review of Pharaoh's Daughter concert

[Seth Rogovoy <rogovoy...>]

Hevre: Once again we here in this sleepy little town of Great Barrington,
Mass,. were thrilled to have some of the best Jewish music in the world come
right to our doorstep (who NEEDS the Knitting Factory??) (well, I guess we
do, but we have the next best thing in Club Helsinki).

Here's my review of Pharaoh's Daughter's concert from last night, as it will
appear (approximately) in tomorrow's Berkshire Eagle and on my new website
at www.rogovoy.com.

Pharaoh’s Daughter’s Jewish world-beat fusion (Club Helsinki, November 15,
2001)

by Seth Rogovoy

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass., November 16, 2001) – Thursday night was the eve of
the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and also Rosh Chodesh Kislev, the first
night of the new Jewish month. This conjunction of holy days of religions
that are seemingly inexorably at odds was an apt background against which to
hear the music of Pharaoh’s Daughter, which so seamlessly unites the musical
traditions of Jew and Muslim, using the musical vocabulary of both to create
a new language which speaks so eloquently and beautifully of their common
heritage.

Returning to Club Helsinki almost a year to the day after its first
appearance at the nightspot, the group, with a slightly revised lineup,
evidenced growth in musical sophistication and focus. Complex polyrhythms
percolated with an enhanced snap and pop, sinuous melodies wrapped around
themselves with acrobatic finesse, and the six musicians interlocked their
grooves with telepathic sizzle.

Basya Schechter remains the group’s leader, gathering and arranging the
material for the songs, much of it based on traditional sources, both
textually and musically. She is also the lead singer and frontwoman,
boasting a deep, soulful voice with an expansive range suited to the demands
of the material, which veers from dark, moody, world-beat influenced
singer-songwriter folk-rock to Hasidic- and Arabic-influenced chant. The
control and dynamism she displays is hypnotic; at another time and place and
in another format she might have been the Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick.

But Pharaoh’s Daughter is an ensemble, and Schechter has found a way to
balance her delivery of the songs with extensive group interplay. She shared
the front of the stage with Israeli native and Boston Conservatory graduate
Daphna Mor, who played a variety of wooden flutes and recorders and whose
vocal harmonies on “Afilu” suggested a kind of Middle Eastern high, lonesome
sound.

Electric guitarist Benoir was a catalog of sounds and styles, dropping
chunky bits of reggae-laced chords into one tune and evoking the sound of
steel drums on another. Hand percussionist Kemal Arsan brought a panoply of
sounds and styles from his background as a Turkish-American growing up in
Southeast Asia, and was featured on one number looping progressive layers of
percussion into a symphony of color and rhythms.

Israeli native Tomer Tzur peppered his drum rhythms with bits of jazz and
the occasional suggestion of jerky, electronic rhythms like drum ‘n’ bass,
giving the group’s timeless material a contemporary taste. And Juilliard
graduate Noah Hoffeld found a way to make his cello soar plaintively when he
wasn’t using it to provide bass lines that propelled the polyrhythms and
provided a harmonic anchor to the tunes.

In addition to singing, Schechter handled instrumental chores on guitar and
oud. Her song selection balanced familiar and revised arrangements of
numbers from the group’s terrific album, “Out of the Reeds” with new
material that shows her moving in various directions, including exploring
more of the innate grooves she has picked up in her extensive sojourns
throughout Northern Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East.

As well, Schechter is experimenting with a diversity of other sounds and
forms, including an expanded cultural palette that incorporates Celtic
sounds for a Middle East-meets-Jethro Tull effect, and spoken word
narratives that recall early works by Patti Smith, including one extended
midrash, or retelling, of the Genesis creation story that one could easily
imagine Schechter expanding into a full-length performance piece.

[This review originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on November 17,
2001. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2001. All rights reserved.]

Seth Rogovoy
author of "The Essential Klezmer: A Music Lover's Guide to Jewish Roots and
Soul"
http://www.algonquin.com/catalog/pagemaker.cgi?1-56512-244-5
"even the most clueless goy will be able to appreciate this art form" --
Linda Daily Paulson, Dirty Linen Magazine

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