Saturday 19 February 2011

Concert with Goldschmidt, Singh, and Irshed!


Two of my musical "heros", Henrik Goldschmidt on the oboe and Bilal Irshed on the 3oud, were in Jerusalem tonight to play a concert in the Bible Lands Museum, together with their long time partner Singh on accordion (but I don't know so much about him).

It was a fantastic concert! Goldschmidt was, as always, very expressive and beaming with life and musical joy, teasing the audience with breaks and changes in the music so everybody stayed alert on what would happen next, his sound on the oboe as soft and charming as ever.

The seccond piece they played were a combination of an Arabic love song, a Danish psalm, and a Jewish traditional song. It started out very softly, the 3oud enchanting me with its deep, full sound, and the xaphoon (as I think the recorder with clarinet mounthpiece is called) took over with soft, sweet tones, the accordion being a harmonic drone in the back. I was moved.

And the rest of the concert continued with happy, fast Yiddish tunes, Goldschmidt singing about the teacher teaching his students the Hebrew alphabet (and we, the audience, we the students, who had to repeat after the teacher), Danish folksongs played in Arabic style, a bit of taqsiim [solo improvisation] on 3oud (not enough for me!), and other lively pieces.

It all ended too soon, but we had had a great time - and I almost feel sorry for all of you who missed it! For those in Denmark check out Singh&Goldschmidt's turnéliste, if you want to hear them (without Bilal on 3oud), or Bilal Irshed's page on when he plays. I recommend Fatma Zidan Group as much as Middle East Peace Orchestra - Fatma is my former teacher in Arabic singing.

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