Beit HaConfederatzia

• At Beit HaConferatia last night we heard compositions written by an Ethioiean immigrant and inspired by Ethiopian Jewish music. Inspired indeed.
• We entered the small auditorium to see a piano, contra-bass, and saxophone waiting on the low stage. Were we in the right place?
• Two men and a woman went up the two steps. The first man's face said his family had spent 2500 years in Persia. He went to the piano. Yitzhak Yedid. The woman who took up the contra-bass was even paler. Ora Boazson Horev. The third onto the stage was darker skinned, Abate Berihun, an Ethiopian name. He was the inspired composer. He picked up the saxophone. He was the composer.
• Later two dark, thin men, a singer and a dancer, joined the three intrumentalist-singers. Patago Mulukan Yaakov and Aicho Beya. With their narrow faces and bodies they fit the Ethiopean stereotype. The music did not, but then I have no stereotypes for medieval Ethiopian music except that I expect the instruments to be less familar.
• Never mind. From the bass (played pizzicato in all but two of the pieces), the piano (no chords), and the saxaphone the musicians drew music that spoke to us in a strange language and compelling.
• Beit HaCenfedratsia is behind the King David Hotel garden. It also hosted some of the Oud Festival concerts. Ticket agencies can usually tell you what delights are scheduled.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Persian Oud

• Wednesday's oud concert, concluding the Oud Festival, featured a Persian quartet from Los Angeles. The US Cultural Attache introduced them in English, saying they showed American influence. Aside from the lead singer's possibly American accent, I couldn't sense any.
• Words to the poetry by Attar (http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/A/AttarFaridud/ ), Rumi (http://www.khamush.com/), and Nurbakhsh. For the concert of Asher Mizrahi's work (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/oud.html), they projected the words on a screen behind the musicians. For this one they projected views of the musicians, which gave us closeups of nimble fingers on oud, psaltery (played with qwo tiny hammers shaped like spoons or miniature skis), and drums.
• This oud was shaped like a figure 8.
• The music took us east, reminding me of India or even China.
• (Note the comment below. Now I'll try to discover whether "oud" and "psaltery" are general enough terms to include the instruments at this concert.)

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox