{"id":20852,"date":"2012-08-03T22:58:56","date_gmt":"2012-08-04T05:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=20852"},"modified":"2012-08-07T22:39:01","modified_gmt":"2012-08-08T05:39:01","slug":"israeli-folk-meets-oriental-pop-shalna-alecha-at-tmuna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=20852","title":{"rendered":"Israeli Folk Meets Oriental Pop: Shalna Alecha at Tmuna"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Shalna Alecha – Eitan Ginzburg on guitar and lead vocals, Tali Rubinstein on recorder and vocals, Moran Meisels on piano and vocals, Maayan Doari on percussion, and Yaron Mitalman on bass\/Photo: Matan Aderet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three young Israelis, Eitan, Moran, and Tali, met each other in the army about 9 years ago.\u00a0 Little did they know, however, that in the years to come, these three talented musicians would reunite at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Ramat Hasharon and eventually form into the sensational band they are today: Shalna Alecha, an eclectic Israeli folk band with Oriental influences that resonate with the variety of instruments used, bringing a special sound to the Israeli music scene.<\/p>\n

Gathered in a small concert venue at Tel Aviv\u2019s Tmuna Theater, a crowd of about 60 people, young and old, waited for the night\u2019s performance as beers and french fries scattered about the tables.\u00a0 Finally, the anxiously awaited Shalna Alecha greeted the clapping and cheering audience with a sunny, spirited song, complete with \u201cbadadabadas\u201d and other funky mouth-made noises that add not only to the band\u2019s Oriental pop flavor, but also to their commitment to music that has a humorous flare.\u00a0 Other amusing aspects of the evening included comic song endings, such as a fade-out that sounded like a crashing airplane, as well as unpredictable introductions that kept the audience on their toes, for example one song that unexpectedly changed gears into a fast, vibrant song after a rather slow and calm beginning.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Tali Rubinstein & Yaron Mitalman – Shalna Alecha\/Photo: Matan Aderet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The band\u2019s energy is evident in every band member (Eitan Ginzburg on guitar and lead vocals, Tali Rubinstein on recorder and vocals, Moran Meisels on piano and vocals, Maayan Doari on percussion, and Yaron Mitalman on bass), but especially in Tali Rubinstein.\u00a0 Tali switched off between six or so different recorders in what I noted during the concert as \u201cserious flute playing.\u201d\u00a0 Tali\u2019s musical enthusiasm and expertise resounded from the stage every time she played the recorder, adding that Far East texture to the band\u2019s music, with each recorder incorporating a different character to the particular song.\u00a0 A rather large recorder contributed a full sound to one song, almost resembling a wind calling or some sort of nature whistle, while another small recorder was used for a swifter, buoyant song.\u00a0 Whichever recorder Tali used, she had the remarkable ability to essentially tell an entire story merely with the sound of the recorder alone.<\/p>\n

A delightful interlude to Shalna Alecha\u2019s music came when the Israeli comedian, Avi Granik, joined the band on stage.\u00a0 Avi jammed with the band for a few lively songs, and then followed with his own piano solo, cooling the audience\u2019s mood with a slower, more relaxed number.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Eitan Ginzburg & Avi Granik\/Photo: Matan Aderet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The night concluded with the crowd begging for more, and Eitan returned to the stage for an encore.\u00a0 He switched from his comfortable position at the guitar and took to the piano for a calm solo before the rest of the band joined him on stage for a few more songs.\u00a0 Right up until the very last song, Shalna Alecha gave the audience beautiful harmonies and unique, radiant songs, unlike any band I know.\u00a0 Eitan commented backstage after the show: \u201cI grew up listening to all types of Israeli music because my parents always had the radio on, so I listened to whatever the radio was playing – a diversity of musicians.\u201d\u00a0 This diverse range of influences was discernible during the concert with the band\u2019s openness to all kinds of sounds, instruments, and types of lyrics, many of which were rich with Jewish references (for example, one song talked about \u201cShir Hashirim.\u201d)\u00a0 Eitan continued, \u201cI am inspired by Idan Raichel, Yoni Rechter, Danny Robas, and Aviv Gefen, just to name a few.\u201d\u00a0 These are quite a list of Israeli names to live up to, indeed, but the way the band is sounding, Shalna Alecha may just be Israel\u2019s next big thing.<\/p>\n

See more photos of Matan Aderet’s photos of the concert on Midnight East’s Facebook Page<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three young Israelis, Eitan, Moran, and Tali, met each other in the army about 9 years ago.\u00a0 Little did they know, however, that in the years to come, these three talented musicians would reunite at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Ramat Hasharon and eventually form into the sensational band they are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20852\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}