Est is now based in New York.

same time, we kept Esta go-
ing because that was always
our main interest."
Their interest in keeping
the group going motivated
their 1991 move to the Unit-
ed States, where they now are
working on a second album to
follow Esta, which is distrib-
uted in Israel and Europe.
"We see ourselves as am-
bassadors, here to bring oth-
er people closer to our music,"
Mr. Gwirtzman said. "We will
release our first album in the
United States at the same
time that we release the sec-
ond.
"It was a hard adjustment
to move to the United States
because we were very well-
known in Israel and our fam-
ilies are there. It was very
risky, but we felt it was the
right thing to do.
"We've heard so many sto-
ries about other bands that
just didn't make it because
they didn't hold on tight
enough. We're not going to
stop."
Most of the group's public
performances have been at
New York clubs, music festi-
vals and colleges. A career
highlight was a 1990 engage-
ment in Bulgaria, where they
gained attention as the first
Israeli band to visit the coun-
try. Also important was a live
performance on French radio
two years ago.
Although all of the band
members studied music in col-
lege, they are self-taught on
some of the instruments, par-
ticularly percussion. They con-
tinue to take private lessons
to master techniques and to
acquire skills on new instru-
ments.
Except for Mr. Gafni, who
lives with his wife in New
York, all are single. They con-
sider Israel their home and re-
turn often.
Mr. Gwirtzman. "We're going to
"We
are best friends, and we
perform our original music, which
shows respect for different cul- are very trusting of one another,"
tures as it blends a lot of kinds of Mr. Gwirtzman said. "After all our
years together, our spirit is
folk music.
"It is very much Israeli and stronger. We love traveling and
Jewish, but it's also multi-ethnic discovering new places.
"All of us love to eat and cook.
and cross-cultural.
"Some of the tunes are written Sometimes we find joy in gath-
by individual members of our ering together and cooking
group, and some are written by gourmet foods."
On the day Esta entertains at
all of us. Even if a tune is written
by one of us, it's usually processed the Incredible Israel Fest, the
musicians can join the audience
by the rest.
Esta, whose members are all in that off-work pastime. The
age 29, began performing 11 years festival offers a selection of tradi-
ago. The quartet met and served tional Israeli and American
cuisine. 0
together in the Israeli army.
"After we formed Esta, we kept
on doing major musical projects Esta will entertain at 4:15 p.m.
on our own," Mr. Gwirtzman said. Sunday, May 21, at the Maple-
"Each of us was accompanying Drake JCC. For information, call
Israel's major singers, the most the Michigan/Israel Connection,
famous people in Israel. At the (810) 645-7878.

Israeli Oont-Pah!

A folk-jazz ensemble will headline at the Incredible Israel Fest.

SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

f they had been born, bred and
schooled in the United States, the
name of their four-member in-
strumental group would have
been Oom-pah. But they were
born, bred and schooled in Israel
so they have chosen the Hebrew
equivalent — Esta.
"Oom-pah is a rhythm," ex-
plained Amir Gwirtzman, who
plays the saxophone and other
reed instruments. "On the one
hand, oom-pah is funny. On the
other hand, it's a symbol of folk
music.
"It's in Israeli folk music, but
you can find it in a lot of different
folk music, including American.
There are a lot of songs in 'esta'
rhythm in various parts of the
world."
Mr. Gwirtzman and the three
other Esta musicians will demon-
strate exactly what they mean

when they entertain at the In-
credible Israel Fest on Sunday,
May 21, at the Maple-Drake Jew-
ish Community Center (JCC). The
band starts performing at 4:15
p.m. If the weather is good, the
show will be outside.
The performance is part of the
daylong celebration of the 47th
anniversary of the State of Israel
(Yom Ha'atzma'ut). Esta. includes
Ori Binshtok on string instru-
ments, Shlomo Deshet on drums
and percussions and Bentzi Gafni
on electric bass.
The quartet, which makes the
strains of jazz an important part
of its package, also plays a vari-
ety of folk instruments such as
bagpipes, zorna, bouzouki, dar-
buka, suz and nay.
"What we have planned for
Michigan is pretty much what we
do in most of our concerts," said

75