Thanks to a translation of the Polish on the release’s Bandcamp site, this project was originally prepared as a special project of the 5th Tzadik Poznań Festival. It was also performed there for the first time. In the beautiful walls of the Renaissance Górka Palace, where one of the five stages of the festival was located, a quartet composed of important figures of contemporary improvised music presented an original interpretation of Yemenite music.
From the Bandcamp site:
“Raphael Rogiński, one of the originators of the project, talks about this tradition: “This culture had a huge impact on modern Israel. Contrary to appearances, it was not only Polish Jews who built this country. When Israel was founded, a problem arose: what should the folklore of this country be like? It could not be based neither on Yiddish nor Sephardic culture. It had to be new. People began to wonder what Israel’s music actually was? The composer Emmanuel Zamir went to the desert to the Berbers, lived among the Palestinians, but also went to the Yemeni Jews. He wrote down themes, played with He composed and compared them on the flute. The results he reached while researching folklore were closest to Yemeni music.”
Considering the work of each musician featured here, it’s right to consider this album as being performed by a supergroup. Thoroughly impressive.
