All About Jazz
Sept 12 2009
Tsuker-zis
Frank London / Lorin Sklamberg | Tzadik (2009)
By Eyal Hareuveni
Eyal Hareuveni is an Israeli journalist who lives in Jerusalem
Trumpeter Frank London and vocalist/accordionist Lorin Sklamberg have
always attempted to introduce a fresh perspective when redefining
traditional Jewish music. As founders of the Grammy award-winning
alt-klezmer band The Klezmatics, they adapt ancient and traditional
holiday songs of the Jewish diaspora into a modern, surprising sphere.
Tsuker-zis, (sugar-sweet), their third installment of Hasidic
religious songs and melodies, nigunim’after Nigunim (Tzadik, 1998) and
The Zmiros Project (Traditional Crossroads, 2001)’are all exemplary
for their vision. They dress the beautiful and touching melodies in an
all-compassing, genre-crossing, unique blend of aesthetics.
On Tsuker-zis, London and Sklamberg are joined by three colleagues
from New York’s Downtown music scene’Night Ark’s American-Armenian oud
master Ara Dinkjian, Psychedelic Furs’ guitarist/electronics wizard
Knox Chandler and North-Indian virtuoso percussionist Deep Singh. The
three are known for their abilities to transcend genre and
style. Here, they move freely between simple folk melodies and
abstract, atmospheric electronica. They aid in spicing the sugar-sweet
Jewish imagery that often serves as a metaphor for the divine
sweetness of life, with surprising new tastes.
The fourteen songs consist mostly of Hasidic holiday songs’Succos,
Pesach (Passover), Rosh Hashana (New Year), Yom Kippur (Day of
Atonement), Purim, Simkhes Toyre and the fast days’and are imbued with
reverential textures and a sense of communal joy and
gratitude. Sklamberg’s warm and beautiful tenor voice, combined with
London’s restrained and airy trumpet sound, introduce the original
essence of these songs and melodies, while keeping their deep
emotional expressiveness intact. At the same time, innovative
arrangements manage to broaden and update messages that not only
signify the nomadic diaspora, but also suggest a new and hopeful
vision of a peaceful world where ancient cultures’Jewish, Christian,
Islamic and Indian’can co-exist, blend and flourish together.
London and Sklamberg have been working for over twenty years and know
that more often the strength of these songs lies in careful and simple
execution rather than in challenging and turbulent arrangements. Such
is the case in "Our Parent, Our Sovereign," a prayer that is recited
during Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Sklamberg’s straight-forward
delivery retains its emotional power, but the arrangement, and mainly
the distant distorted guitar, adds a doubting dimension to the
religious text. On "The Lord Sent His Servant," Sklamberg and Dinkjian
present the Ashkenazi song as a duet, but relocate it from its
East-European origin to an imaginary Middle-Eastern territory.
This beautiful project is the most successful in London and
Sklamberg’s nigunim series; a delight in the sweeping authenticity of
its songs and the imaginative creativity of its arrangements.
Frank London / Lorin Sklamberg at All About Jazz.
Visit Frank London / Lorin Sklamberg on the web.
Track listing: A Sukkah of Branches; Blessings Without End; Our Life
is Sugarsweet; Our Parent, Our Sovereign; Increase our Joy; The Days
Between #1; The Lord Sent His Servant; The Days Between #2; Heed Not
the Accuser!; Elijah the Prophet Bought a Red Cow; Greeks Gathered
Against Me (Intro); Greeks Gathered Against Me; Mighty, Blessed,
Great, Prominent, Glorious, Ancient, Meritorious, Righteous, Pure,
Unique, Powerful, Learned, King, Enlightened, Exalted, Brave,
Redeemer, Just, Holy, Merciful, Almighty, Omnipotent is Our God; One,
Two, Three, Four.
Personnel: Frank London: trumpet, alto horn, flugelhorn, harmonium;
Lorin Sklamberg: vocals, accordion; Knox Chandler: guitar,
electronics; Ara Dinkjian: oud, saz; Deep Singh: tabla, dholki.
Style: Latin/World
Published: September 12, 2009
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