MP3 Techelet Ensemble - The World to Come
Israeli Jewish modern music inspired by Rabbi Nachman of Breslav Mystic teachings and that mixes jazz and world music.
8 MP3 Songs
WORLD: Judaica, CLASSICAL: New Age
Details:
B"H
Olam Haba
Jewish Musicians on the way to a better world
This new CD began as a collection of musical pieces played by the Techelet Ensemble I had compiled for my own personal pleasure.
I enjoyed listening to these recordings, particularly during prayer, or when I was devoting myself to Hitbodedut, an art of Jewish meditation as taught by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. Through this Hitbodedut, one may speak to God, in his own mother tongue, opening his heart to the Creator with his own words.
I had intended to publicize these songs sometime in the future, but was pre-occupied with other endeavors [which appeared to be of higher priority. One such effort is to record some of my new compositions with the latest formation of the Techelet Ensemble with whom I performed at the Dead Sea Festival in October 2003.
But in the end, a series of circumstances brought about the decision to produce this beloved compilation without further delay. It seemed to be a Heavenly decree, one which, personally, was most welcome.
This CD runs for more than an hour, and includes three musical pieces. One of the pieces alone plays for almost 50 minutes. This CD is a true expression of the art of the Techelet Ensemble taken to and beyond its most extreme boundaries. This is a key testimony to the Mayim music style and the concept of Jewish improvisation as they have been developed by the Techelet Ensemble through its different formations.
The success realized by our first album, "And I will hope for Him", the praise received from both the public and press, has convinced me that at this point in time there is a public thirsty for quality Jewish music.
As for me, I almost never listen to the entirety of the CD at one time, unless I am at prayer or meditating. Otherwise, I feel overwhelmed with the intense spiritual energies flowing from this music. After all, is it not taught that "too much oil extinguishes the lamp''s light"?
Olam Haba, the name of this new album, is also the title of the third piece on the CD, composed by our pianist, Israel Edelson. In this composition, two very different musical climates are brought together; one is static, reminiscent of Indian music, and the other is more dynamic, with chords familiar from the Romantic era. It is this captivating melody which inspired the Techelet Ensemble to play the nearly fifty minutes of musical improvisation I mentioned previously.
Olam Haba is a Hebrew phrase signifying the World to Come, the World of Souls, where the righteous go after their death. We have dedicated this piece to the memory of all the victims of the Shoah (Holocaust).
May I please note that Rebbe Nachman has declared: "I
have a Song that will be the world to come for all the
righteous men". (Chaye Moharan - from omitted pages
excerpt)
And now this is my wish:
May the music of Techelet always shine with the rays of this Song;
May the Mayim style teach us how to serve God through music;
May Mayim serve as a true expression of a culture to be born out of love for Prayer and the wisdom of its power;
Like Jazz, Mayim is a style demanding serious musical feeling and knowledge, proficiency and a lot of heart.
One can devote his life to it.
So, may it too become a source of inspiration for all the generations to come.
Amen v''Amen,
Yoel Taieb
Jerusalem-Rosh Chodesh Nissan 5764 (Spring 2004)
Notes on the album pieces
Mizmor le david: (By Israel Edelson) total duration: 7:40
Yoel Taieb: Classical guitar Israel Edelson: Piano Yoni Dror: Flute
Recorded at Gerard Bachar Theater in Jerusalem, by Avi Karni during the Hebrew Poetry Festival of "Mashiv Haruach",
(Succot 2000).
One of my favorite Israel Edelson melodies.
A recorded studio version would have surely been more polished, but would Yoni''s Flute have taken flight as it does here?
I am carried away every time I listen to it. In the Mayim style, emotion is most significant.
I was the disciple of Rabbi Israel Ber Odesser, a holy hundred-year-old old man who had received a miraculous letter signed Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman. He could spend days and nights singing Breslover melodies at the top of his voice while marveling at Rebbe Nachman''s extremely profound and intimate knowledge of music.
One day, he said in my presence the most surprising words:
"In this world there are eminent musicians who know nothing about music!"
For a long time I asked myself the meaning of those words; I felt I did not really understand them.
A few years later, about a week after a concert we gave at the Zionist Confederation House in Jerusalem, a young woman, smiling profusely, came up to me in the street.
"I attended your concert," she said, "and I cried throughout your performance. I don''t know what happened to me, I am not yet really at all religious. How can I express to you that your music is holy. I really felt the divine presence, the Shechina."
The words of this young woman, who then disclosed that she herself was a professional singer, obviously affected me deeply. I think they revealed to me the lesson Rabbi Israel wanted to teach me: That a true Jewish musician must be able through his music to awaken noble understandings in the listener, to reconcile him with himself, with the root of his soul and to bring him to make peace with his Creator.
Shir Chadash {New Song}: (Musical improvisation concept proposed by Yoel and inspired by the "New Song" theme, as it is mentioned in the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov): .
*Yoel Taieb: Classical and electric guitar *Israel Edelson: Piano *Yoni Dror: Flute, Soprano Saxophone and Duduk
*Shmuel Klein: Narrator
Recorded at Gerard Bachar Theater in Jerusalem, by Avi Karni during the Hebrew Poetry Festival of "Mashiv Haruach", (Succot 2000).
This is a total and collective improvisation on the theme of the "New Song", described as simple, double, triple and quadruple.
This is a kabbalistic theme very dear to Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (see Lesson 8 of the second part of the Likoutey Moharan).
I too am obsessed with this Song. At the Mashiv Haruach Poetry Festival we were supposed to play an improvised piece. I jumped at the opportunity and proposed this theme to Shmuel Klein, one of the organizers of the festival.
This is what I said to the audience, the night of the concert:
What is so extraordinary and wondrous about Rebbe Nachman is that he envisioned Redemption would be brought about neither through war nor bloodshed, but rather through Song. A simple, double, triple and quadruple song that will have the power to fix the world.
I have imagined the simple song as one of spiritual awakening, man in search of God; the double song as a dance, the triple as a prayer and the quadruple as a hallel, a song of praise.
Each of the four parts of the improvisation is directed by a different instrument.
The classical Guitar will lead the improvisation of the simple song, the spiritual awakening song; the Piano will lead the double song, the dance; the triple song, the prayer song will be lead by the Duduk, a sort of Armenian Oboe. And the quadruple song, the song of praise, (the Hallel), will be lead by the electric Guitar. During the triple song, a prayer for world peace composed by Rabbi Nathan from Nemirov, the most dedicated disciple of Rebbe Nachman, will be read.
Performing for such a colorful audience, in front of intellectuals, poets and musicians, all very interested in authentic Jewish culture and Jewish mysticism, our improvisation was particularly inspired and was very warmly received.
Olam Haba: (By Israel Edelson)
*Yoel Taieb: Classical guitar *Reuven Ben Chanan: Violin *David Louis: Flute with electronic effects * Israel Edelson: Piano
Recorded at the Zionist Confederation House in Jerusalem by Shai Drori, (January 1999).
This third piece is also an Israel Edelson composition. On this particular occasion, we carried out a very rare exercise: An almost fifty minute''s long improvisation!
We didn''t anticipate it. While the composer of the melody is Israel Edelson, the "father" of this sort of symphony as it developed here is, undoubtedly, David Louis. He indeed took hold of the strength of the piece and of the Techelet Ensemble, endlessly reviving the melody and the improvisation, as he signaled to each musician, one after the other, to play a solo...
All the credit for revealing the profound identity of this work goes to Shlomo Israeli. Indeed he chose to broadcast this work on his program "Boker Sheni" on the "Kol Hamusica" radio station precisely during the week when Israel held its Yom HaShoah, the day dedicated to the memory of the Shoah victims.
Commemorated shortly after Passover, Yom HaShoah precedes by exactly one week Yom HaZikaron, the Day of Remembrance for all of our fallen soldiers. This latter event is followed up the very next day by the festivities and the jubilation of the Israeli Independence Day. This is surely a very moving time for all of Israel, a time of sorrow and grief and of mourning alongside fraternity, comfort and hope.
The title of the work, "Olam Haba", refers to the "World to Come" the world the righteous go to after their death. I knew that this work - its name and its content - was connected to that which is beyond this earthly world, but Shlomo revealed to us here the depth of its secret and through this also enabled the piece to become a tremendous source of comfort.
The souls of all those children, women and men, who had endured the most inhumane sufferings, were dancing now for all eternity in the infinite and sublime light of the World to Come.
As the playing came to a closure, when everything seemed to be completely silent, I went back to the melody, as if to say: These fifty minutes were no more than a split second in the eyes of Eternity.