RE: Islam and Jewish

[Francesco Spagnolo <yuval...>]

Dear Josh, dear list,

I have taken the chance to "advertise" the work of Esti Kenan Ofri to 
the list before.

She lives in Jerusalem, and is wonderfully proficient in the Arab and 
Turkish maqam, which she uses in performing (in duo with 
percussionist Oren Freed, and now also in trio with an 'ud player, 
but only for the Andalusian repertoire) Judeo-Spanish songs, and 
songs in Hebrew and Arabic.

A former dancer/choreographer, she is a student of the Iraqi-Jewish 
musician Seim im-nur (or, in Israel, Shlomoh Ziv-Li), and a 
wonderful, breathtaking performer. Her sensibility is situated 
somwhere between Arabic music and a more contemporary approach.

As a matter of fact, Esti Kenan Ofri is also a performer of 
"contemporary" [whatever that means] music. Besides from important 
Israeli composers (such as Betty Olivero, Oded Zehavi and others), 
she has been performing in important concert houses a piece, 
"Ofanim", which Luciano Berio composed especially for her some years 
ago, on Hebrew texts excerpted from the Bible (Hizqiel and others), 
with the collaboration of his wife, Israeli musicologist Talia Pecker 
Berio.

She is also involved in amazing live performances with former Soviet 
Union Jazz wizard Slava Ganelin, who made 'aliah over ten years ago, 
and now (among other things) teaches at the Rubin Academy in 
Jerusalem. They have long sessions entirely improvised, in which he 
plays keyboards, piano and percussion, and she sings, improvising on 
lyrics in Hebrew and Arabic, and dances. A CD of theirs came out last 
year in Israel (sorry, but I do not have the information with me 
about it right now).

Last year (November 1999) I was able to invite Esti to Italy, to 
perform with the Andalusian orchestra of Tanger: a marvelous concert!

I believe that she's one of the most interesting artists nowadays 
involved in exploring the innumerous co-implications of the Jewish 
and Arabic (not necessarily Islamic -- what do you mean by it, 
exactly, is still not clear to me) musical wolds.

Best,
Francesco


P. S.

FYI, Esti Kenan Ofri will be performing "Ofanim" at La Scala, in 
Milano, on October 1st (motze rosh hashanah) -- and the concert will 
be broadcast over the internet.

But, on the La Scala concert, and on Internet broadcasts, I will post 
some more information very soon.


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