Culture In Israel

From Elvis to the remix- “The Annals of Music” class provides lectures from famous lecturers about unique artists, genres, phenomenons and the evolution of contemporary music.

For the last three years “Gordon 17″ café” (the former “Tam café”) host every Monday “annals of the music class”. In exchange for symbolic price of 10 shekels, the participants invited to hear lecturers from Yehuda Nuriel who gave lecture about cinema journey towards the evolution of electronic music or Eran Sabag on the Grateful Dead.

Behind these great meetings stands Yashiv Cohen, DJ and a musical editor, who wanted to create a home like gathering. Most of those who attend these “classes” are young people that want to expand their knowledge, not necessarily like these that search a social frame.

Over the years, guest’s lecturers, that came in as part of the audience and later have requested to carry their lectures, and alongside them musicians like Hemi Rudner, Sharon Ben Ezer and reporters like Ari Ketorza, Niv Hadas & Eran Sabag. The list of the subjects, that is unlimited, included as of this date lectures on Blues, Punk and Pop, creation of bands like ” Kraftwerk”, “Grateful Dead” and lectures, part of them accompany in the segments of movies, on Rock n` roll in the cinema and even place the Jews in the rock music. The lecture about Nick Drake was accompanied by a performance of Amit Erez.

Recently, the group established “The Soul Club” in the “Mersand Café” with the same idea (plus parties…).

So everybody can join and take a break from the week routine with a beer and good music. Details for the next lectures one can get by sending an e-mail to tasoulclub@yahoo.com

 

Tom Waits released a special 3 CDs compilation call Orphans. Ya`ll probably ask your self, what does Tom Waits got to do with Israel.

Well, inside this album we can find a song about the whole Palestinians- Israel conflict to his eyes. Waits judge every side on this conflict: US, Israel and the Palestinians, no one is clear to his view…

You can hear the song and read the lyrics below. take a minute and think about it.

Tom Waits: Road to Peace [from the Orphans compilation]

Young Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay) was only 18 years old,
He was the youngest of nine children, never spent a night away from home.
And his mother held his photograph, opening the New York Times
To see the killing has intensified along the road to peaceThere was a tall, thin boy with a whispy moustache disguised as an orthodox Jew
On a crowded bus in Jerusalem, some had survived World War Two
And the thunderous explosion blew out windows 200 yards away
With more retribution and seventeen dead along the road to peaceNow at King George Ave and Jaffa Road passengers boarded bus 14a
In the aisle next to the driver Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay)
And the last thing that he said on earth is “God is great and God is good”
And he blew them all to kingdom come upon the road to peace

Barby, January is just around the corner and cold winds blows in the southern part of the city. I`m breezing into the bar waiting for Boom Pam to warm up the air with pretty girls dancin` the Balkan-Gypsy music…

As the story goes, Dick Dale helped invent surf music by borrowing from traditional Middle Eastern melodies thanks to his Lebanese dad. Like the fusion between greek songs and 60s rock of New York Rock & Roll Ensemble, Boom Pam, located down the coast in Tel Aviv, help bring it all back around, combining their love of surf with Eastern European as well as Mediterranean styles and creating a unique new stew.

So after this short intro… lets get back to the Barby scene- crowded with free spirit young adults warming up the atmosphere, the band begin to play….and it takes three tunes to notice that Boom Pam is currently doing the hottest, most interesting and refreshing thing in Israel. There isn’t a moment’s rest. The beat (and the off-beat) is so exciting that it makes one to shake….and everybody shake, you just automatically move your feet. Despite the crowdedness of the venue, everyone starts moving, screaming, dancing, jumping and letting the body and heart go wild from the very first note. 

Uri Kinrot and Uzi Feinerman, the two guitar players, are super instrumentalists. During the show they correspond with each other, continuing each other’s lines and playing in the most exciting virtuosity you can find around. The killer ace in the hole for Boom Pam is a slightly unexpected instrument — tuba, which can get a bad rap for its ungainly size and association with bad high-school marching bands. But Yuval “Tuby” Zolotov rocks on that thing, providing the hyperspeed basslines and warmth that drummer Dudu Kohav matches

Although it sounds like a circus, their music is so tight and precise it doesn’t leave a chance to get lost. It captures you immediately and makes you surrender to it without condition s

The show evolves quickly- beginning at the peak and climbing up from there. The crowd, which is definitely the fifth member of the band, responds to every beat, every jump and every dance move of the band members

One song aside, all the tunes are originals. while specific lyrics are the exception rather than the rule, the singing on songs like “Khatul and Khautla” and the saucy “Let Me Touch” is strong and vibrant, suiting the music. Some moments are so great that to describe them removes the charm, but hearing things like the crystalline guitar breaks on “Souvlaki” and the brawling tuba kick on “Dalida” is just wondrous. Smoother song like “Love Song” cut back the tempos for an equally good time for the slow dance…     

     

 

The hit “Boom Pam”, with which they end the show, becomes a huge celebration. Tuby literally sings his part on the tuba. Kinrot and Feinerman surround him, making love with their guitars…

Boom Pam is here, it`s Israel and the middle east and it fills the chest with great pride, it makes you smile with a mouth full of white teeth and alcohol scented breath. The feeling after the show is like coming out from a super turbo washing machine- after the final spin they spit you out into the cold air to dry off, relax and dream sweet dreams of far off places

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Mashina have a New Single!

 the Israeli veteran rock band, is here to stay. since 1983 they are on the road with their constant changing sound, the ups and downs. Their debut album was a smash hit back in 1985 but than their second and third albums become a flop….in 1989 they came out with two new songs that became an instant hits and a compilation album that brought them back to the main stage.

Over the years mashina kept on growing to become the largest band in israeli rock history.

In May 1995 the band announced their retirement and put together four heavily-publicized farewell shows. What would have been their fourth and final performance, in Arad, Israel, ended tragically when three of the spectators were crushed to death by the crowd before the band went on stage. The band played another farewell concert several months later at The Yarqon Park, which they dedicated to the three deceased fans. The band re-formed in 2003 with a huge sell-out shows. they released their weakest album last year and for many fans they seem to lost their way.

But no one can do better comebacks better than Mashina…their new song, Ani Tzohek Itakh (”I`m joking with you”), is their best since 1995. A fresh brit-pop sound, as they had back in the “Madness days” but this time it`s more like Coldplay or Keane (the opener reminds the song “Simple Things” by Keane), but in general they are back !

Mashina is also back on touring. so if you are here in Israel, experience the “all-stars” of israeli rock.

to hear the new song- go to their MySpace site here