By Avishay Artsy for Jewniverse
The video for Coldplay’s “Up&Up” has already garnered 12 million YouTube views this week, and that number just keeps going up and up. And for good reason: it’s simply breathtaking.
Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia co-directed the video for the British rock band. The two 30-year-old Israelis describe the video as “a poignant, surrealist montage which alludes to contemporary issues.”
The video blends seemingly incongruous worlds: whales swimming in the sky, a child swinging in outer space, synchronized swimmers in a teacup and popcorn bursting from a volcano.
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Monday, May 30, 2016
Monday, May 23, 2016
Andalusian Love Song
The raspy strains of the ney, a Persian flute, give way to the swelling percussive rhythm of 35-piece Andalusian Orchestra Ashkelon—and suddenly Israeli singer David Broza’s voice emerges with his beloved hit “Shir Ahava Bedoui,” fused with a popular Arabic melody. The collaboration between Broza and the orchestra that began five years ago with new arrangements by director and conductor Tom Cohen has resulted in a fabulous reworking of Broza’s boy-with-guitar sound.
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Monday, May 16, 2016
The Surprising Yiddishkeit of Nat King Cole
In 1947, a magnificent jazz pianist and singer named Nat King Cole recorded a breakthrough number titled “Nature Boy.” In a world of late-era swing, novelty songs, and syrupy ballads, “Nature Boy” stood out because of mysterious, evocative lyrics but also because of its brooding, urgent melody. Few listeners were aware of the Jewish resonances of “Nature Boy,” including perhaps its putative composer, Eden Ahbez.
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Monday, May 9, 2016
Who Should Replace James Levine at the Met?
The Metropolitan Opera press release dated April 14 stating that long-time music director James Levine is retiring at age 72 due to health issues — without even a perfunctory quote from the departing maestro himself — has left all opera fans agog at the possibilities of who may be hired for the job. No one can really replace a conductor who has run the ship at the Met continuously since 1976, and it seems unlikely that any musician will be permitted such a lengthy stay at the top again. Opera is an innately hysterical art form, where primal, tantrum-like shrieks are rewarded with ovations. Little if anything about selecting a new Met opera director is likely to be rational. Possible successors to Levine, only of handful of whom have been widely discussed, include Gianandrea Noseda, Andris Nelsons, Simone Young, Kazushi Ono, Richard Farnes, Ivor Bolton, Evelino Pidò, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin; it may be helpful to consider a few generally overlooked alternatives, some of them Jewish.
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Monday, May 2, 2016
EXCLUSIVE: Listen to The Song Allen Ginsberg Wrote For His Father
Although the voice is definitely familiar, the genre is definitely not. Could that possibly be the late Allen Ginsberg, talk-singing while accompanied by horn and guitar? In fact, it is. In conjunction with the release of the 3 CD box set “The Last Word On First Blues” released by Omnivore Recordings, the Forward presents the premiere of “Father Death Blues,” a song by the beat poet laureate himself.
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