{"id":28333,"date":"2018-03-30T03:59:48","date_gmt":"2018-03-30T10:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=28333"},"modified":"2018-03-29T21:36:51","modified_gmt":"2018-03-30T04:36:51","slug":"yom-haatzmaut-love-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/03\/30\/yom-haatzmaut-love-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut love, spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shlomi Shaban will be joined by Ninet Tayeb (right) at Metro Vancouver\u2019s celebration of Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut on April 18 at the Chan Centre. (photo from Jewish Federation)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Two award-winning veteran musicians, not to mention good and longtime friends, will be headlining our community\u2019s Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut celebration on April 18 at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. Tel Aviv\u2019s Shlomi Shaban will be joined by Los Angeles-based Ninet Tayeb.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have performed once outside the country on Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut,\u201d Shaban told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cIt was Israel\u2019s 60th anniversary. It was in Stockholm, Sweden. A lot of musicians and myself traveled over there, like Beri Sacharov, Eran Tzur and many others. We had a great show over there. But, beside that, I can\u2019t remember performing outside Israel on Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut, mostly I\u2019m here in Israel, performing across the country or just being with my family, it depends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been to Canada before, so, naturally, I\u2019m very, very excited,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve heard a lot of really great things about Vancouver and I\u2019m really looking forward to just hang there, travel around and explore the place, although we\u2019re going to be there for too short [a time] I\u2019m afraid, two days, but I hope to catch as much as I can.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember my friends Jane Bordeaux performing there last year,\u201d he added, \u201cand they came back really excited about the crowd and the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaban was born in Tel Aviv and has lived there his whole life, except for a few years, when he was in London, England, to study classical piano. \u201cI\u2019m in love with Tel Aviv,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Like Tel Aviv, music has always been a part of Shaban\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started learning how to play the piano when I was 6 years old,\u201d he said. \u201cI started privately, like a lot of kids. Then I went to a conservatory, and studied there for 10 years. And then, in London \u2026 I received an artist\u2019s diploma from the Royal College of Music. I\u2019m very proud of that, though I haven\u2019t looked at that diploma since I got it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wrote little songs, since I was 10, I think, and always considered that as kind of a hobby, or kind of an intermission \u2013 I was practising a lot of piano, five hours a day, six hours a day, and more and more, and I always saw that as kind of a comic relief from practising\u2026. When I was 21, I started thinking, maybe I went the wrong direction, so to speak, and the little hobby that I considered to be a comic relief, might be my main interest, and tried to publish my songs. I was very lucky, I was signed by a major label, here in Israel, of course, and faded away from the classical world, and never went back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaban now has four albums under his belt, and has won several awards for his work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of career highlights,\u201d he said, \u201cI would mention two. As I said, I left the classical world but, five years ago, or six years ago, I was approached by the Israel Philharmonic. They celebrated their 75th year, and they asked me to do a concert of my music, my songs, with the orchestra.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great closure for me because, when I was 17, I played with the orchestra as a classical pianist with Maestro Zubin Mehta. I was a kid, so, naturally, very excited and very nervous, and now I came back through the main door with my own songs. It was another exciting and, again, nerve-wracking in a way, event for me. I had to practise piano again because I played my own songs and a little classical music we mixed throughout the songs. That was definitely a highlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cNowadays, I\u2019m touring with Chava Alberstein,\u201d he continued. \u201cShe\u2019s Israel\u2019s, let\u2019s say, Edith Piaf. I don\u2019t know. She\u2019s Chava Alberstein \u2013 she has more than 60 albums. I recorded a song with her four years ago, and asked her to consider touring with me and being her pianist \u2013 just me and her, she sings and I play\u2026. We planned to do four or five shows, and now the tour has evolved and it\u2019s sold out, and we are adding more and more shows. I sing only one song during the show, the song that I wrote for her\u2026. It\u2019s a great, great pleasure for me and I learn so much and enjoy so much doing it. So, that\u2019s another big highlight for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaban has been inspired by many musicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve covered many artists, Israelis and non-Israelis,\u201d he said. \u201cMostly, I tend to cover storytelling songs, people like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen \u2026 I\u2019m going to play a few songs by him in the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was trained as a classical musician and, when I left it and began hearing popular music, in a weird way, my heart went to very simple music, very text-based music, people, as I say, Dylan and Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Lou Reed, all that gang. And, during the years, they have remained my main love and inspiration, but I have listened to a lot of other music \u2013 new music, old music, jazz. I love jazz pianists and composers, people like [Thelonious] Monk \u2026 Miles Davis, and many, many others. I\u2019m not interested in a specific genre, just getting as much inspiration as I can from different genres. But, as I said, my main interest always was the lyrics, funnily enough, and the story that the song conveys, and that hasn\u2019t changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of his creative evolution, however, Shaban has been focusing more on the music. He described his early composing as \u201cvery functional,\u201d something he used mainly to help the story to come across. \u201cNowadays,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019m writing more rich music. I think, in that way, I\u2019m heading backwards to the classical time and thriving on inspiration from all kinds of music, and not just folk music or rock music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Ninet Tayeb (photo from Jewish Federation)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shaban is excited to be performing in Vancouver with Tayeb, who he described as \u201cone of the best singers I have ever heard.\u201d He added, \u201cShe\u2019s a great friend of mine, so that\u2019s another bonus, meeting her in Canada \u2013 she\u2019s in L.A. now and I rarely see her, so I\u2019m looking forward to that, and meeting you all.\u201d<\/p>\n

For her part, Tayeb has recorded five albums and, like Shaban, has been recognized numerous times for her work. Also like Shaban, music has been a lifelong passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic has been my life ever since I was a little girl,\u201d she told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cI started writing my own music at the age of 23. To be able to express myself through music is the most amazing gift I could have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tayeb said, \u201cMy style is a mixture between Israel, L.A., Berlin and New York, kind of a Middle Eastern rock \u2019n\u2019 roll with a slight hint of electronic. Music keeps evolving all the time and so do I \u2013 thank God! \u2013 and, for me, the most important thing is to keep moving forward and keep my mind open.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was this drive to continually enrich her knowledge and creative spirit that took her to Los Angeles, she said. She moved there from Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

On Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut, said Tayeb, \u201cThe show will be me singing with Shlomi and Shlomi will sing alone, as well. One thing I can promise you \u2013 the show will be full of love and true spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

For tickets ($18) to the April 18, 7:30 p.m., concert at the Chan Centre, visit jewishvancouver.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shlomi Shaban will be joined by Ninet Tayeb (right) at Metro Vancouver\u2019s celebration of Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut on April 18 at the Chan Centre. (photo from Jewish Federation) Two award-winning veteran musicians, not to mention good and longtime friends, will be headlining our community\u2019s Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut celebration on April 18 at the Chan Centre for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[788],"tags":[4330,3649,7794,7793,762],"class_list":["post-28333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-israel","tag-jewish-federation","tag-ninet-tayeb","tag-shlomi-shaban","tag-yom-haatzmaut"],"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\/28333","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=28333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}