{"id":224,"date":"2012-04-06T00:50:07","date_gmt":"2012-04-06T00:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/apsaramusic.com\/?p=224"},"modified":"2023-04-30T19:52:42","modified_gmt":"2023-04-30T19:52:42","slug":"tel-aviv-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apsaramusic.com\/?p=224","title":{"rendered":"A RARE EXPERIENCE: THE TOUR\u00c9-RAICHEL COLLECTIVE RECREATES THE ‘TEL AVIV SESSION’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israeli musician Idan Raichel shares the incredible story of jamming with Malian guitar virtuoso Vieux Farka Tour\u00e9 and uncovering a diamond.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Vieux Farka Tour\u00c3\u00a9 (left) and Idan Raichel in concert. (Nitzan Treystman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two years ago Vieux Farka Tour\u00e9<\/a><\/strong> and Idan Raichel<\/a><\/strong> met in a rehearsal room in a south Tel Aviv recording studio simply to jam. Deciding it would make good archive material, they recorded the spontaneous three-hour session.<\/p>\n

“There was something about this session that just brought out our love of music,” Raichel said during a recent phone interview.<\/p>\n

A week later Jacob Edgar from Cumbancha Records<\/a> contacted Raichel with the idea of turning the session recording into an album. Raichel initially hesitated at the thought of cutting down the 15- to 20-minute improvised melodies into album tracks. But after spending a few months listening to the recording, he realized it resembled an unpolished “diamond” and took on the task of producing the album.<\/p>\n

Raichel’s work paid off in the form of 11 shining tracks. Under the name the Tour\u00e9-Raichel Collective,<\/strong> The Tel Aviv Session<\/a><\/em> was released on Cumbancha last week. The four musicians from the original session\u2014Tour\u00e9 (guitar), <\/strong>Raichel (piano), Souleymane Kane<\/strong> (calabash), and Yossi Fine<\/strong> (bass)\u2014form the core of this acoustic album. A select group of guest artists, including harmonica player Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Yonnet and singer Cabra Casay, also lent their talent to the album.<\/p>\n

“Vieux Farka Tour\u00e9 and I are very song- and production-oriented, so it was a very different experience for us,” Raichel said. “[But] The Tel Aviv Session<\/em> album ended up as one of the most exciting works that I have ever done as a musician.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>During production, Raichel kept the album focused on the original 2010 session, especially the unrehearsed musical exchange between the artists and the overall atmosphere of the studio. Like on a jazz recording, the musicians take turns leading, and when they all play together they create shimmering cyclones of sound. An occasional breath or sigh even comes through on the recording. Listening, it is easy to imagine the excitement and connection between the musicians during the session.<\/p>\n

“[With the album,] I tried to emphasize the best part of each musician,” Raichel said. “But the most important thing was still the communication between the four of us.”<\/p>\n

There is a feeling of freedom and experimentation on the album, and even of heightened virtuosic ability. On the track “Bamba<\/a>,” for example, Raichel plays glissandos and plucks the strings of the studio’s grand piano to create the sound of a West African kora. Tour\u00e9’s dazzling finger work and tone especially come through on tracks like “Hawa<\/a>” and “Ai Houde Bakoi<\/a>.”<\/p>\n