CD REVIEW:

fROOTS December 2003

SCHALOM-BAKHSHAYESH

Shpil Klezmerl - Ethnomusic ETM01
The ever-growing global Yiddish music scene is mature and self-confident enough these days to embrace genres and sub-genres that would have been considered incomprehensible 15 years ago. While the traditional repertoire is far from exhausted, the success of the once nascent scene has enabled its focus to move on: it is now just as much about deconstruction and reassertion as it is about preservation and education.
Guy Schalom and Jilah Bakhshayesh are two British musicians who have eschewed the honeyed US-driven jazz harmony approach of the 90s, for a more direct, unaffected sound. Their simple violin and drum/percussion arrangements with no overdubs recall the brusque energy of Macedonian or Turkish gypsy zurna and tapan bands - bursts of raw melody and rhythm without any harmony to soften the effect.
The playing and singing is assured: by turns feisty and sensitive, and a few Sephardic and Bukhari songs make for a welcome addition to the more standard klezmer repertoire. The violin is high in the mix, and the sparseness of the instrumentation can feel a little uncompromising at times, but in terms of spirit and judgement of feeling, the recording is absolutely spot on.
The high point is undoubtedly their rendition of the Ladino classic Los Bilbilicos (The Nightingales), delicately arranged and quite beautifully sung. The Early Music brigade who insist on approaching the Sephardic repertoire with a Renaissance-era viola da gamba would be advised to take note.
Lemez Lovas

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