{"id":9603,"date":"2011-01-18T05:55:29","date_gmt":"2011-01-18T12:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=9603"},"modified":"2011-01-19T22:12:59","modified_gmt":"2011-01-20T05:12:59","slug":"asaf-avidan-and-the-mojos-at-the-israeli-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=9603","title":{"rendered":"Asaf Avidan and the Mojos at the Israeli Opera"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Asaf Avidan and the violins in rehearsal at the Israeli Opera\/Photo: Ayelet Dekel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOh, times have changed since you became king\u201d Asaf Avidan\u2019s mournful vocals flow through a sea of instruments – Asaf Avidan and the Mojos are rehearsing for their performance tomorrow night at the Israeli Opera with 40 members of the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra, conducted by Michael Wolpe, artistic director of this unique concert. An outrageous rocker with crossover appeal (Avidan\u2019s song Weak, from his debut album The Reckoning was used in the soundtrack of the film The Tree 2010) and a voice that resonates with a powerful wail, Avidan has embarked on an adventure of a different sort with his new concept album \u2013 Through the Gale<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Songs that came into being on a two week vacation in the quiet of the Pacific, received classical arrangements under the artistic direction of Michael Wolpe and will be performed at the Israeli Opera as part of the Classic Rock series on January 19 & 23, 2011. The concert will include songs from Through the Gale<\/em>, and well known songs from Asaf Avidan and the Mojos\u2019 previous albums.<\/p>\n

Watching Avidan rehearse with the symphony, literally at the back of the room, Midnight East wondered, how does it feel for the fiercely individualistic bandleader to be inside such a group experience?
\n\u201cIt feels great sharing the load,\u201d said Avidan, \u201cI\u2019m taking a step back; I realize my place here – in the pre-production, the arrangements and creative process. Michael knows what he\u2019s doing. I am just another musician; there are so many elements involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet the chameleon-like performer admits with a smile, \u201cI\u2019m never un-involved \u2013 too much of a control freak.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Asaf Avidan in a rehearsal break at the Israeli Opera\/Photo: Elior Dekel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Avidan appreciated Wolpe\u2019s analytic approach to the songs, saying, \u201cWolpe really looked at the material for hours and hours, deconstructing and visualizing the songs, adding color and landscape. I work intuitively – I don\u2019t think.\u201d Avidan feels that Wolpe\u2019s approach brought out elements already present in the songs and \u201ctranslated\u201d them into the orchestration.<\/p>\n

Unlike songwriting, which is a private experience for Avidan, creating the arrangements was very much a group experience. Producer Ori Winokur connected Asaf Avidan and the Mojos (Asaf Avidan \u2013 vocals, guitar, harmonica; Roi Peled \u2013 guitars; Ran Nir \u2013 bass; Yoni “Joni Snow” Sheleg \u2013 drums; Hadas Kleinman \u2013 cello) to Michael Wolpe and Wolpe in turn suggested bringing his 4th year students from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance into the process. There were eleven students involved: Erez Avisar, Netta Shahar, Erez Raveh, Asher Goldschmidt, Adir Levy, Dotan Moshonov, Otni Oron, Asaf Matityahu, Ofir Braun, Meir Bricksman, and Israel Glicksberg. \u201cEach one received a section to arrange,\u201d said Winokur, \u201cwe gave them general guidelines and Michael Wolpe directed the process. Then we had a writing workshop in Sde Boker where we all went over the material.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sde Boker gathering must have been quite a jam session. \u00a0Avidan says, \u201cWe all went down South and brainstormed\u2026Hadas and Peled \u2013 everybody who had any input was listened to.\u201d Working with such a talented and communicative group of people was \u201ca blessing\u201d says Avidan.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for the talented musician? After the concerts at the Israeli Opera Asaf Avidan and the Mojos will head out to performances in India, and his next album \u2013 a \u201cjazzier\u201d one he says, is already recorded. \u201cI don\u2019t think in a linear path,\u201d says Avidan, \u201cI shoot all over the place, whatever has to come out. I like to widen the palette, work in different genres.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asaf Avidan and the Mojos at the Israeli Opera
\nJanuary 19 & 23 at 21:00, tickets are 135\/155\/175 NIS, to order call: 03-6927777.<\/p>\n

AYELET DEKEL<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOh, times have changed since you became king\u201d Asaf Avidan\u2019s mournful vocals flow through a sea of instruments – Asaf Avidan and the Mojos are rehearsing for their performance tomorrow night at the Israeli Opera with 40 members of the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra, conducted by Michael Wolpe, artistic director of this unique concert. An outrageous […]<\/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-9603","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\/9603","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=9603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}