A point of light in America today; Cal Arts, Lorca, and the sophistication of TOTAL theater

Last night I had the unique pleasure of visiting the campus of Cal Arts to see a student production of Lorca’s masterpiece, “The House of Alba”. In these troubled times marked by an aggressive, vulgar, simplistic, violent and shallow popular culture, it seems to me that Cal Arts have managed to nurture a completely different kind of culture. As this student production unveiled, I was witnessing the sophistication of TOTAL theater, a theater that engages the body, mind, emotions, voice, music and dance. A theater that is multilayered, where actors work 100% of the time, when they are in the spot light, and when they are in the shadows, A spectacular set design conquered part of the audience’s space connecting the European Spanish past and the contemporary American urban landscape. The light and sound design were wise, sensitive and nuanced. Although all the creators of this complex production were students, and while I could sense their considerable talents and abilities, it was clear to me, that they must have benefited from sophisticated instruction, as for example the voice work which obviously came out of the expert advise of Mr. Rafael Lopez-Barrantes who teaches there.

As I am an Oscar winning composer (for the musical film West bank Story), a receiver of various NEA and Rockefeller grants, site specific commissions such as from the Getty Museum and others, have extensive experience in scoring for theater, dance, film and TV and being an artist and scholar in resident in schools such as YALE, John Hopkins, UCLA, MIT and more, being at Cal Arts last night, boosted my optimism in the future. Here are the people who are striving for excellence, creativity, nuance and sophistication. How good it is to discover another point of light in America today!

The hidden world of the musical notes in between the notes of the piano.

In many of my lectures I have talked about the notes we – living  in Western Culture – have lost. The notes that are “allowed” in Western music – the 12 notes of the piano, are very limited pallet of sounds. Actually, several hundreds years ago we still had more than the 12 piano notes even in Europe. But in the last 400 years the micro tones, or the notes in between the piano keys have vanished from the vocabulary of musicians and cultures in the West. We still have the micro tones – for example the notes in between C and D, or between Do and Re – we do still have them, in the Middle East and in Asia. I play some of these notes on my Oud, as it is a fretless instrument and one can slide on the strings and play any note beyond and above the limited 12 notes of the piano. You can hear it on the CD “Under the Olive Tree” in the song Walla Zaman, you can hear it on the CD “Oud Prayers on the Road to St. Jacque” in the track La Illah ( which was recently was included in a the soundtrack for the new up coming Mark Magidson film “Samsara”). My friend Steven Taylor explored this world of micro tunings through a very special teacher, most people never heard about. You can learn about this amazing man and his sonic world, in a new video and web site Stephan created with my friend Gary David and another fellow musician. This is not only a super cool video and a great service for the development of music composition and performance in the West and beyond, but also a spiritual cosmological perspective on music making.

The Sonic Sky: An Introduction
watch it here:
http://www.thesonicsky.com/video/sonic-sky-introduction/
www.thesonicsky.com
Composer Stephen James Taylor describes to the newcomer, the musical realm of Erv Wilson, and the vast universe of his musical structures.

For more info on my work and music , up coming events, music and video clips please visit www.yuvalronmusic.com

Esalen, Nature, seeking meaning and truth and the spiritual path.

June 26, 2011. Sat. evening on the beautiful coast of Northern California. Arriving in Esalen Institute is like landing in a picture perfect of the Garden of Eden! The farm and gardens are even more beautiful than during last August when I came for the first time.  Being alone, I got to eat quietly seating on the grass looking over the blue waves of Pacific Ocean. Esalen is possibly the most well known and respected center for self development and spiritual growth. Interested people and pioneer master teachers from all over the world have been drowned to come here for the last 50 years!

I am teaching a seminar on Mysticism of Music and working on my book focused on music, spirituality and promotion of peace. What a great setting for introspective work and for writing!

I am eating my dinner slowly, and truly enjoying every bite. This food tastes stronger and healthier than any other food I have ever eaten! Being alone I could really feel every nuance in this food, freshly picked up from the earth just few hours ago by the good people who farm this rich land. I smell the salty clean ocean air. It is so good. This is paradise!

Few days later, my workshops are so well received that I have been invited to come again and teach here for a whole month next year. I hope we will work it out.

I love my students – all seekers of meaning and truth – and I feel so much love and appreciation coming out of them. They are beautiful people. They work in the farm during the day and study with me at night. The spiritual teaching is in nature and in the earth. The work is not only done in the classroom during the seminar, but it also continues beyond the classroom as the seekers work the earth and service in the kitchen in the magnificent land of Esalen.

The stillness, quiet and disconnection from the outside world allow time to truly appreciate the beauty surrounding us such as the flowers, the skies and the birds, and this experience is intensified at Esalen. This is a place to look deeply, to see and enjoy the natural beauty of the world. It is a place that pulls inward, as the ocean and the constant sound of waves are providing a constant hypnotic soundtrack. It is a very good place to work on my book, isolated from the world, the routine and the daily chores. I will soon be back here for another teaching seminar during July 17-22, 2011 to teach with Mark Waldman about  Music, Spirituality and the Brain. Fascinating seminar!

I hope to see you too at Esalen sometime in the future!

For more info on my work and music , up coming events, music and video clips please visit www.yuvalronmusic.com

Music now available for preview and purchase on Facebook!

Greetings my friends,

I wanted to announce a new feature of our Yuval Ron Ensemble facebook page. You can now listen to samples of all my CDs, and make purchases, directly from Facebook!

** Facebook | Yuval Ron Ensemble | Listen and Buy **

Be sure to click “Like” to keep in touch with my Ensemble and receive updates!

-Yuval

Israeli music, Bedouin music, Sacred Israeli Music, Yemenite-Jewish Music and West bank Story in UCLA

In February-March 2011 I had the honor and the pleasure to lead a two week residency at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) focus on the untold chapters of Israeli music and culture, its roots in the ancient Kingdom of Israel and its relationship to Arabic music and culture. The series opened with a lecture demonstration titled: “My Heart is in the East” – Sacred Israeli Music. In it I discussed how ancient Israeli Hebrew music connects the Jewish people to their roots as a Middle Eastern tribe, where it originated and why it is important today for Israeli identity and peace with the Arab world. This event features the deep spiritual singing of Rabbi Hagai Batzri.

The next day, I presented a fascinating talk about the Israeli-Bedouin music connection. In it I explored how did Bedouin melodies end up in classic traditional Israeli folk songs and dances. We discussed the interest early Zionists musicians and artists found in the traditional music of the Nomads people of the Middle Eastern deserts and how this attraction impacted the music, dance and art scene of Israeli society from the 1920 to our times. I shared field recordings done in the desert dunes, and stories of travels with the Bedouins, and compared the original Bedouin melodies and the Israeli folk songs. THis lecture-demonstration featured the Arabic singer Ahmed El Asmer and Israeli singer Maya Haddi.

In the third day we took on a difficult question: What is Israeli Music ?
This was an opportunity to perform and talk about the rich and complex musical traditions of Israel from ancient times to contemporary styles. The unfolding of various musical expressions of East meets West, unique musical fusions and the fascinating history of some Israeli musical genres which went from being underground to being celebrated by the Israeli elite. This event featured the Yuval Ron Ensemble.

Then came the forth day with a most amazing untold chapter of the Yemenite Jewish music of Israel, featuring Margalit Oved (Yemenite dancer and singer), Barak Marshal (Yemenite male singer and choreographer) and Maya Haddi (Israeli Yemenite singer)
I discussed the question of why there is such high percentage of successful singers in Israel who came form Yemenite Jewish origins, the special music tradition that the Yemenite Jews brought to Israel and how they influenced Israeli folk music and dance. Also we explored the women songs of Yemen, the wedding songs and why they sing it.
In the firth day we had a special screening of the Oscar winning film “West Bank Story” which I scored in 2007 and a discussion on how humor and art could impact peace making efforts in the Middl East.

And finally for the sixth and final event we had a full concert of the Yuval Ron Ensemble with guests artists. It was titled; From Spain to Jerusalem – A musical journey following the traveling of Sephardic Jews and their music and poetry from Spain via Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, Iraq and finally to Israel. The story of Maimonides escaping from Spain to Morocco, Israel and settling in Egypt as the Sultan’s doctor, the tale of the Spanish Jewish refugees rescued by the Ottoman Navy and the mystery of the oldest Jewish home in Jaffa, Israel, built by the Turkish Jews on their way to pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It was a fascinating journey in music, poetry and story telling which brought Jews, Armenians and Arabs together to celebrate the beauty of the music and culture of the Middle East, Spain and Jerusalem.

Prof. Arieh Saposnik, the director of the Y and S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies in UCLA who presented my residency in UCLA wrote: “Yuval Ron’s residency did an excellent job of shedding new light on a diverse array of perspectives on Israeli music, its history, and its multiple cultural influences. Each of the lecture-demonstrations managed to capture a particular aspect of Israeli music. Given the five events that preceded it, I knew the concert finale would be excellent, but it exceeded all expectations and managed to generate not only wonderful music, but also a spirit and energy that reverberated almost overwhelmingly throughout the audience in Schoenberg Hall. People simply did not want to leave when the concert ended. Yuval Ron’s ability to bring together such evocative and eloquent music with an intellectual exploration of the music’s history and development, and a subtle message about cultural fusion and coexistence made the concert—and the entire residency—a truly unique experience, both for me personally and for the many participants who commented on it to me in this spirit.”

I hope you would have an opportunity to experience such an incredibly deep inspiring and insightful events in your community. Please contact us at info@yuvalronmusic.com to arrange bringing this important work to your community.

For more info on my work and music , up coming events, music and video clips please visit www.yuvalronmusic.com

Deep Spirituality, Music for Peace: Mystical Music and dance of the Middle East

It has been 10 years since a humble group of artists presented a one time concert in Santa Monica, California. It was called “A Concert for Peace”, by Yuval Ron and Friends. Now 10 years later – after many tours around the world, peace missions to Israel, Palestine, Morocco, Turkey, Korea and more – my ensemble received a birthday gift: a 10 minutes documentary with some of the best moments that were filmed during these 10 years of relentless work for education and a better future for our planet and our children. I hope that this video will bring our music and message to many more people around the world. We  are looking forward to hearing from you so we can arrange to bring our programs to your community as well. Please let us know you are out there, email us at: info@yuvalronmusic.com. Please enjoy this 10 minutes video and please share with your friends. This video was created by Barry and Jeremy Schneier, good friends and good film makers from Boston who have been following us and supporting us for many years. I am grateful to all the good people who made this important work possible.

Whirling Dervish Aziz, Sufi devotional music and Sacred Hebrew musical traditions

To celebrate the end of this exciting summer I am bringing together my full ensemble with Dervish Aziz, for another performance of ‘Seeker of Truth” (see video clip insert). This is a pioneering endeavor in bringing together the Middle Eastern and South Asian vocal and musical traditions into a new exhilarating trance-induced accord.  We presented it first at the World Sacred Music in LA in 2008. The DVD and CD “Seeker of Truth” ( see Cd’s and DVD page at www.yuvalronmusic.com) came out of that blessed night at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. The performance was sold out and the people, and as soon as Yeghish our master of the Duduk began his introductory solo opening the first set, all of us were transformed to an earlier time in ancient lands. It was out doors at the courtyard of the Skirball Center. 700 people filled the place to a max.  I remember looking up to the skies and feeling I am in another open courtyard somewhere in the Middle East in a very distant time. It was magical. It was inspiring and transforming experience. 700 strangers became brothers and sisters in the course of that event. You can see it at the end portion of clip above.

This summer 2010 I will be teaching in Mendocino Middle Eastern music and dancer Retreat. Heaven on Earth! Then I will be going to Esalen Institute in Big Sur,CA to teach a week-long seminar with leading brain researcher and writer Mark Robert Waldman. It is called Music, Spirituality and the Brain. Very interesting work!

And then we will go back to LA to celebrate the end of a summer  with the “Seeker of Truth Concert. In this concert we will perform the ecstatic music of the mystical Sufi and Hebrew traditions of Middle East and Pakistan with the Whirling Dervish Aziz and the sacred dance artist Maya Karasso. The performance at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica, CA will also features the soulful vocals of Maya Haddi and special guest Sukhawat Ali Khan, a master Qawwali (devotional) singer from Pakistan.  I hope you will be there too!

Gypsy Flamenco meets Andalusi Hebrew music traditions

I just came back home from a magical concert tour of the heart of Spain – Andalusia. This tour launched a new collaboration with the Gypsy Flamenco artists of Jerez. I brought with me a quartet of the Yuval Ron Ensemble ( Maya Haddi – vocals, Norik Manoukian – woodwinds, Jamie Papish – percussion, and myself on Oud) to perform with Jose Caraoscura, a Gypsy singer and percussionist from the Parillia family of Jerez – one of the important families in Flamenco – his two guitarists Christobal and Esekel, Carmen Amador – voice and dance – and our producer Mhijea, who combined Belly dance and Flamenco. As I wrote in one of the newsletters that preceded the tour: “Life is more than internet and books”….indeed on this tour we had the delight and fortune to have a body and soul experience which will always be part of us. Being there, I felt sometime as if I am on the set of one of my favorite gypsy films, but it was the uncut version, the real version!

I will never forget the dinner and jam session at Carmen Amador’s house, the night at the Cave and the evening at the Parillia family. I trust that these sounds and sights will inform and inspire my ensemble and me in the years to come, and surely will effect our life and work.

To read a full report on the tour with photos, commentary and music please copy the following link and paste it into your browser:

http://lonemountain-art.com/Spain/

Sufi Music as a path to Unity – Nusrat Ali Fatah Khan, Omar Faruk Tekbilek and Sukhawat Ali Khan

Nusrat Ali Fatah Khan (may peace be upon his soul) was sited on a carpet, center stage of Symphony Hall in Boston. His Qawwali singing just brought the audience into ecstasy. Audience members jumped on stage and danced in trance as the Boston police got increasingly nervous. The police ended up shutting down the concert…..The great Nusrat was so large that he needed 3 people to help him stand up and walk off stage.

I will never forget this exciting night in Boston in the early 1990′s, seeing the “Voice from Heaven” singing mind-blowing spiritual “jazz  scat” from the Hindu-Pakistani Sufi tradition. Since that day I have been researching and seeking out the Sufi musical traditions, its philosophy, psychology and mystical teaching. I was very fortunate to meet the great Sufi master musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek in 1996 and to work with him on 2 albums “ONE” and “One Truth” and on two film soundtrack which I composed (“Love of the First Degree” and “Inshallah”). Faruk introduced me to the Turkish Sufi tradition, the poetry of Yunus, and the wisdom of the Mevlavi teaching about the Breath of Life, being an instrument and being empty. Since then I have explored the connection between mystical Jewish teaching ( Kabbalah) and music and the Sufi traditions. These journeys influenced and informed my music with the Yuval Ron Ensemble and with all that I do.  To me, The Sufi path and music have  been one of the major gifts that I got in this life!

In recent years I was fortunate to cross paths with the Qawwali master vocalist Sukhawat ali Khan ( the son of the great Ustad Salamat Ali Khan – may peace be upon his soul). Sukhawat’s voice is featured on my latest release “Seeker of Truth” Cd and on the new DVD “Seeker of Truth” (a concert film plus a behind the scene documentary) – You can hear and see it at the CD’s and DVD’s page at www.yuvalronmusic.com

On Tuesday, December 15, 2009, at 7:30 pm I will be giving a lecture demonstration on Sacred Ecstasy in Hassidic Prayer and Sufi Ritual. It will be a musical presentation on the inner workings of the ecstatic Hassidic music & dance, and the Sufi practice of moving prayer-meditation (Whirling). How one may transcend the limits of reality and reach Unity and why certain music and certain movements are used in the mystical practice, both in the Hasidic-Jewish tradition and in the Islamic-Sufi path. The location is: Valley Beth Shalom: 15739 Ventura Blvd. Encino, CA 91436-2951. Admission is Free. For more information: call 818-788-6000

I hope to see you there!

For more events on Sufi music and poetry see the Calendar Page at www.yuvalronmusic.com

Peace be on you,

Mystical music of the Middle East in Davis, CA

DJ Gil have been playing my Cd’s on the radio station in Davis for years. We always talked about bringing to Davis, CA the Mystical and devotional songs which my ensemble The Yuval Ron Ensemble have been performing and recording. This November we will finally have a chance to do it! I have chosen to make it a statement about the great need we have for Peace. We need no more wars and violence! This concert will feature Israeli and Pakistani master musicians in an intimate evening of Sacred Ecstatic Sufi and Hebrew devotional music, poetry, and teaching stories. I will be featuring my brother master Qawwalli singer and harmonium virtuoso Sukhawat Ali Khan, and my good and sweet friend from Syria, master percussionist Faisal Zedan
Do not miss this inspirational intimate evening of inner introspection,sound meditation and ecstatic celebration.
It will take place at:
Village Homes Community Center
2661 Portage Bay East
Davis, CA. 95616
For more information:
email: ag@omsoft.com or
phone: 530-867-1032
We got great news last month when the CD Seeker of Truth was put on the Grammy’s Ballots. You may listen to the music from the whole album Seeker of Truth on the Grammy page which announced the inclusion of the album on the recent Grammy Ballots for “Best Traditional World Music Album’ category. The link below:

http://www.seekeroftruthgrammy.info/