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Mixed Media
Top Ten List
A critic reveals his choices for the best
Jewish recordings of 1999.
GEORGE ROBINSON
Special to the Jewish News
hat an amazing time last
year was for Jewish music.
Greater variety and better musi-
cianship than ever before, with
music that runs the gamut from
intensely spiritual to earthy and
even raunchy.
The records below all earned
— and I do mean earned —
five-star ratings in the past 12
months. Any one of them will
give you hours of joy, and
most will do more.
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78
41
Davka, Judith (Tzadik):
A San Francisco-based trio, Davka
play a heavily Eastern-inflected brand
of string-oriented chamber klez. This
set, their third, is a brilliant exploration
of the darker colors of the musical
spectrum, built around Moses Sedler's
evocative cello and Daniel Hoffman's
Gypsy-ish violin, with Peter Maund
providing a firm percussion underpin-
ning. This is often brooding, turbulent
music, but always understated in a
highly intelligent way. Davka's first two
sets are out of print at the moment, but
Tzadik is restoring them to the catalog
soon and I, for one, can't wait.
Even Sh'siyah, . . . through your
gates, Jerusalem (Prero Productions):
Folk-punk settings of Psalms and
liturgy? Don't let the labels scare you
off. This is one of the most original
and inventive recordings of explicitly
Jewish music I've heard in a long time.
Imaginative, energetic rock, fueled by
some stinging guitar work by Ely
Cooper and throbbing, propulsive bass
by David Margulies (who also wrote
most of the tunes). I don't expect
you'll hear this in many shuls, but def-
initely a must-buy record.
Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, Fire
(Traditional Crossroads):
George Robinson lives in New York
City, where he writes about the arts.
I make no bones about it — FBKB
is one of my favorite New Klez bands,
a group that adroitly combines straight-
ahead klezmer with Middle-Eastern,
Latin and jazz influences. This set, the
group's first on a new label, is a rollick-
ing live concert with several guests,
most tellingly Adrienne Cooper.
Cooper is rapidly becoming one of the
great world music divas. Her a cappella
reading of "Mayne Yunge Yorn" is
worth the price of the album. And the
Flying Bulgars are in top form as well,
particularly trumpeter David
Buchbinder and drummer Bucky
Berger, both of whom can take you
seamlessly from Bukovina to Birdl and
and back again in only a few measures.
A terrific set and a lot of fun.
.
Richard Kaplan and Michael Ziegler,
Tuning the Soul: Worlds ofiewish
Sacred Music (Four Gates Music):
I love this
thi record! There were a lot of
terrific Jewish music recordings issued
last year, but none that I enjoy any
more than I do this one. Kaplan and
Ziegler have drawn on numerous
sacred and folk music traditions, Jewish
and otherwise, to find new or neglected
settings for Jewish liturgical texts. The
result is an album of haunting, moving
music performed by both men and a
cast of superb guest musicians.
Especially recommended to those who
love the sounds of Middle Eastern
music, the dominant flavor in this mix.
Aaron Jay Kernis, performed by the
Lark Quartet, String Quartets Nos.
I and 2 (Arabesque):
It's not hard to see why Kernis won a
Pulitzer Prize for String Quartet No. 2;
it's thoughtful, accessible but intelligent
music that pays homage to the past in
witty and often moving ways. Its imme-
diate predecessor makes a logical pair-
ing, complementing the jagged rhythms
of No. 2 with some intricacies of its
own. Kernis' voicings make the quartet
sound like a much' larger group, and
this recording is superlative, expressively
played and warmly recorded.
The Klezzical Tradition: Family
Portrait (TKT Productions):
An unalloyed delight, from the old
family photos in the booklet to the
lively interpretations of old chestnuts