10/20/09
Sudler Recital Hall
David's Harp is a six piece ensemble: santouri (hammer dulcimer), flute, violin/viola, keyboard, daf (drum), and guitar/mandolin. The bandleader sings in all sorts of languages, Landino, Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, Turkish, Spanish, which means I couldn't make out most of it. Samples may be heard on the band's MySpace page: www.myspace.com/davidsharpensemble.
The theme for the evening was a sampling of music from the various cultures passing through Turkey. The title is a bit of a misnomer, as most of the songs were from various Jewish subcultures, with a few Ottoman and Greek songs in the mix.
The first few are Sephardic songs from Spain, Sarajevo, and a lively song from Bosnia. Verdi borrowed the melody from one for his aria in La Traviata. Then came two rembetik songs in Greek. A common theme of rembetika is to yearn after minority girls rejecting Greek men--songs about unrequited love of Armenian and Jewish girls. The two Greek songs are about the "Jewish girl who stole my heart" and another about a Jewish girl washing her hair.
The first set was full of beautiful ensemble playing, fairly light--not like the whiney "amanades" one might have expected. The intricate santouri playing is a rare treat. The second set was upbeat, with an Ottoman Janissary March and Jewish folk songs from Yemen, Persia, Egypt and Israel. Bandleader Joseph Alpar would often put down his santouri sticks and pick up his darbuka. That's a hand drum also called a dumbek, kind of like a small middle eastern conga. He got great sounds and rhythms out of it; which made sense when he later explained that it was his first instrument. The daf player was also making great sounds all night--each drum was remarkably expressive. The daf looks like a big tambourine, wide and shallow without without the cymbals around the rim. Instead it had links of rings, chain-like, inside the rim, rattling against the skin like a snare.
The first set was full of beautiful ensemble playing, fairly light--not like the whiney "amanades" one might have expected. The intricate santouri playing is a rare treat. The second set was upbeat, with an Ottoman Janissary March and Jewish folk songs from Yemen, Persia, Egypt and Israel. Bandleader Joseph Alpar would often put down his santouri sticks and pick up his darbuka. That's a hand drum also called a dumbek, kind of like a small middle eastern conga. He got great sounds and rhythms out of it; which made sense when he later explained that it was his first instrument. The daf player was also making great sounds all night--each drum was remarkably expressive. The daf looks like a big tambourine, wide and shallow without without the cymbals around the rim. Instead it had links of rings, chain-like, inside the rim, rattling against the skin like a snare.
