Shemspeed On The March

Diwon, founder of the Sephardic Music Festival, is on a roll with his label Shemspeed.

Diwon, founder of the Sephardic Music Festival, is on a roll with his label Shemspeed.

by George Robinson
Special To The Jewish Week

LAst winter, Erez Safar, aka Diwon,
said, “People aren’t throwing money around for culture right now,” and that, he admits, hasn’t changed much in the last 10 months as the recession has deepened. But his musical mini-empire, Shemspeed, hasn’t missed a beat regardless, and its fall lineup is ambitious and capacious.
Not that the company hasn’t felt the pinch, he says.

“We generally make the most money from [live] shows,” explains Diwon, founder of the Sephardic Music Festival. “Club shows are about the same, number wise. But college shows and that sort of thing, events where a nonprofit will pay for our transportation and expenses — those have less funding. So it’s hit us hardest that way.”

But fans of

domestic-grown Jewish hip-hop needn’t fear. Shemspeed/modular moods has a full slate of releases and gigs planned. The company spent much of August promoting new recordings by its latest discovery, Eprhyme (pronounced “E-Prime”), an MC originally out of Olympia, Wash., and Darshan, a project that teamed Eprhyme with Shir Yaakov. The fall will see the company producing records by Kosha Dillz, Benyamin Brody, Moshiach Oi, Dreams in Static (a project of Diwon’s) and Y-Love.
Eprhyme’s first CD, “waywordwonderwill,” is impressive, a canny, thoughtful mix of hip-hop and world music. The MC name-checks just about every kind of music from the past 50 years in his single, “punklezmerap,” announcing, “Before there was hip-hop/I was into punk rock,” and going on to shout out to bebop and free jazz, among others, with a hot sample from a klezmer clarinetist wailing behind him. The rest of the set is every bit as energizing and multifaceted.

When Eprhyme came east, his girlfriend got in touch with Safar, who listened and was suitably impressed. The feeling was mutual.

“In Olympia, he was the Jew out there,” Diwon says. “When he came here, he was blown away that there was an actual Jewish hip-hop scene.”

Moshiach Oi is another discovery, a fascinating throwback to ‘80s hardcore as a vehicle for Torah-driven wisdom. For example, its CD, “Better Get Ready,” includes a minute-and-a-half-long shrieker called “We Want Moshiach Now.” Not as depraved as vintage Black Flag, perhaps, but great fun and, unlike many of the original hardcore bands, these guys can really play.

Diwon is even contemplating an EP for one of my favorites of his older projects, Juez, a wildly swinging jazz group that sounded like the Microscopic Septet marinating in kosher pickle brine. The band reunited for a gig in New York in August, but, given that members are spread out (one in Israel, one in Chicago) it’s a little hard for them to get together.

Meanwhile, Safar will continue with a busy slate of events, ranging from a 24-hour Sukkot party to the next edition of his annual Sephardic Music Festival.

For more information on Shemspeed/modular moods events, go to www.shemspeed.com.; Oct. 8: Big Sukkot Party, Midnight to Midnight, with Six-Pointed Star, Y-Love, Diwon and others, location to be announced.; Oct. 22: Shemspeed Showcase at CMJ. Time and location to be announced.; Dec. 12: Opening of the fifth annual Sephardic Music Festival. For details, watch www.sephardicmusicfestival.com.

The Nearness Of You:
Israeli Jazz Musicians,
Here And Back Home

A lot of ink has been spilled about the rising tide of Israeli jazz musicians who are turning the club scene in New York into a colony of Tel Aviv. Having contributed a few gallons myself, I can honestly say that these players are worth every drop because they are changing the face of jazz across the globe. But what nobody seems to have noticed lately is that a few of them are deserting New York and going back to Eretz Yisroel. Ayelet Rose Gottlieb and Anat Fort both moved from NYC to TA this summer, although looking at their calendars, you could be forgiven for not noticing. Indeed, they’ll be back in town in September. (Bassist Avishai Cohen is back home too.)

“I love New York and it’s home for me as well [as Israel],” Gottlieb, a gifted singer and composer, said in a phone conversation last month. “But my husband has been living in New Zealand for the past 2 1/2 years [where he was working on the next James Cameron film]. New York just isn’t for him and New Zealand is the end of the world for me. Tel Aviv is a place we both feel at home.”

For pianist Fort, the decision to go home was a long time in coming but not a surprise to her.
“I’ve always wanted to do it, but I didn’t want to disconnect from New York completely and I haven’t,” she says. “For 16 1⁄2 years it was music, music, music, career, career, career. It’s time for other things in life.”

Both Gottlieb and Fort are appearing in the States this fall, including a performance that unites them on stage at the Jazz Standard. Moreover, Fort is releasing her second CD this winter and expects to be back in the States to tour behind that recording in 2010.

And Fort says that she would tell younger musicians who ask her that they should definitely come to New York.

“Go! Don’t even think about it,” she urges. “When you’re young and trying to find your own voice, it’s important to go somewhere. And if you’re a jazz musician it’s got to be New York.”

Sept. 15: Ayelet Rose Gottlieb Sextet at the Jazz Standard (116 E. 27th St., [212] 576-2232). Gottlieb’s band includes two other great Israeli jazz players, Anat Fort and trumpeter Avishai Cohen, as well as reed player Loren Stillman and the other two-thirds of Fort’s regular trio, bassist Gary Wang and drummer Roland Schneider. The occasion is the launch of her excellent new CD, “Up to Here/From Here” (Arogole Records).

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