Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It is to our detriment and shame that we forget all too quickly that we don’t have to fully understand something to find it beautiful and set against a world verging once more on intolerance and prejudice, from all corners, neighbour against neighbour, clan against clan, we fight above the noise and havoc, whilst never quite realising that the world is more harmonious than we believe, it just takes a moment to listen.
We are surrounded by so much hate that it is easy to forget we can tune out the noise if we wish, for all the rhetoric, for all the animosity, betrayal, and disgust that we see in the faces of the ill-thought, the self-proclaimed righteous, and the fear of those who seek nothing short of genocide – we can listen to the songs of others and just accept that their song is different, and even marvel at how they tell their tale through the belief of music.
A demonstration is all well and good, but to feel empathy, to be swept along by the power of a human voice telling you something you did not know, that takes a rough guide filled with genius, and in The Rough Guide To Jewish Music what comes across is beauty and unrestraint, the sense of inclusion, of drama, of powerful voice and storytelling which wishes, never demands, to be heard.
A collection of artists and their inspirations, their voices, their songs on show under one musical roof, and the sound they bring together is astonishing, it magnifies the experience, it holds an essential truth, not only for being Jewish, but for all, that if you come together and sing rather than wage war with a mind of conquest, then there would be more understanding in the world.
Through artists such as Liona & Serena Strings, She’Koyokh, Andrea Pancur, Shura Lipovsky, Don Kipper, Jewdyssee, and Klezmer-ish, the tradition of the music is far reaching, the acceptance of the new is enlightening, and the ear, untrained as it may be for those who are not used to language on show, soon becomes accustomed to the feeling, for what is music anyway, it is a form of appreciating another’s soul when words cannot be expressed; and in this compilation of talented musicians, that expression is fully gratified and framed with heartfelt emotion.
Perhaps the standout track comes from an unlikely quarter, the surrounding of its being coming from the sharp end of history, as one of the colossuses of theatre music, Cabaret, is sung with precision, a warning from history, a caution from the future on all sides, that what was once, can be again of we are not careful, mindful, forever vigilant of the poison that can run through any vein and mind not willing to listen.
A dramatic album, a sense of reaching out, a notice of intent delivered with a sound of compassion and joy, The Rough Guide To Jewish Music is superb place to seek understanding.
The Rough Guide To Jewish Music is released on May 27th via World Music Nework/Rough Guides. Ian D. Hall