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Moshav Band gets back to its roots with new CD
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By: BEN BRESKY Special to the CJN
The Moshav Band is back and as good as ever.
"Malachim" is the Moshav Band's fifth studio album and sixth CD release following this year's "Live at B.B. King." It features the band's familiar, popular rock flavor with Shlomo Carlebach folk influence. All songs are in Hebrew with lyrics mostly based on Psalms or verses from the Jewish prayerbook or the Talmud. A couple tunes contain a few lines in English.
The Moshav Band's eclectic sound might be explained by the description of itself as "Orthodox Jews who grew up on a religious hippie moshav in Israel with American parents." The rock sound is smooth with a good mix of upbeat, jangly, danceable pop-rock songs and soft ballads.
Several of the softer melodies from the new album sound like they would fit in nicely on an American lite-rock radio station, if not for the Hebrew lyrics. The band can also rock out with guitar solos and jamming, generating fast circle dancing at its many recent concerts in Israel and America.
The band has performed with Blue Fringe, Matisyahu and childhood neighbor Neshama Carlebach. The Moshav Band attracts a wide audience, but its core is high-school-age Jewish folks n the guys in bright-knit kipot (skullcaps) and the gals in long skirts.
Two tracks on "Malachim" are cover songs of the immensely popular Shlomo Carlebach, the singing rabbi. One of the Carlebach songs, "Od Yishama," is given a country-western/bluegrass treatment with fast fiddles and shouts of "yee-haw." The band infuses two tracks with a reggae rhythm.
One unique track on "Malachim" is a cover song of "Abba Shimon" by Israeli-Yemenite singer Zion Golan. The band sticks to the song's Yemenite language and mysterious-sounding Middle Eastern violin and quarter-tone singing, but it rocks it up a little bit with electric guitars.
The rock-group sound of guitar, bass, drums and vocals, often with three- or four-part harmony, is joined on many tracks by mandolin, hand drums and percussion instruments. Although the band only released its first CD in 1998, it has a dedicated following and is considered in the forefront of a post-Carlebach folk-rock movement.
Clad intermittently in large kipot and/or funky hats, the Moshav Band consists of three brothers and one childhood friend, all of whom grew up on Shlomo Carlebach's moshav Me'or Modin in Israel.
The brothers' father was a member of the Diaspora Yeshiva Band, an American-Israeli band from the 1970s that was one-of-a-kind at the time.
"We should always stay true to who we are, to our roots," said Moshav Band member Meir Solomon in an interview with Israel National Radio. "We should inspire people to connect to their roots."
The group's roots are mixed, and, in that respect, they indeed stay true to them.
Ben Bresky is host of The Beat on Israel National Radio.com. For more information, visit http://www.YahooGroups.com/group/TheBeatofIsrael. Contact Ben Bresky at bbresky@IsraelNationalRadio.com.
"Malachim" is the Moshav Band's fifth studio album and sixth CD release following this year's "Live at B.B. King." It features the band's familiar, popular rock flavor with Shlomo Carlebach folk influence. All songs are in Hebrew with lyrics mostly based on Psalms or verses from the Jewish prayerbook or the Talmud. A couple tunes contain a few lines in English.
The Moshav Band's eclectic sound might be explained by the description of itself as "Orthodox Jews who grew up on a religious hippie moshav in Israel with American parents." The rock sound is smooth with a good mix of upbeat, jangly, danceable pop-rock songs and soft ballads.
Several of the softer melodies from the new album sound like they would fit in nicely on an American lite-rock radio station, if not for the Hebrew lyrics. The band can also rock out with guitar solos and jamming, generating fast circle dancing at its many recent concerts in Israel and America.
The band has performed with Blue Fringe, Matisyahu and childhood neighbor Neshama Carlebach. The Moshav Band attracts a wide audience, but its core is high-school-age Jewish folks n the guys in bright-knit kipot (skullcaps) and the gals in long skirts.
Two tracks on "Malachim" are cover songs of the immensely popular Shlomo Carlebach, the singing rabbi. One of the Carlebach songs, "Od Yishama," is given a country-western/bluegrass treatment with fast fiddles and shouts of "yee-haw." The band infuses two tracks with a reggae rhythm.
One unique track on "Malachim" is a cover song of "Abba Shimon" by Israeli-Yemenite singer Zion Golan. The band sticks to the song's Yemenite language and mysterious-sounding Middle Eastern violin and quarter-tone singing, but it rocks it up a little bit with electric guitars.
The rock-group sound of guitar, bass, drums and vocals, often with three- or four-part harmony, is joined on many tracks by mandolin, hand drums and percussion instruments. Although the band only released its first CD in 1998, it has a dedicated following and is considered in the forefront of a post-Carlebach folk-rock movement.
Clad intermittently in large kipot and/or funky hats, the Moshav Band consists of three brothers and one childhood friend, all of whom grew up on Shlomo Carlebach's moshav Me'or Modin in Israel.
The brothers' father was a member of the Diaspora Yeshiva Band, an American-Israeli band from the 1970s that was one-of-a-kind at the time.
"We should always stay true to who we are, to our roots," said Moshav Band member Meir Solomon in an interview with Israel National Radio. "We should inspire people to connect to their roots."
The group's roots are mixed, and, in that respect, they indeed stay true to them.
Ben Bresky is host of The Beat on Israel National Radio.com. For more information, visit http://www.YahooGroups.com/group/TheBeatofIsrael. Contact Ben Bresky at bbresky@IsraelNationalRadio.com.
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