New
CD Release: Music of Israelites and Jews of Africa and Asia
The
CD Music of Israelites and Jews of Africa and Asia is the result of Irene
Orleansky's fascinating two-year
journey
through Africa and Asia. Equipped with a mobile studio, Irene visited nine
Israelite and Jewish communities sometimes
at
distant and dangerous places to record music with the communities' artists.
The
story of the lost tribes started in the 7th century BC in the lands of
Aramea and the Kingdom of Israel when the Assyrians
invaded
the Northern lands and deported ten Israelite tribes of the Northern Kingdom,
thus starting the longest exile in the history
of
mankind. For many centuries those tribes were considered lost, until the
last centuries, when technological developments in
transport
and communication revealed what had been previously hidden.
The
Ethiopian Jews of the tribe of Dan made an epic return when Israel airlifted
them in Operation Moses in 1984 and Operation
Solomon
in 1991; Bene Israel of India, supposedly of the tribe of Zebulon, returned
to Israel between 1948 and 1969. Right now
thousands
of Bnei Menashe are coming back home from North-Eastern India and Burma.
Still there are thousands of descendants
of
the lost tribes of Israel who remain in the lands of their exile and thousands
more to be rediscovered yet. In her journey, Irene
was
privileged to witness and actively participate in fulfilling the Biblical
prophecy, the return of the lost tribes of Israel, and to
discover
unique music and culture of her long lost brothers and sisters.
While
traveling, Irene saw hardship, poverty and discrimination that many of
the Jewish communities in Africa and Asia encounter
in
their daily lives, and decided to turn it into a charity project to raise
funds to support those communities in need.
There
is a number of artists who agreed to contribute by adding their instruments
to the songs that Irene recorded: Tony Levin
of
the USA, the bass/stick player for Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Seal, Lou
Reed, Dire Straits etc., Virginia Splendore of Italy,
may
her memory be blessed, one of the world best stick players and a talented
fretless bass player with whom Irene had long and
fruitful
collaboration, Jerry Marotta, the drummer of Peter Gabriel, Indigo Girls,
Tears For Fears, Suzanne Vega etc., Don Schiff
of
the USA, a stick and bass player for Elvis Presley, Tina Turner, Sheryl
Crow etc., Reuven Ben Chanan of Israel , an innovative
klezmer
violin player, and others.
Irene's
voice and all the three of her sticks can be heard throughout the CD.
The music of the CD is full of unusual instrument
combinations,
such as the bamboo Chapman Stick and the Chinese gou zheng, the NS/stick
and the Indian veena, the electric
upright
bass and the Manipuri goshem and lhemlhei, the stick and the Ehtiopian
krar.
All
the music of the CD was recorded on the field and arranged by Irene Orleansky,
mixed by Irene's life long friend and music
partner
Kirill Malahov at Music Brothers Records in Russia, and mastered
by Donal Whelan at Mastering World in UK. |
