Music and Text
The traditional songs were brought to me by Odelya Dahan Kahila as mere melodies. I added harmony, and arranged them into expanded forms with windows for solos. Traditionally, the texts were sung primarily by women, and the topics are mainly love and marriage. But a closer reading reveals a complex view of these themes, at times suggesting an almost subversive attitude.
Solika, jazz fantasies on Ladino songs for ten-piece ensemble
Solika
Odelia Dahan – vocals
Yaron Mohar – Alto saxophone
Atcha Bar – Electric and acoustic guitars
Ittai Rosenbaum – Piano
Guy Levi – Double-bass
Udi Shlomo – Drums
Chen Shenhar – 1st violin
Nitzan Canetti – 2nd violin
Noam Haimovitz – viola
Linor Katz – cello
Donula
Odelia Dahan – vocals
Yaron Mohar – Alto saxophone
Atcha Bar – Electric and acoustic guitars
Ittai Rosenbaum – Piano
Guy Levi – Double-bass
Aviv Cohen – Drums
Assaf Maoz – 1st violin
Sharon Cohen – 2nd violin
Galya Hai – viola
Maya Belzitsman – cello
Ah, sinyora novia
Odelia Dahan – vocal
Atcha Bar – guitar
Yaron Mohar – alto saxophone
Ittai Rosenbaum – piano
Assaf Hakimi – bass
Danny Danor – drums
Hilla Lifshitz – 1st violin
Gilad Rivkin – 2nd violin
Willie Zeikin – viola
Bernice keshet – cello
Omri Barel – photographer
Shami Dobkin – video editor
Between Waters and Waters
The work is a ten-movement suite for ensemble and narrator, a collaborated creation of the poet Liat Kaplan and the composer Ittai Rosenbaum. It is a hard cover book with two CDs: a Hebrew version in and an English version, translated by Vivian Eden.
Between Waters and Waters was created in 2000-2002 in a unique process in which both text and music were created together, in the same room and at the same time. The work originated from blank sheets: general images and impressions of water have led to conversations, writing and mutual presentations of the newly created material. The drafts have mutually influenced poet and musician, and the work was built as one fabric, in one space, at once.
The text wanders in musical zones of textual textures and so its path differs from that of the common poetry: it lacks the "I". It is not a biographic text or an emotional or intellectual confession in the usual sense. Between Waters and Waters is an experiment in unraveling the limits of words, reaching to their abstract districts.
Photo by Adi Segal
The music was initially composed intuitively, aiming towards immediate associations of images and text. Only later in the process was the structure consolidated.
The style, musical colors and orchestration are a blend of many influences: from the roots of 20th century concert music, through jazz-like textures to influence of popular and commercial music.
The piece applies impressions of water and its main significance is the flow between waters and waters: creation, birth, coming into being, consolidation and dissolution, life and movement; matter and abyss, absence of water and different states of the concept of water in the spirit. It is the wandering of the artists' consciousness and the listener's odyssey in the semantic spheres, between myth and immense spaces to the intimate, introvert and even regions of scant existence.
The production of the album took place during August 2008 to September 2009, and released by PRÆSENTEM label.
Photos by Adi Segal
Karl Smith Nitrates
Aiden Mckee, timpani, voice
Charles Bukowski Four Poems
Joshua Lanam, tenor Faith Lanam, marimba, vibraphone
Sylvia Plath Six Poems
Ensemble Nova
Elizabeth Baseman, soprano
Rachel Rush, alto
Shane Liliedahl, tenor
Mary Hargrove, flute
John Sackett, clarinet & bass clarinet
Aiden McKee, percussion
Roy Malan, violin
Polly Malan, viola
Nancy Kim, cello
Richard Duke, bass