“That sh*t cray” is all i can say after last night’s performance of Watch the Throne by the legendary Jay-Z and Kanye West (that, and “get your diamonds up”). Without doubt the craziest and best concert ever! I must say i like Jay-Z more than Kanye, but they both owned up to their music, leaving Antwerp (and especially me) behind with a big smile on our face. Next stop: Paris??
Did you also see the concert? What did you think?
While Madonna was launching the first show of her 2012 world tour at the Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv on Thursday, I was looking for a musical alternative. Luckily, the Tabor winery and city of Tel Aviv had just launched an amazing initiative: 20 pianos, spread throughout the city, open to the public and customized by Israeli artists. After the campaign, the pianos will be donated to schools. So with 2 friends, we went down to Rothschild Boulevard, printed out a few songs and started playing. Within minutes we were joined by various other musical talents and that’s how a great musical night started. We just played and sang and played and sang for over 3 hours while people were coming by, joining in, playing a tune. Simple and fun.
https://www.facebook.com/Tabor.Winery
that’s us on Rothschild Boulevard
or on youtube: http://youtu.be/mfdN9_1TizI
Ibn Gvirol Street/ Municipality – Photo By Adi Ezra
Hatachana, Neve Tzedek – Photo By Adi Ezra
When you grow up in a musical family you’re not aware of how unconventional your life is. With a concert promoter father who’s also an amateur blues performer and stage animal I thought I’d seen something. Until my little brother became a soulbrother and joined the stage.
Last week, Nathan, better known as N8n, gave a special performance at the coolest spot in Tel Aviv called Rothschild 12. Every time he comes visit me in Tel Aviv, we set up a gig. And when Antwerp and Tel Aviv join forces, our blog celebrates.
We put a band together via email and text messages thanks to drummer and socialite Ori Raz: Shlomi Maya – keyboard, Nitzan Berger – Guitar and Avishai (Avsha) Back – Bass. N8n landed in the afternoon so we went straight to the venue to meet the band and do soundcheck. A few hours later the boys rocked the place! The venue was packed with lots of beautiful people, Belgians, Internationals and Israelis.
N8n started with some alternative versions of his own songs from the first record in order to warm up the crowd. Then the cover songs came in, the audience stood up to twist and shout. Later on I was invited on stage to do one of my personal favorite songs of all times: ‘Sympathy’ by Rare Bird. That doesn’t happen very often. I mostly stand on the side and admire the men of my family doing it on stage. I love their music but if I play and/or sing it’s mostly another type of songs. Sad songs. So this time we combined best of both worlds and after a lovely introduction I managed to reach the stage and play my song, accompanied by N8n. And then it was time to bring on the patron of the family, the well known Boogie Boy. He took over the mic, the piano and the audience for some classic Ray Charles and B.B. King tunes. And that would be a typical Ambach family music night, only shared with an amazing crowd.
Thanks to all the lovely people who came out and joined the good vibes.
video credit Sharon Erde
For more info about N8n and Boogie Boy: www.n8nmusic.com – www.boogieboy.be
Israeli “Singer of the world”
A country has its own musical styles, trends and roots. You would think Israel (also known as “Ingathering of the Exiles”) would offer a lot of interesting world music export products as it is a melting pot of cultural diversity – from Ashkenazi Eastern European Jews till Sephardim or Mizrahim from the Maghreb and surroundings. One of the secrets of making successful music is digging deep in your own and your surrounding roots. As much as Israel is a musical country, with a lot of talent and plenty of musicians; unfortunately, too many local artists these days are busy sounding ‘like’ others instead of creating original and authentic music. Only very few Israeli artists have had international careers – no, the Eurovision contest doesn’t count. One brilliant man called Idan Raichel (12/09/1977) has successfully combined all his influences, his talents and his fascinations into something unique and managed to break down all musical boundaries with his musical project: “The Idan Raichel Project”.
I’ve known Idan since 1998 right after his military service in the army’s rock band. He was then active as a counselor at Hadassim (a boarding school for immigrants, mainly from Ethiopia) and a successful keyboardist with Israeli popular singers. In 2002, from his home studio in the basement of his parents house in Kfar Saba near Tel Aviv, his experiments fusing Israeli pop music with Middle Eastern, African, Indian and other global sounds resulted in what would become the biggest-selling record project in Israeli history and propel Idan to a role as a major figure in the international global music scene. The songs are sung by guest singers and by Idan himself. This project has changed the face of Israeli popular music through a message of love & tolerance and original sounds coupled with sophisticated production techniques.
In 2006, after many number-one hits and a spectacular live show throughout the country, the project got signed to a world music label and embarked on an international adventure. Firstly known in circles of Jewish, Ehtiopian and Israeli communities, the Idan Raichel Project now regularly sells out concerts in large performance venues. Wherever they perform, the Idan Raichel Project unifies the audience into a celebration of what is unique about the cultures of the world, as well as that in which we are all alike.
“This one-man Middle East peace accord makes music that is an ambitious celebration of multicultural diversity. The ethnic elements are cleverly rewired with modern grooves to create an ambient journey that thrillingly bridget the traditional and the modern.” – The Times (London, UK)
Idan Raichel will be performing an acoustic set at the Centre Culturel d’Uccle on February 16th at 20h30.
Website: www.idanraichelproject.com/en
Videos: http://youtu.be/kmW2yAYhMmM (“Mim’amakim” meaning “From the depths)
Videos: http://youtu.be/CtpCGfRRToo(“Im telech” meaning “If you go”)
