{"id":21743,"date":"2012-09-14T23:33:54","date_gmt":"2012-09-15T06:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=21743"},"modified":"2012-09-20T23:10:39","modified_gmt":"2012-09-21T06:10:39","slug":"jerusalem-music-conference-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=21743","title":{"rendered":"Jerusalem Music Conference 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Acollective got the day off to a great start at The Zone\/Photo: Victor MuperPhoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ever wanted to get inside the mind of music programmers, trend-setting journalists, booking agents and producers? The Jerusalem Music Conference brought an impressive cohort to Israel from August 27 \u2013 31, 2012 to meet and share their insights with Israeli musicians and the curious public in a conference that included lectures, panel discussions, and music showcases.<\/p>\n

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Dekel Dvir jamming in with Acollective\/Photo: Victor MuperPhoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Listening in to several sessions, one common theme could be discerned: the importance of live concerts. To my mind, this is the conference\u2019s great success, in bringing central people from the international music industry to Israel, where they heard Israeli musicians playing live. As a fan of the indie music scene in Israel, I was most curious about the encounter between the visiting music professionals and Israeli music. One of the conference sessions offered the opportunity to get a sense of how \u201cthey\u201d hear the music, as a panel of guests \u2013 Patrick Joest (BMG Music), Matt McDonald (CMJ Music Marathon), Roel Coppen (Friendly Fire), Adrian Jolley (Mercury Records) \u2013 listened to a set of singles selected from among those sent in by intrepid musicians willing and eager to be critiqued in public.<\/p>\n

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The Raw Men Empire at The Zone\/Photo: Victor MuperPhoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What are they looking for? As Matt McDonald said, \u201cIt starts with a good song.\u201d \u201cThe live aspect,\u201d as Roel Coppen phrased it, is a crucial element, \u201cwhat does a band look like?\u201d For some markets, like Patrick Joest, whose focus is on synch licensing (placing music in film, television, or advertising) there may be very different considerations: \u201cIt\u2019s not always about artist-song.\u201d Adrian Jolley struck a cheerful note, saying, \u201cI\u2019m here to hopefully find the next big thing out of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

What did they hear? First up was Ninet\u2019s ICU.
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The listeners different perspectives were apparent from the start, as Joest said, \u201cThe first 30 \u2013 40 seconds could work well for TV\/film.\u201d \u201cI like that she\u2019s big here,\u201d said Jolley, adding that he feels that this would be \u201cmore of an artist proposition than a song.\u201d Coppen agreed, saying that \u201cyou need a presence to build something.\u201d In other words, Israeli musicians who want to build an international career should take into account logging serious time abroad. Not great news for their Israeli fans, but perhaps a necessary aspect of making a living in music.<\/p>\n

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Ninet at the Lima Lima\/Photo: Victor MuperPhoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cannons of Pedro<\/a> Heartbroken Song elicited the comment from Matt McDonald that \u201csounds like it could be from anywhere.\u201d There\u2019s the rub: a song has to connect with the listener, but at the same time, international industry members looking at Israeli bands want to find a singer or group that has a distinct identity, something that feels like it comes from here. Later, after listening to Noria\u2019s<\/a> Last Sunset, McDonald expanded on this theme, saying, \u201cIsraeli doesn\u2019t mean you have to throw in a Klezmer clarinet. The biggest thing I look for across the board is rising above the standard and wowing us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Igor Krutogolov – Kruzenshtern i Parahod\/Photo: Victor MuperPhoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The session\u2019s format \u2013 hearing one song from each artist \u2013 does not adequately reflect each artist, and is less suited to artists working with a song sequence. Efrat Ben Zur<\/a>\u2019s Robin, a track from her album of original compositions to the poetry of Emily Dickinson, seemed to give the listeners a feeling that as Joest put it, \u201cI\u2019d like to hear more by that artist,\u201d but one song was not enough to convey the feel of either the album or artist. The panel\u2019s responses to the songs were spontaneous and uncensored, if sometimes harsh, as was Jolley\u2019s comment on the Township\u2019s song Birds as something played in the background by \u201cmiddle-aged people at a dinner party, thinking they\u2019re bit cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Drunk Machine\/Photo: Victor MuperPhoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Uzi Ramirez\/Photo: Victor MuperPhoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When they heard something they liked, the reaction was just as strong and direct. \u201cI thought it was a great song,\u201d said Jolley, after hearing Tzvika Force\u2019s For Breaking My Heart, and Coppen summed it up for the group saying, \u201cWell, I think we\u2019ll all check it out.\u201d
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Izabo\u2019s I Like It concluded the session with smiles all around. \u201cI like it,\u201d said Joest. McDonald concurred, \u201cThere are enough weird little elements in there to keep me interested.\u201d \u201cIt feels like it\u2019s coming from somewhere else,\u201d said Jolley, \u201ccoming from here.\u201d
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The Jerusalem Music Conference was hosted and supported by the Jerusalem Municipality, the conference is presented by the JVP Media Quarter, Zappa Music Group, Oleh! Records, 2B Vibes, Afficoman Productions, Minhal Ginot Hair and supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, United States Embassy, and the Embassy of the Czech Republic, and produced by Jeremy Hulsh and Orly Yaakobi.<\/p>\n

The photos accompanying this article were taken by Victor MuperPhoto at the Jerusalem Music Conference showcase in Tel Aviv on Thursday, August 30, 2012. Enjoy the complete album at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever wanted to get inside the mind of music programmers, trend-setting journalists, booking agents and producers? The Jerusalem Music Conference brought an impressive cohort to Israel from August 27 \u2013 31, 2012 to meet and share their insights with Israeli musicians and the curious public in a conference that included lectures, panel discussions, and music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21743","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\/21743","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}