such seasoned musicians was intimidating, she said it wasn’t. “It was great; we had so much fun. They were so helpful, and they taught me a lot. It was an incredible experience to work with musicians like that.”

Weeds admitted to hesitating before releasing the album on his own label, Cellar Live, due to Maya’s youth. When he heard the finished project, though, his hesitation vanished. “You’d have to be an idiot not to put this out,” he said. “The talent’s there and, when the talent is there, age is irrelevant.”

The CD features two original songs, the title track “Sapphire Birds” (about her family) and “So Caught Up” (about the obsession with appearances among teenage girls). The album also features some excellent covers of standards like “I Feel the Earth Move” and “Summertime”; and surprises, with some smooth and skilled scatting from Rae. Rae’s singing is delivered with strength, precise phrasing and nuance, and is alternately delicate and full, easily holding the listener’s interest throughout the album.

The CD release will be a benefit concert, with proceeds going to Covenant House, a local nonprofit that serves homeless youth. Last April, Rae held a benefit concert at Temple Sholom to benefit Syrian refugee families. “In March, I was asked to open for Champian Fulton, and so I had a band and a set list all worked out, and then I heard my synagogue was sponsoring two Syrian refugee families and that seemed like an important thing to support,” Rae explained. (For more on last year’s concert, see jewishindependent.ca/jazz-to-benefit-refugees.)

Rae also sings once a month at Louis Brier Home and Hospital, accompanied by guitarist Sami Ghawi. She tells a heartwarming story about an incident that happened there recently involving Kenny Colman, a well-known jazz vocalist who was a longtime friend and colleague of Frank Sinatra, among others, and who now lives at the Louis Brier.

“We have an open mic when we perform there,” Maya said. “Kenny came to watch the show, and he joined us and sang. He has advanced Parkinson’s, and they said he hadn’t sung in the eight months since he’d been there. It was very emotional for everyone.”

For more on Rae, visit facebook.com/mayaraemusic. While reservations are now closed for the Feb. 23 show, there will be limited tickets available at the door.

Matthew Gindin is a freelance journalist, writer and lecturer. He writes regularly for the Forward and All That Is Interesting, and has been published in Religion Dispatches, Situate Magazine, Tikkun and elsewhere. He can be found on Medium and Twitter.

Fêting Shemer, Cohen

Mauro Perelmann is coming from Brazil to lead a Dec. 17 musical tribute to Naomi Shemer and Leonard Cohen. (photo by Natan Guterman Fotografia)

On Dec. 17, Congregation Beth Israel will host a tribute concert to Israeli singer songwriter Naomi Shemer. The brainchild of Brazilian musical director, composer and arranger Mauro Perelmann, who appeared at Or Shalom last winter, the tribute show was originally created for a performance in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Following its success there, Perelmann is bringing the show to Vancouver, featuring local singers Stephen Aberle, Debby Fenson and Wendy Rubin.

The Vancouver concert – which will also include a tribute to Canadian icon Leonard Cohen, who passed away since the initial plans were made – is the result of extensive collaboration both internationally and within the Jewish community here. With the help of Perelmann’s friend Yom Shamash and sponsored by Congregation Beth Israel, Limmud Vancouver and Or Shalom, the concert features Shemer’s “best and most beautiful songs,” said Perelmann.

The archetypal Sabra, Shemer was born in 1930 at Kvutzat Kinneret, the Galilee kibbutz her parents helped found. Like other celebrated artists, she served in the Israel Defence Forces as part of the Nahal entertainment group, and went on to study at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, now the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.

After studying both classical and folk guitar in his home city of Rio de Janeiro, Perelmann followed in Shemer’s footsteps at the Rubin Academy. He studied there for a period of four years, 1976-1980, and it changed his life.

Raised in a secular Jewish home, both he and Shamash were members of Hashomer Hatzair, the Zionist youth group. Perelmann described his time in Israel as “a very touching experience, very important to my life.” On returning to Rio, he said, “I began to work as a musician, composer, arranger in Brazil. I returned to klezmer, to Hebrew and Israeli music. I began to work here in the Jewish community.”

Nowadays, Perelmann’s work follows “three branches,” he said: Jewish music; vocal music for choirs and other groups; and soundtracks for television and movies.

With only two weeks between his arrival in Vancouver and the concert, Perelmann has rehearsed with the three local singers via Skype. It was the first time he had used this technology to rehearse music.

“I sent them the scores with the voices written down and we used the technology to shorten the distance between us. It worked well! They went to the same place, I heard them singing, gave them feedback. When I arrive in Vancouver, we’ll rehearse with the whole band.”

Perelmann speaks passionately of Shemer’s compositions. He referred to her as “the voice of Israeli culture until the 1970s: the love of nature, of the people,” and added, “any Jew raised with music must know Naomi Shemer.” He described a wide-ranging repertoire, from touching love songs like “Umbrella for Two,” to lyrics describing scenes of everyday Israeli life, childhood and nature. Shamash described Shemer as the representation of “our idealized vision of a just, socialist and Zionist Israel.”

Concert-goers can, of course, look forward to hearing Shemer’s most celebrated work, “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav.” Made famous by Shuli Natan’s passionate renditions, it is a hauntingly nostalgic work, commemorating the end of the Six Day War of 1967. Combining a magical mix of open-hearted optimism and steely conviction, Shamash commented, “it was a kind of national anthem,” which united both a country and a generation of Jews around the world.

While it is widely regarded as a second national anthem of Israel, the song is not without controversy. In response to questions about the origins of the melody in Basque folk music, Perelmann said, “it happens in music; it wasn’t a conscious decision.”

And Shemer is known to have raised questions from Amos Oz, and others, over the perceived politics in “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav.” Describing the Jerusalem marketplace as “empty” without Jews, one might imagine that Shemer’s song disregards the presence of Arab Israelis. However, as Perelmann explained, Shemer clarified, “If there are no Jews there, then it is empty to me.”

Among the other Shemer songs to be featured at the Vancouver concert are “Al Kol Eleh,” “Hurshat Ha’Eucalyptus” (her song about the trees of Kvutzat Kinneret), “Lu Yehi,” “Orhim Lakayitz” and “Mahar.”

Vancouver singer Fenson treasures memories of “sitting around a campfire singing songs,” and described a lifelong relationship with Shemer’s music. “I received a book of Naomi Shemer songs for my bat mitzvah,” she shared. “Part of learning to speak Hebrew came from reading and singing those songs. Later, I used Naomi Shemer’s songs (and others) to help a friend who was also learning the language.”

As for the Cohen component of the concert, Shamash said, “The idea to add a small tribute to Leonard Cohen came from the Canadian singers…. The news of Leonard Cohen’s passing hit everyone hard, especially because it came two days after Donald Trump’s election. All of a sudden, the world looked darker and the need to grieve and mourn became more urgent. We all needed to see the light through the cracks of the broken world. I was asked to call Mauro to add a few Leonard Cohen’s songs. He understood. Hallelujah.”

The Shemer and Cohen tribute at Beth Israel on Dec. 17 starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at brownpapertickets.ca or at the door.

Shula Klinger is an author, illustrator and journalist living in North Vancouver. Find out more at niftyscissors.com.

Gasoi is one class act

Singer/songwriter Jennifer Gasoi, seen here in a promotional shot for her new book, was back in her hometown last month. (photo by Philove)

Jennifer Gasoi’s new book, Blue and Red Make Purple, is both a hardcover children’s book and a CD collection. It was released to immediate acclaim, winning the 2016 Parents’ Choice Gold Award and a National Parenting Product Award.

CD cover - Jennifer Gasoi’s new book, Blue and Red Make Purple, has already won awards.
Jennifer Gasoi’s new book, Blue and Red Make Purple, has already won awards.

Illustrated by Steve Adams, Gasoi’s songbook has a vintage feel with a touch of Chagall. It is vibrant and surreal, full of movement, as a group of animals get up to all sorts of musical capers. “I love the illustrations for this book,” Gasoi told the Independent. “I feel that Steve accurately depicted the joy, love and depth of my songs. He offers a brilliant visual representation of the music.”

Gasoi has local roots and, 15 years ago, she was performing at Rossini’s jazz bar in Kitsilano. She studied music at Capilano University’s jazz program and took part in community choir events around town before she decided it was time for a change and moved to Montreal. There, she taught music to young children and parents. Her debut album, Songs for You (2004), garnered awards and nominations, as did her second CD, Throw a Penny in the Wishing Well (2012).

Among the honors for her second recording was a 2014 Grammy Award for best children’s recording. An unusual compilation, the CD introduces children to a wide range of genres, including bluegrass, calypso and klezmer.

“Winning a Grammy was a life highlight,” said Gasoi. “It was something I had been dreaming of since I started my music career – and having Cyndi Lauper present the award was pure gold.”

Gasoi’s lyrics are deceptively simple. The song “Happy” from Wishing Well, for example, starts gently in a voice that sounds as natural as exhaling, were it not for the jaunty, syncopated piano accompaniment. This brief “ditty,” as she calls it, is written for children but models a spirit of resilience and self-acceptance that could be a mantra for any age. A chorus of “I feel happy” follows lines such as, “When I jump, when I fly, when I feel, when I cry.” Likewise, this song teaches generosity and compassion: “When I laugh, when I live the life I want to live, when I take a little less than I give. I feel happy….” And, “When I dance the way I want to dance. When I step out of the box and take a chance, I feel happy….”

Gasoi’s voice brims with a mix of confidence, mischief and kindness. Asked if she’s aware of this last quality, she laughed, “I do hear that. I hear that I’m soothing. Even when I was in jazz clubs and I’d be thinking, ‘I’m rocking this, I’m digging it!’ people would come up and say, ‘I’m so relaxed right now!’”

As an artist, Gasoi is working to a plan. Her goal is to reach children deeply, authentically, as both an educator and a musician. This drive has long been apparent, said singer Christie Grace, Gasoi’s contemporary at Capilano. “She was always extremely self-disciplined.”

“I have a soul connection with children,” said Gasoi. “I see their light and their beauty. I pray that, through my music, I can inspire them to tune into what they feel, what they love, what they are good at.”

With an eye to the greater good, the singer wants her music to motivate children to be active and empowered citizens working for “a world that is based on peace, compassion and love.”

Gasoi also recognizes that dialogue is part of any educational experience. The adults may be the ones who have laid out the agenda, but the lesson goes both ways. She speaks of the rich education she gained during the 15 years she honed her voice and performance style “teaching music in daycares and community centres, a lot of mom and baby groups.”

Asked about what keeps her motivated, Gasoi describes a visit to an inner city school in Montreal. “I performed my songs to the most enthusiastic audience I’d ever seen,” she said. “The kids were beaming with excitement. They knew all the songs.”

In a population that doesn’t usually have a chance to attend concerts, the experience was all the more poignant. The singer described the group as “jubilant and receptive.”

“One of the teachers told me that one of her students, a boy with autism, had never sat still for more than five minutes during any other concert,” said Gasoi. “During this show, he was engaged for the full hour. It’s moments like these that keep me going.”

photo - Singer/songwriter Jennifer Gasoi with one of her fans, Joel Harrington, the writer’s youngest son
Singer/songwriter Jennifer Gasoi with one of her fans, Joel Harrington, the writer’s youngest son. (photo by Shula Klinger)

On stage at the Vancouver Writers Fest last month, Gasoi was utterly in her element. She addressed the audience of hundreds as if it were an intimate group of a few children, gathered around her knees. Her experience as an educator was apparent, as she asked questions and engaged the crowd in conversations, responding to the children as they called out answers and praising them for their unexpected gems. In the middle of “Little Blue Car Trip,” she asked the audience for another form of transportation. The first answer fired back, “Camel!” got a laugh from audience and band alike.

Gasoi’s band members – Jody Proznick (double bass), Joel Fountain (percussion/vocals), Chris Gestrin (piano/melodica) and Ralph Shaw (banjo) – are no less engaging. Shaw doubles as the Purple Man from the song of the same name, leaping across the stage to the strains of this energetic, multi-genred song, which culminates in a fiery rendition of “Hava Nagila.”

There’s nothing like a hometown reception for a returning artist and this show was no exception. “This week was absolute magic. Vancouver welcomed me with open arms!” said Gasoi, who continues to deliver songs packed with rhymes, wordplay and colorful imagery.

“I am constantly amazed by kids,” she said. “They are so pure, honest, innocent and in touch with their instincts. I see their potential and I am doing everything in my power to support them.”

Shula Klinger is an author, illustrator and journalist living in North Vancouver. Find out more at niftyscissors.com.