 |
| Track list: 1. Roza 2. Shecharhoret 3. Fuego 4. La Pluma 5. Mansevo del dor 6. En la kaye de mi chikez 7. La Galana i la Mar 8. Komo el Pasharo ke Bola 9. Nuestros Amores 10. Adios estrella brillante 11. Puncha Puncha 12. Be'enaim tsohakot 13. Judia Running time: 58 minutes Released: 2008 |
Where to start with this? An Israeli singing in Hebrew must be pretty
close to the most unlikely thing that I have in my music library - and,
to be fair, I have a reasonable number of oddities. I first heard Mor
Karbasi through LastFM I think, on a station populated by several
similarly non-mainstream material. I loved the emotion in the
performance, but never really listened to it once I owned it - I am not
surprised, and even if I reaffirm a love of these tracks I am unlikely
to want to listen to them often.
If I remember correctly this is a matter of a fantastic voice and abundant raw emotion, the tremulous effect of her notes packing a punch like any hay-maker. The opening track is less melancholic than that though, carrying a balkan/Romany edge to it, and a jaunty rhythm. It is perfectly fine for it, but lacks any real impact on me, but when the second song starts the emotion is very present. The compositions are suitably sparse because it is the voice that is the star here. Too much accompaniment would risk drowning out the qualities exhibited by the style and execution. It is remarkable. That said, a solid hour of it is probably more than I would want short of a live performance. Over its length the song does indeed build up more of an arrangement and it does, I think, lose some of its power.
I am feeling compelled to do this now rather than really actively wanting to. I did not want to leave it a full week again but I have been fighting a general lethargy and constant tiredness which makes long periods of real concentration difficult. It would have been tempting to skip it for something shorter and more accessible - something at least in English - but this is what is in front of me. Not all in Hebrew, mind - there's some Spanish here too (I think - neither are languages that I know, despite working with 2 Spaniards). Looking it up, it is in fact Ladino or Judeo-Spanish. Learn something every day, though I have an inkling I knew that. Fuego is a word I recognise though. Again we are distinctly lacking the raw melancholia that I had been anticipating, the tempo is up and the arrangement is strong. The wailing, wavering voice is there too but so far I am definitely not rating my recollection of this disc. I was expecting fado-like levels of anguish and instead I am hearing light-ish songs with a certain grace and beauty but without the sheer stopping power.
OK, that is the first time it has really made me sit up and take note, and not in a good way. Mansevo del Dor has a blunt aspect to it, repetitive and rhythmic rather than musical. It is short, thankfully, as I find it atonal and undesirable. Thankfully the follow up is back on track, and this does have the mournful base to it, lending it an authority and appeal that had been lacking in part until now. There is a touch of the medieval about some of these tracks - it's the plucked strings that do it, I think, though some of the pipes/whistles add to the feeling. I do like that it harks back like that - in the modern world big brash sounds and overproduction seem to rule more often than not and the sense of times past works as an antidote to today's electronic jungle. Even though I have not done many of these posts of late I feel like I spend an inordinate amount of my time in front of this screen typing something up. Committing to actual play of the Albion game doesn't help there, for sure, and I would be lying if I said that had not contributed to the paucity of postings here. I am in a position now to consider what I do with these tracks as I listen. There are similarities running through the album - simple strings, occasional pipes, a great voice and - to my surprise - more upbeat songs than I remembered. I have not loved any of them, but have only disliked the one. Whereas other material I have been lukewarm on has been cut, here I am tempted to keep everything except that one track simply because I have nothing else like it and as a change up it is really rather nice.
There is some real musicality here too, Adios Estrella Brillante is definitely the pick of the bunch as it carries a gentle melody and a beauty in the piece, though it is spoiled by over a minute of lead out which is atmospheric but out of place on the end of such a lovely song.
Truth be told, I am slightly disappointed that my memory was so off; I think I put more stock in the final track - Judia - than anything else... watch me prove myself wrong again when we get there! Snippets and slivers of that heartfelt pain are sprinkled here and there but the overall mood is much more positive and the playing is very reminiscent of Spanish guitar. I am probably under-selling it because there is nothing wrong with a more uplifting, positive tone and yet I am doing it down for not being able to hear the pain...
I can now though, Judia living up to my recollection from the first word, I can feel the hairs on my arms standing up with the edge, the plaintive cries of the song's title. Slow, stately, and sung to the beams in the roof from a lonely spotlight - or so I picture it. This is the take-home track, fitting that it should be the closer for it really is the most striking by far, possibly the most personal I guess, it feels as though she finds another level of commitment in delivering it.
Overall then, a somewhat surprising album, tonally off from what I recalled but despite that a good listen - one song excepted. I cannot say I am likely to sit down and choose to hear them together all at once again but that is not everything, and variety is a good thing.
If I remember correctly this is a matter of a fantastic voice and abundant raw emotion, the tremulous effect of her notes packing a punch like any hay-maker. The opening track is less melancholic than that though, carrying a balkan/Romany edge to it, and a jaunty rhythm. It is perfectly fine for it, but lacks any real impact on me, but when the second song starts the emotion is very present. The compositions are suitably sparse because it is the voice that is the star here. Too much accompaniment would risk drowning out the qualities exhibited by the style and execution. It is remarkable. That said, a solid hour of it is probably more than I would want short of a live performance. Over its length the song does indeed build up more of an arrangement and it does, I think, lose some of its power.
I am feeling compelled to do this now rather than really actively wanting to. I did not want to leave it a full week again but I have been fighting a general lethargy and constant tiredness which makes long periods of real concentration difficult. It would have been tempting to skip it for something shorter and more accessible - something at least in English - but this is what is in front of me. Not all in Hebrew, mind - there's some Spanish here too (I think - neither are languages that I know, despite working with 2 Spaniards). Looking it up, it is in fact Ladino or Judeo-Spanish. Learn something every day, though I have an inkling I knew that. Fuego is a word I recognise though. Again we are distinctly lacking the raw melancholia that I had been anticipating, the tempo is up and the arrangement is strong. The wailing, wavering voice is there too but so far I am definitely not rating my recollection of this disc. I was expecting fado-like levels of anguish and instead I am hearing light-ish songs with a certain grace and beauty but without the sheer stopping power.
OK, that is the first time it has really made me sit up and take note, and not in a good way. Mansevo del Dor has a blunt aspect to it, repetitive and rhythmic rather than musical. It is short, thankfully, as I find it atonal and undesirable. Thankfully the follow up is back on track, and this does have the mournful base to it, lending it an authority and appeal that had been lacking in part until now. There is a touch of the medieval about some of these tracks - it's the plucked strings that do it, I think, though some of the pipes/whistles add to the feeling. I do like that it harks back like that - in the modern world big brash sounds and overproduction seem to rule more often than not and the sense of times past works as an antidote to today's electronic jungle. Even though I have not done many of these posts of late I feel like I spend an inordinate amount of my time in front of this screen typing something up. Committing to actual play of the Albion game doesn't help there, for sure, and I would be lying if I said that had not contributed to the paucity of postings here. I am in a position now to consider what I do with these tracks as I listen. There are similarities running through the album - simple strings, occasional pipes, a great voice and - to my surprise - more upbeat songs than I remembered. I have not loved any of them, but have only disliked the one. Whereas other material I have been lukewarm on has been cut, here I am tempted to keep everything except that one track simply because I have nothing else like it and as a change up it is really rather nice.
There is some real musicality here too, Adios Estrella Brillante is definitely the pick of the bunch as it carries a gentle melody and a beauty in the piece, though it is spoiled by over a minute of lead out which is atmospheric but out of place on the end of such a lovely song.
Truth be told, I am slightly disappointed that my memory was so off; I think I put more stock in the final track - Judia - than anything else... watch me prove myself wrong again when we get there! Snippets and slivers of that heartfelt pain are sprinkled here and there but the overall mood is much more positive and the playing is very reminiscent of Spanish guitar. I am probably under-selling it because there is nothing wrong with a more uplifting, positive tone and yet I am doing it down for not being able to hear the pain...
I can now though, Judia living up to my recollection from the first word, I can feel the hairs on my arms standing up with the edge, the plaintive cries of the song's title. Slow, stately, and sung to the beams in the roof from a lonely spotlight - or so I picture it. This is the take-home track, fitting that it should be the closer for it really is the most striking by far, possibly the most personal I guess, it feels as though she finds another level of commitment in delivering it.
Overall then, a somewhat surprising album, tonally off from what I recalled but despite that a good listen - one song excepted. I cannot say I am likely to sit down and choose to hear them together all at once again but that is not everything, and variety is a good thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment