An Israelite Odyssey - Review of Koby Israelite's "Dance of the Idiots"

[R.A.S. <richards...>]

Argh! Dead phone line (with one brief episode of some ten minutes of
connectivity in between) since Thursday evening meant that this review's
been sitting on my hard disk for three days!

You get to read it here first - up on Rainlore's World of Music
(http://www.rainlore.demon.co.uk/WorldOfMusic.html) later, with a profile
of Koby Israelite to follow shortly.



Dance of the Idiots - An Israelite Odyssey

If John Zorn had never produced a single note of his own or released
anybody else's album, any true music lover and especially any lover of
Jewish music would still owe him a great debt of respect and gratitude,
even affection, for having the vision to back as outstanding and fine an
album as Koby Israelite's "Dance of the Idiots", just released on Zorn's
Tzadik label.

"Dance of the Idiots" is a journey of exploration of Jewish music and the
Jewish experience on a truly Homerian scale. Koby Israelite, a highly
gifted and versatile multi-instrumentalist, utterly defies and indeed
defeats any silly genre classification with his epic "Dance of the Idiots"
- the idiom is clearly and decidedly contemporary, and the music clearly
deeply rooted in the various Jewish musical traditions, but that's about as
close to "genre" as it would be wise to venture. I don't think it would be
possible to describe this music much more aptly than John Zorn did in his
press release for this album, "Cantorial Death Metal, Nino Rota Klezmer,
Balkan Surf, Catskills free improvisation". Israelite takes elements like
rock, metal, klezmer, Ladino, Balkan, Sephardic/Middle Eastern (there's
even a hint of Andalusian), cantorial/liturgical, chassidic nigunim,
classical, jazz, and smashes them together in an explosion of imagination.
The result is not only a highly individualistic idiom, but truly inspired
music that's accessible to anybody who loves great music, and music that is
immensely stimulating as well as immensely enjoyable. Witty and humorous,
celebratory as well as contemplative at times, this music never fails to
both surprise and delight. Call it avantgarde if you must, but if this is
avantgarde, let's
have more of it!

The liner of "Dance of the Idiots" quotes Albert Einstein: "Imagination is
more important than knowledge..." Imagination is something that Koby
Israelite certainly isn't short of. Equally, he also isn't lacking in
"knowledge" in the form of fine musicianship and technical skill on his
multitude of instruments. Koby Israelite is more than ably aided and
abetted on "Dance of the Idiots" by his ensemble of distinguished guest
artists. Most notably, these include the stellar Gilad Atzmon, probably the
most outstanding clarinetist/saxophonist of his generation. Atzmon here,
among other things, gives every klezmer clarinetist cause to be thankful
that he doesn't specialise in klez. Several other members of Gilad Atzmon's
recently expanded Orient House Ensemble are also included. Also notable is
the appearance of Howard Davies on didgeridoo. The ensemble playing is
remarkable.

Koby Israelite also excells as an arranger on "Dance of the Idiots", with
all tracks to his credit, as well as in his capacity of composer. Of the
twelve tracks, nine are Israelite originals, and a further one co-written
with Igal Foni. The two remaining tracks are a traditional Ladino song
(Zemirot le Shabbat) and a traditional Romanian hora, respectively.

The Odyssey kicks off with "Saints And Dates", a lively, tango-ish and very
catchy tune. An adaptation of the Ladino "Zemirot le Shabbat" follows under
the title of "Toledo Five Four" - the beat here is totally irresistable.
Next stop, shul (synagogue)! Not quite, perhaps, but all the same the
"cantorial death metal" of "If That Makes Any Sense" is just awesome and
touching on the mystical. "Diego" is an almost traditional rendition of
"Hora Miresei", with just accordion and some very imaginative drumming.
With "Battersea Blues", Koby Israelite again takes us towards the mystical.
We are at sea, sailing on calm waters, glimpses of distant as yet unknown
lands being revealed to the traveller here, now, the sound of the sirens
tempting him there, then... Just float along with the flow, on streams of
concious, let go! "I Used To Be Cool", in lovely lilting triple meter, has
overtones of nostalgia and also reflects a multitude of influences. String
parts that are reminiscent of both Jerry Goodman and Mahavishnu, and L.
Subramaniam and brother L.
Shankar, are contrasted with some almost improbably fine klezmer clarinet
and fidl, interspersed with some very jazzy trumpet. Middle Eastern
percussion and a wordless, at first distant, vocal start off "In The
Meantime", and again the traveller approaches distant lands, many different
sights and sounds and scents, familiar as well as exotic, contrasts
everywhere. The scene keeps shifting, the pace and tempo changing. Moods
and emotions turn here, then there, then come full circle. "Wanna Dance"
continues in a similarly adventurous spirit and with equally wide-ranging
contrasts, and closes with an almost unbelievably mocking, supremely
controlled clarinet. On "Truah", funk and jazz influences predominate to
some extent, sometimes contrasted with snippets of Sephardic/Arabic
sounding melody. This odyssey doesn't linger, it moves ever onwards, and
"2nd of Tamus" takes the traveller
past a series of islands, drifting through space and time, and there is an
air of urgency. The title track, "Dance of the Idiots", finally takes the
traveller towards home, the mood turns cheerful, even joking, satirical
(the brief quote of "The Simpsons" theme is inspired!). The jovial ska beat
comes as a total surprise and is completely irresistable. "Happylouge", the
closer, takes the epic journey full circle.

Describing Koby Israelite's "Dance of the Idiots" in "streams of conscious"
writing is probably the only way to even get close to doing this wonderful
album any justice. This music is itself an epic "streams of conscious"
exploration of just about every form of Jewish music and the Jewish
experience, and beyond that, of music itself, and the human condition. But
forget all that, just surrender to the experience, enjoy this inspired
music for itself, it is utterly compelling.

If you're in London or elsewhere in the UK, watch out and try and catch
this remarkable young artist and his remarkable music live. I know I shall
make a point of it!


Richard
"Renaissance Man"

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