Group items tagged

Project Spirit IsReal is about taking ancient Hebrew prayers and combining them with music & rhythms from all over the world: Indian Varanassi, Middle Eastern Sufis, trance traditions, chants from Brazil... Just a small portion of the musical influences in this project.

Klezmer (from Yiddish כּלי־זמיר, kley - instrument and zemer - song; etymologically from Hebrew k'li zemer כלי זמר, "musical instrument") is a musical tradition which parallels Hasidic and Ashkenazic Judaism. Around the 15th century, a tradition of secular (non-liturgical) Jewish music was developed by musicians called klezmorim or kleyzmurim. They draw on devotional traditions extending back into Biblical times, and their musical legacy of klezmer continues to evolve today.

"In Turkey and Greece, as far back as the 16th century, groups of cantors and religious figures used to gather in the early morning, before prayer services, to sing devotional poetry in Hebrew. This gave rise to a distinct and complex form of music called maftirim, which only the most talented men could master. These small gatherings were part of a broader musical exchange under the Ottoman empire: Muslim Sufi mystics would come to synagogue on the Sabbath to listen to the maftirim. And the Jewish maftirim singers would visit Sufi lodges for musical inspiration."

These twelve selected Piyutim are the gems of Hebrew poetry. All are chanted and sung. Some are accompanied by tambourine, oud, and percussive sounds. Most are sung "a cappela," without instrumentation.

Aish Talmud (California), Anthology of Jewish Music (Vancouver), Arutz Sheva (Israel), Israeli Music Online (New Jersey), Israel Radion International (non-Hebrew), Jewish Internet TV (North Carolina)...

"In Turkey and Greece, as far back as the 16th century, groups of cantors and religious figures used to gather in the early morning, before prayer services, to sing devotional poetry in Hebrew. This gave rise to a distinct and complex form of music called maftirim, which only the most talented men could master. These small gatherings were part of a broader musical exchange under the Ottoman empire: Muslim Sufi mystics would come to synagogue on the Sabbath to listen to the maftirim. And the Jewish maftirim singers would visit Sufi lodges for musical inspiration."

'This exquisite recording finds one of the most gifted percussionists in Latin music today working in what is perhaps his true element - the Santeria liturgy. The spiritual power of this Afro-Caribbean religious ceremony, sung in Yoruba to the accompaniment of a three-man percussion bata is awesome, but it is the intense articulation of rhythm that makes this music so devastating, incredible.'-JD Considine,Musician Magazine'A wonderful album - absorbing, mesmerizing, beautiful and fun, graceful and sensual. It draws ou into a space and reality all its own, with a mood and flow quite distant from the everyday and yet hauntingly familiar. I found myself playing it over and over...' - City Paper (Washington DC)'Is a stone soul picnic, so party down. If you're going to buy one record this summer, here is one that, in the words of Hebrew National, answers to a higher authority.' - Glenn O'Brien, Interview Recorded in August 1985. Personnel: Milton Cardona (vocals, percussion); Steve Berrios, Hector Hernandez (bata); Jose Fernandez (percussion); Amma Dawn, Teresa Gomez, Sandra Wiles, Linda Evans (background vocals).

A lot of Sephardic music utilizes the maqam, a distinctly Turkish microtonal scale system.