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Gronich’s music reaches biblical proportions
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BY: BEN BRESKY Special to the CJN
Shlomo Gronich is on a “Journey to the Source.”
The Israeli musician is touring Israel and South America in support of “Journey to the Source,” his new album inspired by biblical themes that includes guest stars from the secular and religious worlds.
Gronich released his first album in 1971, but he is best known for his 1993 album “Shlomo Gronich and the Sheba Choir,” featuring a full chorus of Ethiopian children. He still teaches and performs with the choir and plans on recording more material with them. But for now, he focuses on his “Journey.”
Q: Tell us about “Journey to the Source.”
A: All the text is from the Bible and from the siddur. This is very exciting for me. It doesn’t remind me of anything I did before. It takes me somewhere very high, very spiritual.
I started working on this journey three years ago when I received by fax an ancient prayer taken from the Sabbath morning prayer. Elu finu … “Even if our mouth is full of songs like the sea ...” When I read it, I was so moved by the purity and meaning of the wise words. I took the prayer from the fax, went to the piano, turned on the tape, closed my eyes … and the music came.
This was the trigger to this journey. Right after that, wonderful things started to happen to me. I met people who gave me advice for which pasukim (verses) to take from the Bible. In a week, I composed 20 new prayers.
Tell me about the recording process.
We went into the studio with a string quartet and a percussion player. After the first track, I felt I could use other people’s voices. I made some phone calls to another great composer, David Broza (who recently performed in Cleveland at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun). On the spot, he came to the studio and gave his voice to the song “A Woman of Valor.”
You went on tour with this material before the album came out. How did the audience receive it?
They liked it very much. The (Israeli) audience is composed of religious and non-religious people, and it’s very exciting to see these two faces of the audience going through a spiritual adventure together.
I like the song “In Green Pastures,” which features a man’s voice speaking English in the beginning. What is that one about?
That song includes members of the Black Hebrew community of Dimona. They have great voices. They sat in with me on a few songs. As we started the song, one of them started to recite the words of David’s Psalms in English.
So it wasn’t planned like that?
It was not planned. He started to recite it, and I made the signal to the man in the recording booth. I left the English there to start the Hebrew version. “The Lord is my shepherd” is said by non-Jewish people (in regards to death). But, my version is very happy and gay. It’s the opposite of death. It’s very alive.
You have been around for a long time. How has your music changed? How have you grown musically?
I can’t be the judge of myself, but I think this project shows that this guy n me n is getting ripe with the years. My hair is becoming white. My voice is becoming deep. My soul is becoming deep. My touch of music is becoming more mature and more meaningful and honest. Everything I learned within my short life, almost 60 years, is being put today in my music. Every day I learn something new. That’s why it sounds so wide-ranging in the styles of music. Classical with pop with jazz with ethnic with world music with religious with Chasidic. It’s really a new language of music.
Is there anything else you want to say about your music or your new album?
I am so much into this new project now. Usually I work on many (different) things (at once), but this project is taking all of me into it. I hope it gets the chance to be played abroad, because I think it’s not only for the Jewish people.
Ben Bresky is a music journalist and the host of “The Beat on Arutz Sheva” on Israel National Radio. His blog and show archive can be found at www.israelbeat.blogspot.com.
The Israeli musician is touring Israel and South America in support of “Journey to the Source,” his new album inspired by biblical themes that includes guest stars from the secular and religious worlds.
Gronich released his first album in 1971, but he is best known for his 1993 album “Shlomo Gronich and the Sheba Choir,” featuring a full chorus of Ethiopian children. He still teaches and performs with the choir and plans on recording more material with them. But for now, he focuses on his “Journey.”
Q: Tell us about “Journey to the Source.”
A: All the text is from the Bible and from the siddur. This is very exciting for me. It doesn’t remind me of anything I did before. It takes me somewhere very high, very spiritual.
I started working on this journey three years ago when I received by fax an ancient prayer taken from the Sabbath morning prayer. Elu finu … “Even if our mouth is full of songs like the sea ...” When I read it, I was so moved by the purity and meaning of the wise words. I took the prayer from the fax, went to the piano, turned on the tape, closed my eyes … and the music came.
This was the trigger to this journey. Right after that, wonderful things started to happen to me. I met people who gave me advice for which pasukim (verses) to take from the Bible. In a week, I composed 20 new prayers.
Tell me about the recording process.
We went into the studio with a string quartet and a percussion player. After the first track, I felt I could use other people’s voices. I made some phone calls to another great composer, David Broza (who recently performed in Cleveland at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun). On the spot, he came to the studio and gave his voice to the song “A Woman of Valor.”
You went on tour with this material before the album came out. How did the audience receive it?
They liked it very much. The (Israeli) audience is composed of religious and non-religious people, and it’s very exciting to see these two faces of the audience going through a spiritual adventure together.
I like the song “In Green Pastures,” which features a man’s voice speaking English in the beginning. What is that one about?
That song includes members of the Black Hebrew community of Dimona. They have great voices. They sat in with me on a few songs. As we started the song, one of them started to recite the words of David’s Psalms in English.
So it wasn’t planned like that?
It was not planned. He started to recite it, and I made the signal to the man in the recording booth. I left the English there to start the Hebrew version. “The Lord is my shepherd” is said by non-Jewish people (in regards to death). But, my version is very happy and gay. It’s the opposite of death. It’s very alive.
You have been around for a long time. How has your music changed? How have you grown musically?
I can’t be the judge of myself, but I think this project shows that this guy n me n is getting ripe with the years. My hair is becoming white. My voice is becoming deep. My soul is becoming deep. My touch of music is becoming more mature and more meaningful and honest. Everything I learned within my short life, almost 60 years, is being put today in my music. Every day I learn something new. That’s why it sounds so wide-ranging in the styles of music. Classical with pop with jazz with ethnic with world music with religious with Chasidic. It’s really a new language of music.
Is there anything else you want to say about your music or your new album?
I am so much into this new project now. Usually I work on many (different) things (at once), but this project is taking all of me into it. I hope it gets the chance to be played abroad, because I think it’s not only for the Jewish people.
Ben Bresky is a music journalist and the host of “The Beat on Arutz Sheva” on Israel National Radio. His blog and show archive can be found at www.israelbeat.blogspot.com.
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