The Idan Raichel Project

[chomiji]

I don't think any of you on the f-list share my world music habit, but every time I play this one, I fall in love with it all over again.

The Idan Raichel Project (the group's name as well as the album's) is an Israeli group, but the songs and the musicians who sing and perform them are from multiple cultures: Jewish (both European and Middle Eastern), Arabic, Ethiopian. The melodies, to my relatively uneducated ear, echo those of their parent cultures, but they are arranged and sung with more passion and rock/pop sensibility than I've heard in more traditional arrangements of this type of music. Some of them are ravishingly romantic sounding (like the first track, Bo'ee/Come With Me), some angst-filled, some lively and optimistic.

I hope this talented bunch will make some more beautiful music together in the future.

Comments

[0nolicious.livejournal.com]

I don't think any of you on the f-list share my world music habit

Hey, I resemble that remark! ;)

Very, very nice stuff...if you like that blend of folk with rock/pop sensibilities, do you know Ishtar or Wounded Land?

[chomiji]

Hee, I was thinking of your tastes more in terms British/Celtic more than general world music ... no, I haven't heard of them! That's why I called myself uneducated - I'm buying Putomayo's sampler-type discs and trying to learn what else I might like.

Sometimes it works really well, as in this case, and sometimes the result is a little more mixed, as with British artist Alice Russell - the song they had by her on "A New Groove" was actually the only thing of that album of hers that I really, really like (although I'm learning to like her a little better with repeated listenings).

[chomiji]

I'll have to remember to look at the Orphaned Land site when I'm at home - work blocks MySpace. (In fact, that's how you can differentiate serious blog sites from social sites ... my office allows access to LJ, Blogger, and Blogspot, but not Xanga or MySpace or Facebook.)

Ishtar sounds good - I should have remembered her this weekend when I went to Borders to get the latest Fruits Basket.

(Totally OT: if you have a moment, I'd love to have your input on my saiyuki_time things. Plz?)

[chomiji]

I'm enjoying a lot of different types of world music courtesy of Putumayo, including Pacific islands, North African, and African. Johnny Clegg & Juleika was one of the African groups I liked on that sampler. There was a very cute Hawaiian cowboy swing number on Swing Around the World, and I liked a lot of the songs on South Pacific Islands (which they don't seem to have anymore on their own site ... it had things by Te Vaka, OK! Ryos, and Whirimako Black, among others. For the African and North African, neither too hard rock nor too dissonant is probably best for me. Again, some days I don't even feel like Klezmer, and that could be construed as my native music ... .

[chomiji]

Oh, don't get me wrong - bouncy is good! The paniolo number was by the Ka'au Crater Boys. Also check out the clips for Islands on Amazon. I just don't want too much raucous, grinding dissonance. Also check out Gypsy Groove, which is my new favorite Putumayo disk.

I do like Lhasa de la Sele - she does have a lovely voice! For another lovely voice, check out Carrie Newcomer, whose lyrics sometimes end up in my icons. Try "Be True" on Regulars and Refugees, and "Love Is Wide" and "Seven Dreams " on The Age of Possibility.

[chomiji]

Oooh, thanks for pulling that together for me! I have downloaded them and are starting to listen to them.

[chomiji]

Yes, I'm playing them at work, which is good - I'll notice which ones make me perk up and go, happily, "Oh, this song again!"

Even if all you ever give me is this, it's substantial and valuable.

[chomiji]

That's right, go ahead and try to convince me you're self-serving ... .

XD

I'm developing a love-hate thing with Alabina - sometimes they're simply melodic, which I love, but then they get either harsher or more over-produced, and I want to turn it off.

[chomiji]

I'm doing the love-hate thing with Firewater too - I liked "Another Perfect Catastrophe," but I'm not so sure about the other two. I need to listen to them a couple more times.

I'll get the other song if/when I have some time tomorrow ...

October Project sounds familiar, but I can't think why!

[chomiji]

>> October Project <<

Yes, yes, yes!!!!

I love them! 100% perfect match!

(And you should definitely check out the Carrie Newcomer stuff if you haven't - more optimistic, a little more country, but it falls into the same quadrant. Let me see if I can find some proper video clips for her ... .)

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Ah, if you like that, you really should snag my fanmix and then just delete any of the non-OP tracks that don't work for you after a test listen! XD

It's also got a bit of world music -- a yearning, sensual Tarkan song (from his one English-language album to date) for Gojyo, and a Bill Miller song because I seem to be just constitutionally incapable of putting a fanmix together without at least one native artist. You might like one of my Avatar fanmixes as well, which is particularly heavy on the folky-rock side of things, and has a bit more Ulali and Joanne Shenandoah (in her English-language folk-rock side) if you liked their voices from the last sampler.

If you're shopping for more OP, you want to get the first two albums, October Project and Falling Further In; Mary Fahl went solo after that and according to the friend who hooked me up with this stuff, the later albums after the lineup change just aren't quite as good. She does recommend Fahl's solo work, but says it also isn't quite as magical as the stuff with the full band.

Speaking of rich altos, do you have any Christine Collister?

[chomiji]

I went to get the fan-mix, and there was some issue with the download - probably the server was just too busy. I'll try again later.

No, can't say I've heard CC. And I could find any Newcomer vid for a song I knew except one for Angels Unawares - which is indeed a lovely song.

[chomiji]

I got the Parabola download on this system (still will have to do it again from home) ... but I've barely had a chance to listen to it - it's been One of Those Days at work. (We're implementing a new Time and Attendance system in a very haphazard fashion ... as the "editor" of one of the places that people will go for info on it, I've been attending lots of briefing sessions.)

I recall that my sister liked Richard Thompson - I think I liked him OK but never got around to getting any of his stuff. Probably I should give another listen. (Do you mean Linda Thompson too, above? - you said "she" ... )

[chomiji]

Argh, my bad for letting this string out so long timewise!!

Nope, I haven't heard her that I can recall.

Re: More music!

[chomiji]

Arrgh, it doesn't want to download. I think I'll have to try it again sometime during a quieter time of day.

I really appreciate all this!

[chomiji]

Hmmm ... I think Orphaned Land is a little harder-edged than I feel like dealing with these days ... for the past 10 years or so, I have to get in just the right mood even to listen to the louder, angrier works of my beloved Queen (like, say, "Death on Two Legs").