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This recording, named Tanz, which
is Yiddish for "dance", grew out of a
process that began with Neshamah, a
collection of traditional Jewish music
arranged for solo guitar at the suggestion
of John Zorn. For this project, Masada
alumni Greg Cohen and Cyro Baptista were
invited to contribute on some tracks,
bringing a whole new level of propulsion
to the music, hence the title -
Tanz.
As with Neshamah, I tried to select
a variety of Jewish songs from Yiddish,
Sephardic and Oriental sources. Picking
out things that stuck in the ears, I would
introduce them to my guitar, who would
then suggest the best approach for an
adaptation., Once there were enough songs
agreeable to me and my guitar, we were
ready to make a new recording.
 A
composer whose music really puts a spell
on me is legendary Klezmer clarinetist
Naftule Brandwein. For this project I
chose four tunes from the Brandwein
legacy: "Wie Bist Die Gewesen Vor
Prohibition?/What Were You Doing During
Prohibition?", "Fufzehn Yahr Fon Der Heim
Awek/Fifteen Years Away From Home", "Der
Terk in America" and "Araber Tanz."
"Fifteen Years Away From Home" is a
minimalist masterpiece. Compressed into
little more than three minutes, it's a
real challenge for a solo guitarist. For
"What Were You Doing During Prohibition?",
"Der Terk in America" and "Araber Tanz" I
tried to create funky, latinized settings
to explore the convergence of Blues and
Klezmer/Oriental riffology. On these
Brandwein tunes, the interplay between
Greg and Cyro percolates with rhythmic
motifs from Northeastern Brazil, echoing
Sephardic flavors in the music of
Pemambuco.
The pairing of Aaron Lebedeff with Sholom
Secunda's Orchestra produced some of the
most enduring classics of Yiddish music
recorded in 1920's Yew York. One of my
favorites is "Dos Oybershte Fun Shtoysl
(The Most Conceited of All )". To my ears
this tune, like Naftule Brandwein's songs,
shares a quality of richer complexity than
the 16 and 32 bar formats that
characterized Tin Pan Alley and Broadway
hits from the same period.
"Tanst, Tanst Yidelekh" was originally
recorded by the Abe Schwartz Orchestra.
Strains of this song can be heard in a
number of recordings, all with different
titles. The earliest is "Ma Yofis",
recorded in Bucharest circa 1908-1910 by
Belf's Rumanian Orchestra. The Klezmorim
recorded a version titled "Yashke Yashke".
More recently, is a rendition called "Der
Rabbe", by Andy Statman and David Grisman.
There's a bit of each of these in this
incantation.
"Bolgarskii Zhok" and "Gut Morgn" were
found on a recording by Budowitz. This
early music group combines excellent
musicality and musicology in their
renditions of 19th Century Klezmer
masterpieces. According to Budowitz, "Gut
Morgn" would likely have been played at
the end of an all-night wedding dance to
signal the sun was rising and time to go
home. "Bolgarskii Zhok" is in what
Klezmers used to call a crooked meter, a
krumer tanst. Greg Cohen's bass line
transforms it into a kind of soulful,
low-down shuffle.
From Judeo-Yemenite Tradition comes "Min
Khatrat". This is an interpretation of Lea
Avraham's version on "Neve Midhar". It's a
mother's song to her newly wedded son and
was written by Ms. Avraham's mother.
Sham'a Avraham. The rhythm is a Yemenite
7/8 and John had Cyro count it as 2+2+3/8
while I came in on Cyro's 3 playing a
3+2+2/8. The effect was magical.
In addition to "Neve Midhar", the Beth
Hatefutsoth Museum of the Jewish Diaspora
has documented the "Manekha Tradition of
Jewish-Yemenite Divan" as performed by the
Bnei Teman Group, an all male vocal and
percussion ensemble specializing in very,
very old changed poetry, passed down in an
oral tradition. From their recording, I
developed an improvisation on "Ayumati
Te'Orer Ha-Yesheinim/The Holy Presence
Awakens the Sleepers".
Two songs in particular have a Persian
flavor. Hila Wasa is from an Israeli
recording of Judeo-Kurdish music featuring
Karamanji Zadro. It's played in a complex
polyrhythm called Jurjinah, a 6/8 groove
on a 4/4 foundation overlayed with a 10/8
figure. I think Cyro has a lot of fun with
it.
"Aji Tu Yorma?" is a wedding song from
Dagestan, the tiny republic in the
Caucasus Mountains while borders Chechnya
and Azerbaijan. The haunting melody is
from Music of the Mountain Jews, a
collection of recordings assembled for the
Hebrew University of Jeruslaem by Piris
Eliyahu.
The last song on Tanz is an old
Sephardic gem, "La Rosa Enflorece". The
version heard here grew out of an
arrangement originally worked up for the
Voices of Sepharad. I tried to explore the
bittersweet nuances of the melody with
jazz harmony; very much in the spirit of
"Meditation on the Baal Shem Tov's Melody"
and "Adio Querida" on the Neshamah
CD.
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