Search - Wally Brill :: The Covenant

1920s Cantorial remixed as electronica

Israel Beat | Jerusalem, Israel | 06/19/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Leave it to my friend Steve from FissionPile.com to ruin anything science fiction/spirituality oriented. Steve talked through the entire movie Stargate, telling me how their time travel techniques weren't really possible, and he and Roberto from martial arts destroyed The Matrix. I was enthralled by the pictures in the sleeve of Wally Brill's The Covenant of white-coated scientists examining kabbalah outlines. Furthermore, the track A Loop In Time is about "people in little suits from the book of Ezekiel". I couldn't wait to play it for Steve so I could win our ongoing argument, but he was utterly turned off. Not only were the kabbalah symbols out of context, he said, but the science references all outdated.In spite of Steve, The Covenant remains a highly engaging CD, specifically the track Rtzeh. I played it on the show and a lady called up breathlessly telling me how it was the most beautiful and amazing piece of music she ever heard in her life. I love playing it back to back with the original Gershon Sirota version with is available on Great Voices of the Synagogue. And that's the magic of this album. The former producer of Ofra Haza and other well-known Jewish artists took a collection on old 78 rmp cantorial records and remixed them. The music is electronic/techno/ambient in nature. Lots of synthesizers and beats give the operatic Biblical Hebrew vocals a haunting and hypnotic sound similar to Deep Forest or Enigma. Well-loved cantors who ruled in the 1920's and 1930s such as Pierre Pinchik,. Samuel Malavsky and Ben Zion Kapov-Kagan reign again in a modern electronica way. Wally Brill justifies it by comparing it to the canters who performed outside the synagogues in the opera houses of Europe in days of past.My favorites are Kiddush Le-Shabbat which was included on several compilation CDs and A Typical Day, which features the spoken word of Holocaust survivor Helen Lazar. The later is a hard-hitting track pared with the music, if you can bear to listen to her story straight through.If you don't mind a little pseudo-science Deepak Chopra spirituality in the liner notes, and just listen to the music then this might just be the most amazing CD you have ever heard in your life. Close your eyes and the voices of your great-grandfathers will pierce right through your soul..."

MASTERPIECE

Aaron | Bay Area, CA | 04/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps as an american, non-observant jew who has undergone a pull toward exploring his roots for the first time in 30 years, I may be somewhat biased in my feelings about this album. Nonetheless, one need not be jewish to appreciate the awe-inspiring sounds Wally Brill has created here. He has harnessed the raw emotion of jewish cantorial vocals, applying it on top of brilliant, world-beat rhythms and passionate, entrancing melodies. Believe me, my words don't come close to doing complete justice to this music... but this album has affected me on a deep spiritual level - and my guess is, if you are a "lost jew" but always felt that certain "something", it will do the same for you. If you are not jewish, this album is an excellent modern-day musical primer of sorts to understanding jewish soul."

Cantors with electronica

Pink Noodle | Duncanville, TX USA | 08/16/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Wally Brill has sampled a treasure-trove of the great Cantors (Jewish liturgical singers) of the '20s, '30s, & '40s. The Covenant integrates these remarkable vocals with new instrumentation which draws on elements of world, ambient, electronic, and dub music.

"Much of my favorite music and art reflects the artist's desire to contact that which he or she holds sacred: God, the Supreme, the Divine...," begins the liner notes from Wally Brill's The Covenant. Brill utilizes sacred Hebrew chants originally recorded on 78's in the early part of the century and combines them with modern day electroinca and trip-hop beats; resulting in Jewish cantors chanting their praises over slow, thumping drum tracks, laced with heavy basslines and low-range melodies. He has taken complete cantoral vocal performances, and woven them into rich instrumental tapestries consisting of tablas, digeridoo, trumpet, Tibetan singing bowls and the unique contributions of avante-ambient guitar master David Torn.



Standout tracks on this release include "A Typical Day", an emotional description by a 12-year-old Holocaust survivor of a day in the Auschwitz concentration camp.



Brill's production credits include work with such diverse artists as UK punks 999 and Chelsea, electronic pioneer Thomas Dolby and Israeli world beat superstar Ofra Haza.



-- review from calabashmusic site which also has downloads"