Davka / Lavy's Dream
Shtreiml /
Fenci's Blues, 2006
CD/MP3s available via cdbaby.com.
This review is being reworked to correct errors on my part.
While you are waiting for the revised review, consider a heady mix of Arabic and Western musics, including Jewish, performed intensely well. Despite the fact that this music is relatively new and hard to define, and despite the fact that this music does not sound like anything klezmer or Yiddish, it is worth noting that the band is one of the few bands to play at the original Ashkenaz Festival of New Yiddish Culture invited to return. Not only did they return, but they were joined by Medina, a group exploring similar themes (in Medina's case, Middle Eastern, Armenian, Yiddish, Afro-Cuban), but also by the Paradox Trio, a jazz band pushing the Balkan envelope east and west, and by Esta, a relatively conventional rock band using a wide variety of world instruments for effect. There are also several Middle Eastern fusion bands based in Israel: HaBustan Avraham, for instance, or the East West Ensemble.
Davka are at the center of this ferment.
Personnel this recording:
Adam Levenson: doumbek, zarb
Daniel Hoffman: violin
Moses Sedler: cello
Guest:
Norbert Stachel: bass flute, on "Di Terkishe Khasene"
- The Golem (Davka) 4:17
- The Dream of Rabbi Lavy (Davka) 4:12
- Merkavah (Davka) 5:22
- Yizkor for Rabin (Davka) 4:24
- Watchnight (Davka) 6:35
- Sefirah (Davka) 6:22
- Nachshon's Wail (Davka) 4:48
- Xan (Davka) 5:43
- Di Terkishe Khasene (trad.) 5:32
- Yankel's Pocket (Davka) 3:34
