(no subject)
I went to an Idan Raichel concert at the Beacon Theater on Tuesday. Crowd was like 120% Israeli and much of the rest of the crowd was Orthodox Upper West Siders. It was kind of delightful to be at a concert with a crowd like that, to not feel like a little bit of an outsider as the only guy in a yarmulke at the rock show.
Ostensibly the show was a stripped down Raichel and his Piano concert, and he did some excellent, fascinating solo interpretations of a number of his songs. Always he did something interesting with his piano ornamentation, something more than just a simple base to sit below his singing. Always he had deliberate, purposeful variations in vocal phrasing compared to the recorded version. These were essentially interesting new songs, not gimmicky 'soulful' versions of the songs. Mournful songs of loss were reinterpreted at a slight, ironic remove. Yalda Sheli K'tana, a song commemorating the birth of his now four year old daughter, got an added, completely adorable accompaniment from a toy xylophone that he claims is one of his daughter's toys. It was particularly great, and in a certain sense gratifying, to hear the whimsical humor brought out in his solo rendition of "Ma'agalim", the song I vidded for Club Vivid two years ago. It's a song whose sensitive, poetic lyrics are not quite serious, constructed in service to a larger joke, and the piano version highlighted the musicality in the lyrics, the lilt of the repetition of sounds.
And then, of course, to nobody's surprise, the show was not purely a solo show. Raichel's music is all about collaboration and community and musical friendship. One of his greatest gifts as a pianist is making other musicians sound better, and another is his astonishing ability to listen to other musicians and really hear what they're trying to do. He was joined at various points by Malian kora player Yacouba Sissoko, Palestinian qanoun player Ali Amr, Cuban singer Danay Suarez, and an Indian singer and Iranian musician playing a bowed string instrument whose names I didn't catch. The top highlight of the show was a trio of Raichel, Ali Amr, and the Iranian musician doing a wild, ecstatic version of Raichel's hit "Bo'ee".
And in so many wonderful ways, the show was Raichel in a nutshell. There was singing in at least four different languages, probably more. In between songs he was hyper and cracking lazy, stupid anti-jokes: "People have complained to me that I don't explain my songs enough in between songs. The last song I just sang, I think it's important to say... was in Hebrew. That's what I wanted to say."
This entry was originally posted at https://seekingferret.dreamwidth.org/241153.html. Please comment there using OpenID. There are
comments.
Ostensibly the show was a stripped down Raichel and his Piano concert, and he did some excellent, fascinating solo interpretations of a number of his songs. Always he did something interesting with his piano ornamentation, something more than just a simple base to sit below his singing. Always he had deliberate, purposeful variations in vocal phrasing compared to the recorded version. These were essentially interesting new songs, not gimmicky 'soulful' versions of the songs. Mournful songs of loss were reinterpreted at a slight, ironic remove. Yalda Sheli K'tana, a song commemorating the birth of his now four year old daughter, got an added, completely adorable accompaniment from a toy xylophone that he claims is one of his daughter's toys. It was particularly great, and in a certain sense gratifying, to hear the whimsical humor brought out in his solo rendition of "Ma'agalim", the song I vidded for Club Vivid two years ago. It's a song whose sensitive, poetic lyrics are not quite serious, constructed in service to a larger joke, and the piano version highlighted the musicality in the lyrics, the lilt of the repetition of sounds.
And then, of course, to nobody's surprise, the show was not purely a solo show. Raichel's music is all about collaboration and community and musical friendship. One of his greatest gifts as a pianist is making other musicians sound better, and another is his astonishing ability to listen to other musicians and really hear what they're trying to do. He was joined at various points by Malian kora player Yacouba Sissoko, Palestinian qanoun player Ali Amr, Cuban singer Danay Suarez, and an Indian singer and Iranian musician playing a bowed string instrument whose names I didn't catch. The top highlight of the show was a trio of Raichel, Ali Amr, and the Iranian musician doing a wild, ecstatic version of Raichel's hit "Bo'ee".
And in so many wonderful ways, the show was Raichel in a nutshell. There was singing in at least four different languages, probably more. In between songs he was hyper and cracking lazy, stupid anti-jokes: "People have complained to me that I don't explain my songs enough in between songs. The last song I just sang, I think it's important to say... was in Hebrew. That's what I wanted to say."
This entry was originally posted at https://seekingferret.dreamwidth.org/241153.html. Please comment there using OpenID. There are
comments.