{"id":136,"date":"2014-02-28T01:23:05","date_gmt":"2014-02-28T09:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ji.bouncemedia.ca\/?p=136"},"modified":"2014-04-27T14:22:51","modified_gmt":"2014-04-27T21:22:51","slug":"dudu-tassa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2014\/02\/28\/dudu-tassa\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraq \u2018n\u2019 roll at FanClub"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dudu Tassa & the Kuwaitis will play at Vancouver FanClub on March 9. (photo from Chutzpah!)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The 2012 Vancouver Jewish Film Festival brought Dudu Tassa to local audiences \u2013 on film. The 2014 Chutzpah! Festival is bringing Tassa to the city again \u2013 in person.<\/p>\n

Dudu Tassa & the Kuwaitis will play at Vancouver FanClub on March 9. Tassa, on vocals and guitar, will be joined by Nir Maimon (bass guitar), Neta Shani Cohen (cello), Eyal Yonati (computer), Barak Kram (drums) and Ariel Qasus (qanun). They will perform \u201cIraq \u2019n\u2019 roll\u201d \u2013 not coincidentally the name of the documentary that screened at VJFF.<\/p>\n

Gili Gaon\u2019s film Iraq \u2019n\u2019 Roll<\/i> followed Tassa as the rock musician\/composer reconnected to his musical roots: specifically, as he gathered information about his grandfather and great-uncle, Daoud and Saleh al-Kuwaiti, respectively, who were famous musicians in Iraq in the 1930s. When they emigrated to Israel in the 1950s, they were unable to make a living as musicians and their music was all but forgotten. That is, until Tassa set about discovering more about his cultural heritage.<\/p>\n

In addition to the film, Tassa\u2019s 2011 release \u2013 Dudu Tassa and the al-Kuwaitis<\/i> \u2013 reinterprets the al-Kuwaiti brothers\u2019 work in a contemporary context. On the album, Tassa \u201csings their songs in Arabic and Hebrew, and integrates Iraqi, Middle Eastern and Israeli rock music.\u201d The album features archival materials from the Kuwaitis and \u201cintegrates a variety of styles and guests, among them Yehudit Ravitz and Barry Sakharov. Tassa\u2019s mother and Yair Dalal also take part in this exciting project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tassa grew up in Ramat Hasharon, in central Israel, close to Tel Aviv. \u201cI started out by playing the guitar and singing at a young age,\u201d he told the Independent<\/i> in an e-mail interview. \u201cI was noticed, and realized that this was what I wanted to do in my life and went in that direction. Growing up, my musical taste changed but, in my heart, I will always be a rocker. At home, my mum listened to mostly Arabic music when my dad was out of the house. The general idea was to become \u2018Israeli\u2019 and to listen to Hebrew music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tassa put out his first album when he was only 13 years old. He described the genre of the music on that recording as \u201cmore oriental singing. I then turned towards rock and, by 2000, I was a singer\/songwriter. I joined many productions and became a requested guitar player. I played for many years on a famous TV show with a comedian \u2013 that\u2019s how I earned the money to finance my own material.\u201d<\/p>\n

His second album came out in 2000 and his third, Out of Choice<\/i> in 2003, includes a version of \u201cFug el-Nahal,\u201d which his grandfather and great-uncle used to perform; the song also appears on Tassa\u2019s 2004 album Exactly on Time<\/i>. While the al-Kuwaiti brothers did not write the song, they performed it, and the song represents Tassa\u2019s first foray into interpreting and performing that type of music, sung in Arabic.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cMy grandfather and his brother, Daoud and Saleh al-Kuwaiti, were great composers coming from Kuwait to Iraq. They composed many songs, which spread in popularity throughout the entire Middle East. The sultan in Iraq in the \u201940s appointed them to start the National Broadcasting Orchestra and they composed, played and recorded for many years, until they emigrated to Israel in the \u201950s.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMy grandfather and his brother, Daoud and Saleh al-Kuwaiti, were great composers coming from Kuwait to Iraq,\u201d explained Tassa of what he discovered in his research. \u201cThey composed many songs, which spread in popularity throughout the entire Middle East. The sultan in Iraq in the \u201940s appointed them to start the National Broadcasting Orchestra and they composed, played and recorded for many years, until they emigrated to Israel in the \u201950s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am named after my grandfather Daoud (David); Dudu is a short name for David,\u201d he added. \u201cMy grandfather died just when my mum was pregnant with me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had always heard of my grandparents and the dark side of it was that, when arriving to Israel, they had to make their living out of other things and could not support themselves with music. I was aware of it always, but didn\u2019t deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has since dealt with it, of course, and he is continuing his family\u2019s musical legacy with his current work. About that, he said, \u201cIn a way, I guess, it keeps their names alive. In Iraq during Saddam Hussein\u2019s period, the composers\u2019 names were deleted on all the compositions (because of their Jewish heritage), and now the world again recognizes them. Also in Iraq, a few years ago, Iraqi musicologists on TV recognized the Kuwaitis to be the most important composers of modern Iraqi music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tassa is also a record producer, he has composed music for film and TV, and has even tried his hand at acting, which was \u201ca truly new experience\u201d for him \u2013 he played a Syrian prisoner in Samuel Maoz\u2019s 2009 film Lebanon<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am currently working on a new album,\u201d he said, sharing with the Independent <\/i>that he still gets \u201cexcited each time before the release … like a child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dudu Tassa & the Kuwaitis\u2019 appearance at the Chutzpah! Festival is the first of a tour. \u201cWe continue to New York \u2013 the Jewish Heritage Museum, where they also have an interesting exhibition on Iraqi Jewry \u2013 then to Boston, South by Southwest showcases in Austin and, finally, San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n

About how musical performance has changed since his grandfather and great-uncle took to the stage, Tassa said, \u201cThe fact that we can use the computer, and involve recordings inside a live performance, does change a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for the audience, I think they will judge good music and bad music so, in that sense, maybe nothing has changed. As a matter of performance, it\u2019s the same. Either you\u2019ve got it on stage or not. I think that although we try to impress [people] with great lights and sounds, it all comes down to if the listener is moved or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vancouver FanClub is at 1050 Granville St. The March 9 show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets ($25\/$30 plus taxes and fees) are available at chutzpahfestival.com<\/a>, as is the full festival schedule.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dudu Tassa & the Kuwaitis will play at Vancouver FanClub on March 9. (photo from Chutzpah!) The 2012 Vancouver Jewish Film Festival brought Dudu Tassa to local audiences \u2013 on film. The 2014 Chutzpah! Festival is bringing Tassa to the city again \u2013 in person. Dudu Tassa & the Kuwaitis will play at Vancouver FanClub […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[788],"tags":[31,30,33,32],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-chutzpah","tag-dudu-tassa","tag-fanclub","tag-kuwaitis"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}