Re: Khevre is astounding

[Dick Rosenberg <mashke...>]

Ok, I guess I'll have to be the second person on the list to congratulate
Michael (It's appropriate. I was sitting behind Ari). Khevre is wonderful,
combining just the right mix of experimentation and tradition and putting on
a rollicking good show.

All 6 musicians were superb on their respective instruments/voices. Like
Ari, I was especially blown away by Richie Barshay on drums
(www.richiebarshay.com).
At 19 he has played with the likes of Herbie Hancock. You'll hear from him
in the future.

The ethereal singer (Aoife O'Donovan - pronounced Eef) reminded me of the
vocalist on Ben Sidran's "Life's A Lesson" album or Betty Silberman's "Sha
Shtil" with Shirim, approaching Yiddish chestnuts with a cool Jazz feeling
that seemed just perfect.

And Michael was Michael. If you've heard him play you know what a
superlative musician he is. And if you haven't, shame on you.

The only down side was the sparse turnout. This is the second concert I've
seen in the last month at the Regent Theater in Arlington (MA), the first
being Pharaoh's Daughter. These gifted artists deserve more than 20 or 30
people in the audience if they are going to keep performing in Boston.

Dick Rosenberg


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ari Davidow" <ari (at) ivritype(dot)com>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 11:05 PM
Subject: Khevre is astounding


> I want to be the first person on the list to congratulate Michael
> Winograd and the rest of the band, Khevre, on a stellar, wonderful,
> new Yiddish music concert tonight. Michael was excellent, of course.
> Maybe better. The drummer was simply amazing. Hell, the whole band
> was amazing.
>
> The band played some Yiddish songs, bits of klezmer, some new
> compositions by Michael, and mixed in lots of South American music
> and improvised wonderfully. The singer, clearly not a
> Yiddish-speaker, gave an ethereal voice to old standards, and quite
> frequently I felt that the songs were transformed to nign - not
> inappropriate to the trance-like improvisation behind them.
>
> Finally, for all the good things I have to say, I also have to say
> that the band is still growing. I feel like one of those old blues
> mavens who first heard Signe Anderson fronting the Jefferson Airplane
> singing "Me and My Chauffeur" realizing that I'm not listening to
> Memphis Minnie, but instead of complaining, hearing the new and
> timeliness of the music and knowing that this is just going to get
> better and more interesting over time.
>
> The band is playing the Tonic in NYC on Sunday. If you're in town,
> I'd say that's the place to be.
>
> ari
>
>
>


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