Music – Page 19

Mendes joins Tapper on 100.5 FM

Marcus Mendes in Yemin Moshe, Jerusalem, last year. (photo from Marcus Mendes)

Marcus Mendes has joined Alan Tapper in hosting The Anthology of Jewish Music, which airs Sundays, 10 a.m., on 100.5 FM and coopradio.org. Mendes will be playing a variety of genres of Jewish music: traditional, pop, religious and especially Israeli artists.

Recently, Mendes was a volunteer at the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library. For a couple of years, as a child, he lived on Kibbutz Gesher Haziv and Kibbutz Dorot. He spent another year in Israel when he was 17, he recently visited there and will be traveling to the country again next year.

“I’m completely in awe of Alan’s dedication to bringing us this great show of Jewish music every week for the last 34 years,” said Mendes. “The man deserves a star on a walk of fame. If I could play a theme song, it might be the Knack’s ‘My Sharona!’ except I’d replace those words with, ‘Alan Tapper!’ and sing them with feeling!”

Cultivating composers

For the past eight years, Turning Point Ensemble (TPE) has taken their Creating Composers music education program into schools across Metro Vancouver. This year, the program has expanded and, with the support of the B.C. Arts Council’s Youth Engagement grant program, Creating Composers will travel to more remote communities in the province.

The announcement was made by the program’s founder, Jeremy Berkman, who is TPE’s new director of education and community outreach. What’s the Score! will take members of the ensemble to Prince George and Terrace to work with young creative artists ages 13-18 to give them the skills to be a composer. The workshops will not only focus on creative composition in general, but will focus on orchestration by augmenting the Turning Point Ensemble with members of the local musician community and the guidance of two of the province’s most renowned composers for orchestral forces, Jeffrey Ryan and Rodney Sharman. The Prince George concert will take place on Dec. 7, 2 p.m., in Vanier Hall with Sharman, TPE mentor composer, and a Terrace concert will take place in April.

In Vancouver, the orchestration workshops will now include nearly the entire Turning Point Ensemble collaborating with Vancouver Pro Musica to develop and present a program of new compositions as part of Pro Musica’s annual Sonic Boom Festival that will be performed March 29.

The Creating Composers youth music education program returns to schools in Metro Vancouver in 2015. The ensemble members love taking part in it, and are excited to welcome Mark Haney and Dorothy Chang as mentor composers this year.

In brief, TPE musicians and mentor composer help students develop creative ideas to write a composition in a supportive learning environment that includes a dialogue with the artists, who will then interpret and perform the young composer’s work. In addition, Remy Siu is TPE’s emerging composer in residence, assisting with the Creating Composers programs, as well as coordinating a competition for young composers.

Music is a universal language and students can develop confidence through self-expression, regardless of economic, language or cultural barriers. TPE provides the catalyst to spark the interest in music or the arts in general.

For more information on the ensemble, its programs and performances, visit turningpointensemble.ca.

World musician at Rothstein

On Dec. 5, Lenka Lichtenberg will perform traditional and original songs at the Rothstein Theatre, self-accompanied on piano, guitar, harmonium and percussion. (photo from lenkalichtenberg.com)

Three new CDs in three years made in three different regions of the world, garnering at least as many awards and even more nominations. Toronto-based Lenka Lichtenberg has been on creative fire. She sent the Independent greetings from Prague earlier this month, as she was preparing for a concert there, and early next month, she will be in Vancouver.

The group Art Without Borders is bringing Lichtenberg here for a Dec. 5 solo performance at the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre.

According to its website, the nonprofit organization has two missions: “it strives to promote an understanding and appreciation for Czech culture through the arts both within and without the Czech community” and “it endeavors to cultivate dialogue between Canada and Central Europe.”

Lichtenberg’s work certainly forms cultural connections, and it greatly expands upon the dialogue. Consider only her most recent recordings, all of which bring together top-notch musicians from around the world to create music that blends multiple languages, cultures, melodies and rhythms: Songs for the Breathing Walls (2012) with the help of many international artists, Embrace (2013) with Canadian world-music group Fray and Lullabies from Exile (2014) with Israel’s Yair Dalal.

In addition, on her website, Lichtenberg has a virtual museum that displays some of what she has discovered about her family. Born in Prague, she didn’t find out she was Jewish until she was 9 or 10 years old. “It took me awhile to learn about my roots, as my mother did not say much about it; she did not know herself,” writes Lichtenberg. “My mother, while 100 percent Jewish, was brought up a Catholic by her family who left Judaism one by one. My great-grandmother described herself as ‘without faith’ already in 1919, and my grandmother and grandfather left Judaism some three to four years later. There were no signs of Jewish roots in the households, Christmas was celebrated. Not a completely atypical Czech Jewish urban family, I believe; assimilation was widespread. Then, the Holocaust … and my family was murdered. As an adult, I began learning.

“The activities of the past 25 years of my life, since my first trip to Masada, have largely been an attempt to learn about, and honor, my heritage in ways available to me: as a Yiddish singer (picking up Yiddish as an adult) and musician, composer of music built in one way or another on Jewish traditions, and a singer of beautiful liturgy. My 2010-2012 project Songs for the Breathing Walls was the most determined milestone in my quest to honor and connect with the past – via the history of the wider Jewish community of Czech and Moravian lands.”

The album Songs for the Breathing Walls connects that past with the future, preserving traditional Hebrew liturgy and poems in contemporary arrangements that were performed live in 12 different synagogues, or buildings that were once synagogues or used as such (nine Czech and three in Moravia). The recordings were made from July 2010 through July 2011. “The journey ended in Terezin, where my mother’s family was incarcerated; for the first time, I walked in the halls of the building where my mother had lived for two and a half years,” writes Lichtenberg in the liner notes. Appropriately, the memorial prayer El Maleh Rachamim was recorded there. Several of the recordings are prayers from the Yizkor service, but they mix with an Adon Olam based by Dalal on a melody of Babylonian Jews, an Avinu Malkeinu arranged by Lichtenberg and other holiday or weekday prayers.

Mourning and hope, sadness and joy cohabitate easily in this beautiful, moving and meaningful recording, the idea for which came to Lichtenberg in 2009. Performing on consecutive days in synagogues in Plzen and in Liberec, she noticed a difference in sound, ambience and feeling, “a unique character stemming from something deeper than mere acoustics … perhaps something left behind by those who built these structures and filled them with their lives.” Her hope is that, in listening to Songs for the Breathing Walls, people “will be able to hear the ‘breathing walls’ as well, embracing those who lived among them, love, suffered, prayed for peace. Perhaps then, their memory will live on….”

In all of Lichtenberg’s music, the memory and traditions of those who have lived before can be heard – they are celebrated, and merge with the memories, traditions and passions of Lichtenberg and the artists with whom she collaborates. A completely different mood infuses Embrace than Songs for the Breathing Walls, yet it too crosses temporal, cultural and geographic borders. Recorded in Toronto with Fray, co-led by percussionist Alan Hetherington, Embrace features lyrics inspired by religious texts, folk tales, poems, family and friends, with melodies rooted in the Middle East, North America, South America and India.

Lichtenberg is at home in many languages and musical styles, and every release highlights her talents, and those of the musicians with which she works, Lullabies from Exile being another example. It is one of the most distinctive collections of lullabies you’ll ever hear. With songs recorded in Israel, Canada and Czech Republic, it brings together Babylonian and Yiddish music, songs sung to Dalal and Lichtenberg by their mothers, literally intertwining them in eight medleys, each arranged from a song from each of their traditions.

As explained on Dalal’s website, the collaboration on this CD “was born before a joint concert in Kosice, Slovakia, when Lichtenberg played the album’s opening lullaby, ‘Yankele,’ for Dalal to see if he could accompany her on oud. Soon, Dalal was playing an Iraqi lullaby from his childhood [‘Wien Ya Galub’] that connected to Lichtenberg’s Yiddish song with a remarkably natural intuition…. While most of these lullabies are in Judeo-Iraqi Arabic and Yiddish, the concept grew to include songs in Czech, Slovak and Hebrew in order to reflect the artists’ personal histories, as well as English, to acknowledge the experience of the English-speaking Diaspora.” The CD also includes two non-medleys.

When the Jewish Independent first interviewed Lichtenberg (“Eclectic Jewish music,” Dec. 15, 2006), it was about her third CD, Pashtes/Simplicity, a collaboration with Brian Katz, in which she set the Yiddish poetry of Simcha Simchovitch to Jewish, jazz, Brazilian and other melodies. Having performed previously “in lounges, bars, in a rock band, more bars, and a cruise line,” she explained what she realized in Israel: “… I needed to change my direction and truly embrace my roots, my identity, which at that time was barely visible. I decided to ‘do Jewish.’ Being a musician, it meant dropping the kind of music I made my living with up to then in Canada and starting from scratch as a Jewish singer…. I concentrated on Yiddish, as I felt it would be closer to my true identity than Hebrew, even though my family, my mom and grandma, Holocaust survivors, didn’t speak a word of Yiddish. [They were] totally assimilated, as [were] most Czech Jews.” Lichtenberg, who had also been studying cantorial music for several years by 2006, described her experience with Jewish music as being “a growing process.”

While it is tempting, having listened to these latest recordings, to say that Lichtenberg’s Jewish music is all grown up, so to speak, written and performed with a confidence and skill that is remarkable, she seems like someone who will continually push herself to keep growing, experimenting in each new project. And, of course, she has several on the go. For more information about Lichtenberg, visit lenkalichtenberg.com. For tickets to her Dec. 5, 8 p.m., solo concert at the Rothstein Theatre, visit arwibo.org ($25) or the theatre box office at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver ($28).

Special night with VSO

Michael Fish initiated a unique VSO-JFSA collaboration, which will see JFSA clients attend the symphony on Nov. 15. (photo from Michael Fish)

“There is a direct relationship between cultural experiences and good health. Whether it’s participation in the arts or appreciation for the arts, there is an emotional response for those who engage in these experiences,” said Joel Steinberg, president of Jewish Family Service Agency (JFSA).

Steinberg was offering this observation in the context of a unique opportunity that JFSA has to help 200 clients attend a special concert of music by Jewish composers performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) at the Orpheum on Nov. 15.

Michael Fish, who has been a board member for the VSO for four years, wanted to encourage more Jewish community involvement with the symphony.

“In an effort to promote the VSO, as well as bring our community more into the fold, I decided to try to do something special,” Fish told the Independent. “With the support of the VSO’s conductor and musical director, Bramwell Tovey, the VSO agreed to put together a concert of all Jewish composers that I could use as a vehicle for my goal.”

Fish continued, “I then approached Jewish Family Service Agency and asked if they would be interested in sending some of their clients to an evening of Jewish music with the VSO. Knowing that many of their clients would not have the means to purchase a ticket for themselves, I took it upon myself to raise the funds from within the Jewish community to make it happen. I was thrilled at the fantastic response.”

According to Steinberg, Fish has used his advocacy very effectively for JFSA. In addition to organizing this concert, Fish secured a full page in VSO’s Allegro magazine recognizing “Friends of JFSA,” thereby helping JFSA communicate its mission to VSO patrons.

“Many people do not realize that about 10 percent of our clients are non-Jewish,” said Steinberg. “They are mostly users of home support and counseling services, both of which are fee-for-service and help generate critical revenues for our organization to support our other programs. This is a great opportunity for JFSA to raise its profile in the general community while benefitting our clients.”

According to Alan Stamp, JFSA’s director of counseling, the agency sporadically provides “tickets for inclusion” to clients who are in need and who have identified an interest in the arts. The program is managed by JFSA social workers on a case-by-case basis. One of the challenges with the existing system is that tickets are often donated last minute by supporters of JFSA who realize that they will not be able to use them. It can be difficult to match tickets with clients, many of whom face mobility challenges, on short notice. This event with VSO is on a different scale.

Silkie Wong, who works in development and communication at JFSA, has been assisting the department’s director, Audrey Moss, with coordinating the project from the JFSA side. Wong noted that JFSA organizes transportation where possible to ensure that clients can attend, as some of their clients find it difficult to get out on their own. Wong pointed out why this type of event is important: “This is a unique and meaningful experience. Attending cultural events enables our clients to live life, not just survive it.”

Steinberg hopes this avenue for inclusion, initiated by Fish, will spur others to step up and bring such more initiatives forward. “We hope that we will have an ongoing partnership with VSO, and that more of our friends connected to other organizations will help us open more doors and build similar partnerships,” said Steinberg.

Fish considers this is a win-win situation. He is excited about the beautiful music that both JFSA clients and members of the greater community will share, as well as the concert’s potential to raise the profile of VSO in the Jewish community. He summed up by saying, “The musicians will be playing to a larger audience, JFSA’s [clients and] patrons will enjoy a great evening, and perhaps the VSO will pick up a few patrons along the way. What could be better than that?”

To learn more about this concert, visit jfsa.ca.

Michelle Dodek is a freelance writer and community volunteer living in Vancouver.

Orkestars at Vogue

Members of Orkestar Slivovica include Susan Gerofsky, fourth from the left. (photo from Caravan World Rhythms)

Caravan World Rhythms presents Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestar on Oct. 18 at Vogue Theatre. Opening for Boban & Marko is a collaboration between local bands Orkestar Slivovica and Jack Garton’s Demon Squadron. The main level of the Vogue will be turned into an open dance floor for the whole evening. There will also be reserved seating available for those who prefer to sit and watch.

Boban & Marko, the quintessential Balkan brass band, comes back to Vancouver after again being crowned “Leading Band in Serbia,” a title to which they have been named multiple times since the late 1980s. Their music, performed by a 13-piece strong orchestra, is defined by their gypsy lineage, while giving a nod towards other musical and cultural backgrounds related to Romani traditions. Aside from their numerous awards, the group has performed and been featured in films.

Vancouver’s homegrown Balkan brass band, Orkestar Slivovica, includes Jewish community member Susan Gerofsky. The eight-12-piece brass ensemble plays and sings a diverse repertoire, from insanely fast dance tunes to heart-wrenching songs, often in crooked rhythms and exotic scales. Gerofsky plays tenor horn and accordion and contributes vocals, but she also plays baritone horn and other brass instruments, pennywhistle and piano, and has dabbled with banjo, fiddle and ukulele.

Gerofsky has been involved with folk music and dance for many years, starting with youthful experiences doing Israeli and international folk dancing and working as a volunteer at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Toronto.

When not playing with the band, Gerofsky is a tenured assistant professor in the department of curriculum and pedagogy in the faculty of education at the University of British Columbia. She holds degrees in languages and linguistics as well as mathematics education, and worked for 12 years in film production, eight years in adult education (including workplace and labor education) and eight years as a high school teacher with the Vancouver School Board. Gerofsky has been involved in interdisciplinary research and teaching involving embodied, multisensory mathematics education, garden-based learning, applied linguistics and film. She has studied, researched and taught in England, Brazil, Italy and Cuba. She speaks several languages.

Collaborating with Orkestar Slivovica are special guests Demon Squadron, spearheaded by the musician, songwriter and showman Jack Garton of Maria in the Shower. Their sound is rooted in reggae, funk and folk, and includes the backbone trio of Amrit Basi on drum set, Michael Alleyne on bass and Garton on accordion, trumpet and voice. The trio welcomes frequent collaborators on saxophone, trombone, organ and backup vocals.

The Oct. 18 show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets, $42 (general admission)/$52 (reserved seats), are available in person at Highlife Records, Banyen Books or Boemma Deli; online at caravanbc.com; or by phone, 1-855-551-9747. For music and more, visit bobanimarko.com, orkestarslivovica.org or jackgarton.com/demonsquadron.

Taking pianos to the streets

Sean Pacey dabbles at the keys in Burnaby, near the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. (photo from Sean Pacey)

Keeping a business afloat for more than four decades is accomplishment enough, but to keep it in the family is especially noteworthy. “My grandfather and his oldest son started the shop in the 1970s,” said Sean Pacey, the current owner of Pacey’s Pianos on Broadway. “In the 1980s, my father took over. When I was 18, my father gave me the keys and walked away.”

The young Pacey was well qualified for the job. “My mom has a small manufacturing business, and I helped her since I was 11,” he recalled. “I’d come home from school and answer the phones. At 13, I started working at tradeshows, representing her company all over the world. We traveled to Germany, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and many cities in North America.”

Later, already the owner of the piano shop, Pacey got his diploma in business and marketing from the University of British Columbia.

It’s been a little over a dozen years since he accepted the keys to Pacey’s Pianos. In that time, he has expanded the company, and it offers more services and events than it did in his grandfather’s and father’s days, including charitable enterprises. One of these charities is Support Piano, the Vancouver version of Street Piano.

The Street Piano movement started in 2008 in England and has spread worldwide. More than a thousand pianos have been installed outdoors in 45 cities across the globe. Anyone who wants can play them. Some impromptu players are professional musicians, others are children learning to play or adults who learned in the past but, for various reasons, abandoned their music. The freely available pianos entice many hidden musicians out of the woodwork.

Vancouver picked up the initiative last year, when City Studio installed three instruments in public spaces during the summer. This year, the number has increased manifold: City Studio installed 10 pianos, and Pacey partnered with the studio, donating 12 more pianos for the project. However, he wasn’t satisfied with simply leaving a piano on a street corner. He wanted communities to unite around the instruments, to claim ownership of their urban landscape and its music.

“We engaged in similar projects since 2009 but not on such a scale,” he said. “For this project, we decided to match each piano we installed with a certain group we wanted to showcase. Every opening was a musical event. The involved group painted the piano, and there was a concert by a professional musician.… For me, it is a strictly nonprofit venture; it is about doing something beautiful.”

Pacey’s sponsorship groups came from all over Metro Vancouver and included neighborhood kids from a summer camp, seniors with mental disabilities and terminally ill children. “We picked iconic locations that meant something to us,” he explained. “I had a dream to have my instruments everywhere – in a public park, on a lake shore, on a mountain, under the Skytrain, at a music festival.”

He made his dream come true. The pianos with his shop’s mark are standing on Grouse Mountain and under the Skytrain station in Surrey. They offer their black and white keys to anyone who wants to play in Richmond and East Vancouver, Burnaby and Squamish. One of his pianos allows pianists to entertain visitors beside the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.

“I drive through the spots of our pianos and, everywhere, people are playing. It’s amazing,” he said.

To inspire more participants, Pacey organized a video competition. “People play our pianos, film themselves and upload their videos on our website. We’re going to select a winner and award him or her $400 plus an opportunity to play with the Lions Gate Sinfonia.”

For Pacey, the project is a collaboration between the city, the people and the music world, and his pianos are conduits of connection. He drew performers for the opening and closing ceremonies for each instrument from the wide pool of professional piano players. Some of them are his personal friends, others he met through his shop or his several musical charities.

Philanthropy plays an important role in Pacey’s life. He wants to give to the community, so he contributes much to various nonprofits – and not just money or his pianos but his time and energy, too. He sits on the boards of several local organizations, including Lions Gate Sinfonia Orchestra.

His “baby” charity is the Piano Teachers Federation, which he founded in 2009. “I wanted to make it easier for piano teachers and students to find each other, to find the right fit,” he explained.

The database of the federation is extensive and covers many areas of the city. He personally interviewed every teacher member before adding him or her to the database. Some of them played during the opening ceremonies of Support Pianos, and other members will play at the closings.

“Our Facebook page for Support Pianos already has over 1,500 likes,” he said. “And it’s only been since the beginning of July.”

The pianos are going to grace their public locations until the end of September. “We’ll have a closing ceremony for each one,” he said, “before we collect them. If any of the instruments are in good condition, we might reuse them next summer.”

To learn more – and to upload a video submission – check out supportpiano.com.

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

Gena Perala plays Harmony Arts

Gena Perala plays at Harmony Arts Festival on Aug. 3. (photo from Gena Perala)

“Creating songs, writing music and poetry, is its own reward,” said Gena Perala. The young poet and songwriter is still striving to find her niche in the Vancouver poetic community but she knows exactly who she is. “I’m a creative, an artist. I love words,” she said in an interview with the Independent. “I started performing my poems in the Vancouver Poetry Slam but I love music, too. Sometimes, I just write music or sing but I consider myself a writer first.”

Her artistic life began in touring carnivals. “My parents were carnies. My dad ran a bunch of games on the carnival circuit. He traveled year round, only sometimes coming home. My mom, with the kids, stayed home in White Rock during the school years and then, every summer, we would join the carnival and travel with my father. I loved it. There were people from all walks of life and all nations in the carnival. I was exposed to many cultures.”

She is mostly self-taught. “I took some lessons in piano, guitar and voice but, for my poetry, I read a lot. I read classics. I read lots of Russian literature.… You can’t really ‘teach’ writing poetry. There is no formula. I facilitate poetry workshops in high school; have been doing it for the last few years. I’m trying to show teenagers how to express themselves poetically. Of course, there is some structure, some poetic devices, but there are so many ways to write poetry. I help students to access those ways.”

She also leads poetry seminars for young offenders. “A teacher who knew me from my high school poetry workshops asked me to do the same at a correctional facility for teenagers, ages 13 to 17. It’s the same process, and the kids are like any other kids, they just lacked some love in their lives. During the workshops, I try to let them know that they’re valuable, that their thoughts and ideas are interesting.”

Not surprisingly, her poetry often slants towards social themes. A few years ago, she participated in a B.C. poetry competition about the importance of voting – and won it. “I think it’s important to vote,” she said, “especially for us, women. We have only been allowed to vote for the past hundred years or so. We should exercise that right.”

Going from writing and reciting poetry to writing and performing songs was a small and logical leap. While the activity itself is highly rewarding, however, it’s not a lucrative career. “I make money by waitressing,” Perala said with a laugh. “With my songs and poetry, I’m lucky if I break even.”

Lately, she has been touring, and that has helped financially. “I’ve had several tours recently, after I released my album Exactly Nowhere. I performed in Toronto, New York and on the West Coast. Touring is very reassuring for me. When I tour, I’m usually the feature of a concert. I sell out my discs. I connect with people. My songs resonate with them. They come to me after the shows and we talk. Once, I met a group of surfers, young guys, in California. They loved my songs. But, in Vancouver, it’s hard to get exposure. It’s a tough town to get shows here. It’s probably the hardest challenge.”

Perala keeps trying, and she is constantly learning new skills. One of the most fascinating projects for her was the making of her first music video, Living Proof. She expounded on its creation: “I hired a bunch of professionals to help me, but the vision was mine. I wanted to be floating, but to film that would be terribly expensive. The director, Blake Farber, suggested we use a fan and some scarves and ribbons. It came out very well. And I have tons of other ideas. As soon as I scrounge some money….” She smiled. “Fortunately, my fan base is growing.”

Locals might see her this summer playing piano around Vancouver as part of the Keys to the Streets project. “I first learned about a similar project, Street Piano, when I lived in New York,” she said. “They installed 60 pianos in the streets during the summer, and anyone who wanted to play could. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I was walking down a street and, suddenly, there was a piano and a guy was playing it. I stopped and listened. Later, we talked. He was a professional pianist in the past but hadn’t played for awhile; he didn’t have an instrument at home. I didn’t either, so I played it, too.

“Vancouver started a similar project – put 10 pianos in the streets during July and August. I played one last year. I have a keyboard at home now, but that was a real piano. I’m going to do it this year, too. You always meet people there. Some listen, others play. I love people.”

Perala’s next performance will be at the Harmony Arts Festival on Aug. 3, 3 p.m., at Millennium Park in West Vancouver (harmonyarts.ca/gena-perala). To learn more about Perala and her work, visit genaperala.com.

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

Jared Miller: Victoria Symphony composer-in-residence

Jared Miller has been appointed by the Victoria Symphony as its new composer-in-residence (photo from Jared Miller)

Jared Miller has always loved music. “When I was around 3 years old, I would beg my parents every single day to watch the movie Fantasia because I loved the music in it so much,” he told the Independent in an interview from his home in New York, where he has been studying for his doctoral degree at the Juilliard School. “I also loved the animation, but got quite scared whenever the sorcerer appeared on screen. I would hide under a special blanket with holes in it. The blanket would protect me from what seemed like an evil sorcerer, but the holes in it still allowed me to enjoy my favorite movie and music, unscathed.”

Miller still loves music and, today, he is among its creators. Recently, the Victoria Symphony announced his appointment as its new composer-in-residence. According to Miller, the primary function of a composer-in-residence is to compose original pieces of music for the organization that employs him – in his case, the Victoria Symphony – and be a musical emissary to the local community. He is uniquely suited to both aspects of his new appointment.

On the composition front, one of his piano compositions, “Souvenirs d’Europe,” debuted at Carnegie Hall in 2011 and won the 2012 ASCAP Morton Gould Award. It was also used as the required piece for the 2013 Knigge Piano Competition. His orchestral works have been performed by several North America orchestras. And his efforts to promote classical music started before he was in his teens. He has been playing and talking about music at every possible venue, from nursing homes to elementary schools.

“I began playing in care homes when I was about 9 years old, and my grandparents were staying at Louis Brier in Vancouver,” he said. “Initially, I would just play the piano there, while we were visiting my grandparents, to occupy my time. Eventually, I drew a bit of a crowd and got sincere enjoyment out of it. This stopped in 2005, when my grandmother passed away. Then I began playing in care homes again in 2008, when I got a job as an Artsway Ambassador with B.C. Health Arts Society. I tried to keep it interesting by playing a variety of music – from Mozart to my own compositions to 1920s and ’30s pop music.”

During those performances, he spoke to his audience about each piece, inviting their participation. At about the same time, while he was a music student at the University of British Columbia, he widened his activities to encompass groups of schoolchildren.

“I began in 2007 as a post-secondary-music-student ambassador for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s Connects program. For this program, I got to visit a bunch of different elementary schools in the Lower Mainland and teach them about classical music in a manner to which they could relate. One of the modules I taught focused on how music could tell a story. Since then, I have worked with Vancouver Opera in the schools, as well, and with New York’s Opportunity Music Project, which provides underprivileged children in the New York City area with free music instruments, lessons and performance opportunities.”

“I feel incredibly privileged to have been exposed to classical music and to be able to pursue it as a career. It has made my life extraordinary and, in doing musical outreach, I can share this feeling with other people who may not necessarily have access to classical music otherwise.”

For a busy young composer, he invests a great deal of time in outreach programs and he feels strongly in their mission. There are many reasons he participates in these programs. “For one, it’s fun. It allows me to find creative ways to introduce audiences to classical music, which is very satisfying for me,” he said. “I feel incredibly privileged to have been exposed to classical music and to be able to pursue it as a career. It has made my life extraordinary and, in doing musical outreach, I can share this feeling with other people who may not necessarily have access to classical music otherwise.”

He sees his work with the community as a way of introducing the future generation to his beloved art form, and to push back against school budget cuts. Furthermore, by doing the outreach, especially in schools, he might also plant the seeds for classical music’s future audience. Because no matter how much the music profession has evolved throughout the ages, one aspect has remained consistent, he said: “… a composer’s need to self-promote. From Handel, to Beethoven, to Aaron Copland, composers have always had to be rather active about looking out for their own careers. These days, with the plethora of social media outlets, it is easier than ever to do this, albeit more time-consuming.”

Despite his packed schedule, he also finds time for some musically unrelated fun. “I love food,” he admitted. “New York, where I’ve been based for the past four years, is definitely the place to be in this regard (although I do miss Vancouver’s sushi). I love cooking and trying new restaurants. To counter this abundance of calories, I also love running. It’s a great way to see the city and to escape the everyday pace of life.”

After settling in Victoria, with his schooling finally out of the way, he might also try a new hobby or two. “I’m interested in attempting to paint and maybe learn some kind of martial art. Who knows? The sky is the limit.”

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at olgagodim@ gmail.com.

Through blues to happiness with Jill Newman

Jill Newman at Cottage Bistro May 9 singing from her new CD, Lovestruck Blues. (photo by John Endo Greenaway)

Happiness. Perhaps ironically, Jill Newman’s performance at the release party for her latest CD, Lovestruck Blues, exuded happiness. The May 9 show at Cottage Bistro featured bright vocals, skilful (and electric) electric-guitar playing, cheerful interactions with the audience and a playlist of well-written, original songs, many about finding love, but also about losing it – even these, though, exhibit optimism, finding the courage and strength to be on one’s own and true to one’s heart.

Newman’s talents as a songwriter and musician were obvious in her debut recording, Fragile Walls, in 2004. The review in the Independent (“A garden of musical delights,” April 22, 2005) ended with the comment, “It’s been a long road for Newman to reach this creative milestone. Hopefully, it’s the first of many.” A decade later, Lovestruck Blues is another welcome milestone – and there’s nothing fragile about it. It exhibits the confidence and contentment of someone who has, so to speak, come out the other side. As Newman writes in the CD booklet, “It is the story of my journey – of turning my world upside down, taking some risks and being blissfully happy for having done so.”

image - Lovestruck Blues CD cover — *Lovestruck Blues* is Jill Newman’s second CD.

During the period between releases, Newman told the Independent, a lot changed for her personally and musically. “My first CD was the culmination of many years of dreaming of making my own recordings,” she explained. “I was going through a difficult time in my life, including a breakup, so the songs were really all about loss and heartbreak. I had a great producer who took care of almost everything for me, from arranging the songs to organizing and directing the entire recording process.

“Today, I’m in a much better place personally, having just gotten married a few years ago and feeling happy. That does present some challenges for writing the blues – as lately I’ve been writing happy blues songs. I produced Lovestruck Blues myself with support from my engineer, Marc L’Esperance. I made all the final decisions in terms of how I wanted the recording to sound and directed the recording sessions in Seattle and Vancouver. I was not going for a retro sound, but that’s really what comes out. I’ve played in everything from country, punk, blues and even an all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band, so I’m quite eclectic in my approach to music. I’m often told that my music should be in soundtracks for Quentin Tarantino’s films, the less happy songs, that is.

“I’m most at home in front of a live audience rather than in the studio, as I really enjoy the energy and the interaction between the audience and the band,” she added. “I’ve been doing lots of performances and my live shows are definitely stronger than they were 10 years ago. I’ve also been doing quite a bit of vocal work over the past few years. Songwriting is always a challenge, with lots of hours spent struggling with lyrics – I still tend to write the music first or jointly with the words and then fine tune the lyrics.”

Lovestruck Blues includes 10 original songs, one of which – “Too Hard to Handle” – was co-written with Vancouver actor, artist, director, playwright and songwriter Lynna Goldhar Smith.

“I’m originally from Wisconsin, but immigrated to Vancouver Island with my family as a teen. I spent about 25 years living in the Vancouver area, with some brief stints in Washington,” said Newman about her community connections. “I was raised in a secular Jewish household with no religious upbringing, but I identify culturally as Jewish. My most valued connection to the Jewish community was my past involvement with the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. My daughter, Michelle, participated as a young teen in the b’nai mitzvah program, which was a great experience for both of us. I also enjoyed singing in the Jewish Folk Choir and participating in the Peretz programming.

“I’ve worked for Jewish Family Service Agency in Vancouver and in Seattle and participated in advocacy to address poverty in the Jewish community in Vancouver. I combine my work as a professional guitarist, singer and songwriter with my part-time work as a therapist with teens who are struggling with mental health issues. When I have spare time, I enjoy being in the outdoors kayaking or sailing.”

photo - Jill Newman and her daughter, Michelle Baynton, at the Lovestruck Blues CD release — Jill Newman and her daughter, Michelle Baynton, at the *Lovestruck Blues* CD release. *(photo by John Endo Greenaway)*

A woman with many abilities and interests, Newman’s musical path also started somewhere other than where it led.

“I started in music playing classical flute at age 9 and got involved in community symphony and jazz combos as I got older, with a stint studying jazz in college,” she told the Independent. “My first stringed instrument was the banjo, followed by the acoustic guitar and pedal steel [guitar], but when I first plugged in an electric guitar (Stratocaster copy) at age 15, I was totally hooked. I loved the sound and the power of the electric guitar, especially turned up loud with distortion. A friend who’d been in rock bands taught me how to bend the strings properly and I began specializing in playing lead guitar – something very few girls were doing when I was a teen.

“I played constantly and learned everything I could figure out by Heart, Aerosmith, Yes and Led Zeppelin, but I also started writing my own songs and performing in coffeehouses. By my early 20s, I was making a living as a full-time professional guitarist and, other than recovering from a hand injury, I’ve never stopped playing. I feel strongly that we need more female electric guitarist role models and I volunteered as a guitar instructor for Vancouver Girls Rock Camp in 2012.”

And what draws Newman to the blues? “It’s the raw emotion and the simplicity of the music that grabs me,” she said, reiterating, “I’ve had a longstanding love of the electric guitar and, when I first began listening to blues players like Freddie King and Eric Clapton, I was blown away by the expressiveness of their playing. In recent years, I’ve been focusing a lot on slide guitar, which has a range of expression that emulates the human voice and beyond. There’s nothing more soulful than Roy Rogers playing slide guitar on Elmore James’ song ‘The Sky is Crying,’ or almost anything by Ry Cooder or Derek Trucks.”

Part of the fun of the Cottage Bistro CD release party – in which she was accompanied on stage by Loren Etkin on drums and Brian Scott on bass – was the seemingly spontaneous invitation by

Newman for her daughter, Michelle Baynton, and Cecile Larochelle to join her in a couple of the songs they each performed with Newman on Lovestruck Blues.

“One of the things that was the most special about making this new CD,” Newman admitted, “was getting a chance to record with my daughter, Michelle. She’s just finishing her opera degree at UBC and, despite my doing a very different style of music, we get a lovely vocal blend together. Michelle sang background vocals on my songs, ‘Everything Will Change’ and ‘Without You.’”

Newman, along with Etkin and Cameron Hood (bass), will perform next on July 14, 9 p.m., at Guilt & Co., 1 Alexander St., in Vancouver. For other upcoming performances, keep an eye on jillnewman.net, sign up to receive email updates or like the Jill Newman Blues Facebook page.

Creativity at the crossroads for Idan Raichel

Idan Raichel performs for one night only at the Vogue Theatre on May 12. (photo by Eldad Rafaeli)

Vancouver audiences are in for a treat next month when Israeli musician and uber-producer Idan Raichel together with the ensemble of international musicians that comprise the Idan Raichel Project perform for one night only at the Vogue Theatre on May 12.

The IRP’s unique sound – a blend of African, Middle Eastern, Indian and Latin American rhythms and instruments, is familiar to Vancouver audiences. Their three previous tour stops here – also presented by the Chutzpah! Festival – were sold out well in advance. This time, in addition to old favorites, audiences will be treated to some songs from Raichel’s latest and most successful album to date, A Quarter to Six, released in late 2013 to enthusiastic reviews from music critics and fans, sky-rocketing to double-platinum status within two months of its release.

The album’s title, taken from a work by Israeli dramatist Yossi Banai, refers to the twilight hour, a time of transition from day to night. “This is a very special time in Israel, the change of the day … you can think about what has happened up until now, also what could happen,” explained Raichel, who spoke with the Jewish Independent from his home in Tel Aviv. “The hour of the day that is like the crossroads in life…. After 10 years with the Project, I feel we have reached this time … of change, a transition, both musically and personally.

“A Quarter to Six [is] a kind of closure,” mused the artist. “It speaks about the crossroads we have in life. I don’t know if it’s age, or different perspectives, but we all have it about life … it doesn’t have to be a matter of age, you can feel this crossroads when you are 15 or 50.”

More than a collection of songs, the album is what Raichel terms “a complete piece of art,” as it includes a booklet of small paintings that he has been working on for the past two years. This album “is a big musical journey – inside my life spiritually and outside, touring and collaborating with [musicians] from Germany, Portugal, Columbia. The thing that touches me the most is that people see each song fits … [it’s] part of a story and they are listening from start to finish, writing comments about the booklet.” The songs are “not just singles,” he continued. “Every song is a script in a movie, every scene is singing about the situation that he or she is in. At concerts, I see kids and their parents, grandparents with kids coming, it’s reaching a wide audience…. The first time this is a full album that goes deeply into the theme of crossroads in life.”

While the format of this album differs from previous recordings, what hasn’t changed is Raichel’s unique sound, created in part by the collaboration with international musicians. A Quarter to Six brings together an eclectic mix of voices, languages and musical disciplines with guest artists that include German counter tenor Andreas Scholl, Colombia’s Marta Gómez, Portuguese fado star Ana Moura, Arab-Israeli singer/songwriter Mira Awad, Malian singer and guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, and a selection of some of Israel’s top up-and-coming singers and musicians. Raichel wrote all the melodies and lyrics but collaborated with each artist, allowing them to interpret and adapt their song to their own personal style.

This latest record is a very personal album – mirroring the very real crossroads that Raichel faces at this stage of his life and career. The 36-year-old recently settled down with his steady girlfriend, became a father and – in a move that elicited some very strong reactions from fans across the world – cut off his trademark dreadlocks. Raichel agreed that in retrospect the album foreshadowed his own transition into adulthood.

image - A Quarter to Six cover — *A Quarter to Six* was released in late 2013 to enthusiastic reviews from music critics and fans, sky-rocketing to double-platinum status within two months of its release.

“Is it personal? When I wrote the album, I still had my dreadlocks, I was on and off in my relationship with my lady but somewhere inside I knew it was time to make decisions, to change things. I knew … I have to shave my dreadlocks after 14 years, I knew we were on and off but I knew I wanted her to be the mother of my kids.… Later on, it was natural. One month after the album was released, we knew that we were pregnant, things were happening.”

Having a child has opened Raichel up to a whole new world. Having a baby “gives me such a perspective about life…. I just enjoy this miracle, see how she develops and discovers new things every day…. It opens my appetite for more young creatures, maybe another nine or so. I wish!” But Raichel and his Austrian girlfriend, Damaris, are not planning on adding to their brood just yet. Their baby girl, Philipa Helena Damaris Raichel, remains with her mom in Israel while Raichel is on the road. “Damaris and the baby won’t tour with me…. I think it’s good to separate things. On the road, everyone has stuff to do. I don’t want them to feel forced to have to wake up early or, you know, to see the concerts every night.”

IRP’s blend of international musicians and sounds has put it at the forefront of the world music scene. In addition to that, Raichel calls the Project’s music “the soundtrack of Israel,” adding that the group plays the role of cultural ambassador for Israel. “The definition of world-music artist can change from one time to another, but world-music artists bring the soundtrack of where they come from. For example, Bob Marley is the voice of Jamaica; Edith Piaf, the voice of France; or like Miriam Makeba is the voice of South Africa. We feel honored when people describe our music as the soundtrack of Israel. If people don’t know anything about our country but can remember our music … especially people from conflict regions, then they see the other side of our culture.“

The past year has been a banner one for Raichel, who performed privately for Barack Obama during his state visit to Israel, appeared with French superstar Patrick Bruel and was awarded ACUM’s Composer of the Year 2013. To top it off, the popular Israeli entertainment magazine Pnai Plus named Raichel “Man of the Year.” Far from finding this flattering, the title made the unexpectedly humble musician feel uncomfortable. “Well, I was speechless then, and I’m speechless now,” he said. “In such a crazy country like ours, with so much happening every day, even every half day … how weird it [is] to get this recognition. I think a better Man of the Year would be … there is the story of one of the army commanders, he lost his two hands in an explosion and, a few months after that, he came back to the army to lead [his soldiers] again.” He added, “Just the struggle, even if it wasn’t an army, even if it was a soccer team … I don’t know, to see the power of good will, how strong you can be facing such trauma, how you can not give up to depression or pain or disappointment, that was an inspiration, I guess.”

Raichel said there is “a lot of good music coming from the Israeli music scene” nowadays. “It’s becoming more and more open to sounds from all over. Back in the day, you would hear less of the Yemenite roots, Middle Eastern influences,” it was “mostly Ashkenazi music.” And while he enthused about Israel’s modern musicians, mentioning DJ Avishai Cohen and Yemen Blues in particular, he still enjoys the music of Arik Einstein and Shoshana Damari. “Now, there are so many more radio stations, for more artists. Today, you hear music that more reflects the sound of the Israeli melting pot.”

Chutzpah! Festival artistic managing director Mary-Louise Albert said audiences are in for a whole new experience at the May 12 concert. “I have brought Idan back because it builds his audience here in Vancouver and I’m committed to supporting many artists beyond just presenting them one time. Artists develop and grow, so audiences get to experience this growth also when an artist performs multiple times.” With its 10-member ensemble (the largest of IRP’s Chutzpah! engagements), Albert said the Vogue Theatre is the perfect showcase for this high-energy, “plugged-in” event. “Vancouver audiences have not experienced this show before,” she said.

Opening for IRP is Vancouver’s Babe Gurr, who will showcase songs from her current album, SideDish, a unique blend of world music and her own roots style that has earned Gurr glowing reviews and a strong following.

Nicole Nozick is a Vancouver-based freelance writer and communications specialist.