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Haran offers eclectic blend of world music
By LEE CLARK ZUMPE
| Article published on Monday, Jan. 21, 2008 |
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TARPON SPRINGS - Haran, the latest release from Pharaoh’s Daughter, features a collection of traditional Eastern and Western songs drawn primarily from textual sources and delivered in confident, rhythmic indie world-beat compositions.
Local music lovers can get a taste of the blend when Pharaoh’s Daughter performs on Thursday, Jan. 24, 8 p.m., at the Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center, 324 Pine St., Tarpon Springs. Tickets are $22 and $20 for center members and students. For tickets, call the box office at 727-942-5605 or visit www.tarponarts.org.
At the center of this sonic cyclone is Basya Schechter. Schechter was raised in a Hasidic household in Brooklyn, and it is clear that the band’s sound owes a great deal to her background, as well as her globetrotting journeys through the Middle East and Africa. The band’s fifth album, “Haran,” easily evokes images of distant lands and diverse cultures by blending Judaic tunes, Arabic folk and African rhythm.
The band adds to that invigorating mix a distinct reverence for ’70s prog-rock which manifests itself in melodic allusions to Pink Floyd and The Doors. While some world music suffers from overzealous fusion – combining disparate musical influences resulting in a discordant and jarring hodgepodge – Pharaoh’s Daughter manages to make divergent source material coalesce flawlessly.
The CD opens with “By Way of Haran,” a buoyant tune underscored by psychedelic organ. Highlights include “Kah Ribon,” the Arabic song “Samai,” a dramatic retelling of the story of Joseph called “Enpesare” and “Askinu,” sung in Aramaic and based on a Kabbalistic song from the third meal of Shabbat.
Sung in several languages – Farsi, Ladino, Arabic, Aramaic, Biblical Hebrew and English – the collection is frequently spellbinding and hauntingly harmonious. In addition to vocals, Schechter plays oud and saz. Band members include Shanir Blumenkranz, bass, electric and acoustic guitar; Jason Lindner, keyboards and piano; Yuval Lyon, drums; Meg Okura, violin; Daphna Mor, ney and recorder; Mathias Kunzli, percussion; and Uri Sharlin, accordion.
Among the guest musicians appearing on Haran are Alan Kushan on santur, a hammered dulcimer of Iran; and Yacuba Sissoko on kora, a harp-lute of West Africa.
The band’s ability to effortlessly cross cultural borders in orchestrating this collection is as inspiring as the music itself.
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Article published on Monday, Jan. 21, 2008
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