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Note that the latest stuff may not yet be indexed. George Robinson, GRComm@ concentric.net writes for the Jewish Week. His book, "Essential Judaism," was published in hardcover by Pocket Books, March 2000. You can find out more at his website. Articles by George Robinson, available on the KlezmerShack, are: 2004 Chanukah Roundup, by George Robinson, sent 2 Dec 2004. The Year's Best: the annual "best of" column, by George Robinson, sent 25 Nov 2002. A Religious Experience: A roundup of recent Jewish liturgical music, by George Robinson, sent 26 Aug 2002. More Than Klezmer: A sampler of Yiddish vaudeville, folk music and even art song, sent 9 Aug 2002. Spring Sephardic Music Roundup, send 3 May 2002. The Spring Roundup, part 1, sent 9 Mar 2002. The Spring Roundup, part 2, sent 9 Mar 2002. The Best of 2001 - Hanukah suggestions, sent 7 Dec 2001. Isaac Stern: Beyond the Fiddle to the Heart of a Man, sent out 5 Oct 2001. Sounds for the Jewish New Year, sent out 23 Nov 2001. Slobin on Beregovski (and the survival of Klezmer Music), sent out 30 Aug 2001. Women of Valor, sent out 15 Aug 2001. Shabbat, for Starters, sent out 3 Jun 2001. From Liturgical Rock to the Postmodern, sent out 15 May 2001. A Sephardic Passover, sent out 25 Mar 2001. Oh, Klezmer, sent out 18 Mar 2001. Jewish Classical Music, sent out 1 Mar 2001. Best of 2000, send out 23 Dec 2000. Holiday Music for Hanukkah, 6 Dec 2000. Kidding on the Square, 9/29/00, from the Jewish Week From the Catskills to Canada, 6/15/00, from the Jewish Week Sephardic Survey, 05/00, from the Jewish Week 1999 Klezmer Wrapup, from the Jewish Week Sisters in Swing, 12/15/99, from the Jewish Week Bending the Genres, October 1998, from the Jewish Week The Klezmer Drums of Passion, September 1998, from the Jewish Week Drums of Passion, summer, 1998, from the Jewish Week |
People | Bands | Album Reviews | Sources | Classifieds | Feedback | other klezmer articles on the Internet The best Jewish music of 2002from the author, 25 Nov '02. by George Robinson, grcomm@grcomm.cnc.netNote: Don't click on any links until the entire file loads, or else the links won't work. I apologize for the inconvenience. webmaster
The past twelve months have brought such an embarrassment of riches that my ten-best CDs list could have 19 titles on it. However, for reasons of space, I limited myself to a ten-best with nine very honorable mentions. What follows (in alphabetical order) are all of the five-star records of the previous year; you won't go wrong with any of these.
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Chekroun, Alain and Taoufik Bestandji / Chants des Synagogues du
Maghreb (Magda). This is one of most exciting albums of Jewish music
I've heard in months. Chekroun is a cantor originally from the Maghreb
and here he joins with an orchestra of top-notch Algerian musicians for
a program of Jewish liturgy set to classical Arabic melodies. His voice
is a boyish tenor, sinuous and supple, and he handles the Arabic-style
melisma with grace and authority. The settings are highly imaginative
and effective and the instrumental backing is superb.(Distributed in the
U.S. by Hatikvah Music -- ![[TOP]](/images/top.gif){kind=small}
>Chevan, David and Warren Byrd / This is the Afro-Semitic Experience
(Reckless DC Records). The new Byrd-Chevan CD represents the unveiling
of the eponymous nonet, a band that the duo has been gigging with for a
while. From the opening cut, a hard-swinging, Latin-tinged Eliyahu
Hanavi to the closing Waters of Babylon, the Afro-Semitic Experience
rocks the house. The band is uniformly excellent, with the use of Stacy
Phillips's tangy Harlow resonator and lap steel guitars an innovative
touch. Byrd's muscular, angular solos and rock-solid rhythms from Chevan
and percussionists Alvin Carter Jr. and Baba David Coleman keep things
moving handsomely. There are two pungent originals by Chevan, both
written in a convincingly Yiddish-Middle Eastern vein, Tashlikh and
Nefesh. The band is equally comfortable with the fractured gospel of
Charles Mingus's Better Get Hit In Your Soul, which gets an almost
country-and-western treatment, and the more contemplative strains of
Abdullah Ibrahim's lovely Water from an Ancient Well. I particularly
enjoy the slipping, sliding reimagination of the Yiddish chestnut Sha
Shtil, here turned into a bubbling stew of mambo rhythms and funky
African-flavored percussion, with a powerful, honking tenor sax solo by
Mixashawn.com (hey, that's his name). And this is a good place to note
that I should have given that same five-star rating to their 2001
recording, Let Us Break Bread Together, a CD that has grown in my
estimation with the passing of time.
Divahn / Divahn (Miz Rocky Records). A stunning debut! This quartet of
women musicians, led by vocalist-guitarist Galeet Dardashti, specialize
in astute chamber arrangments of Sephardi and Mizrachi songs and they
play and sing them brilliantly. Darting, stabbing rhythms, throaty,
urgent vocals and intricate and intelligent arrangements, this is a
flat-out thrilling record. (Available from 
Gendler, Arkady / My Hometown Soroke: Yiddish Songs of the Ukraine
(Jewish Music Festival). There is still a large musical literature in
Yiddish that hasn't been documented, pockets of regional traditions that
will cease to exist when the older musicians and ordinary people who
lived with them die. This CD is an important example of how these
traditions can be saved and transmitted to another generation. Gendler
is a musician from a town in what once was known as Bessarabia and now
is part of Moldova, and he is a living carrier of a bit of the musical
history of the Jews of Ukraine. The voice was probably quite lovely a
decade or two ago, it is still expressive and subtle. The songs are, for
the most part, new to me. An important and often moving recording.
(Available from the Jewish Music Festival of Berkeley -- 
Kol Oud Tof Trio / Gazelle (Magda). If you have just a little Hebrew
you know that the name of this group means "voice, oud, drum," and that is what
this Israeli group features. Esti Kenan-Ofri is an Italian-born,
classically trained soprano with a lilting, sweet voice; Armand Sabach
is a Moroccan-born oud player who specializes in classical Arabic music;
percussionist Oren Fried is an Israeli native with an extensive
background in jazz. The result is a seamless and engaging collaboration
that combines Hebrew liturgical poetry, Ladino and Arabic classical
modes in a beautiful blend. (Distributed in the U.S. by Hatikvah Music
-- 
London, Frank, Lorin Sklamberg and Rob Schwimmer / The Zmiros Project
(Traditional Crossroads). London and Sklamberg continue to explore the
heart of Jewish religious music in this spirited, moving followup to
1999's Nigunim. Swapping that set's Uri Caine for another keyboard
player, Rob Schwimmer, they essay the table songs associated the
Sabbath, the zmirot and do so with fervor and wit. This
is one of the most exciting albums of Jewish music I've heard since . .. well,
since Nigunim.
Naye Kapelye, Di / A Mazeldiker Yid (Oriente). An intense and very
entertaining examination of the Jewish music of the regions of Marmures
and Bukovina in Northern Rumania, a particularly fertile ground for
cross-pollinating musicians from Jewish, Gypsy and Hungarian
communities, with Hasidic and klezmer elements intermingling in ways
that will fascinate the ethnomusicologist and delight anyone. Di Naye
Kapelye's usual excellent quintet is beefed up with the addition of
Mihaly Sipos and Peter Eri of Muszikas. This is a splendid example of how
to revisit a tradition without embalming it. Great music and great fun.
Rodriguez, Roberto / El Danzon de Moises (Tzadik). A charming and
evocative record. Rodriguez is a world-class Latin percussionist who was
involved musically with Havana's Jewish community and here revisits both
that connection and his own musical roots in the danzon music of Cuba.
This is pre-salsa Cuban music, made by small string orchestras, here
augmented by some terrific jazz and world-music horn players. If you
know the great Orquesta Aragon, you know what I mean. There are definite
echoes of Eastern Europe, although you could debate how Jewish this is.
A lovely record that I keep returning to.
Tarras, Dave, with the Musiker Brothers / Tanz! (Columbia/Legacy). You
can have Brandwein and Beckerman, I'll take Tarras. Maybe it's my
affinity with jazz that makes me favor the divine Dave over his main
rivals, but I prefer to think it's his superior musicianship (not that
they weren't also brilliant). This 1955 set shows him in peak form, with
a great band that includes several survivors of the Swing Era. This is a
great party record -- okay, maybe a bar mitzvah record -- mirthful and
tuneful, with Tarras play entirely in a klezmer vein (as opposed to the
jazz-inflected work heard on the Radio Project set). Classic stuff and a
must-have.
