Music with flavor (10/30/03)

An ensemble that has traveled from the other side of the world brought music influenced by more than seven cultures to Jay and Mercer counties this week.

Led by an Israeli frontman widely regarded as a “master” of woodwind instruments, Darma worked with students at two local middle schools and will perform in concert Saturday.

It has been argued that Darma’s music is as good as it is undefinable, described as “a musical tour of Middle Eastern, Greek, Israeli Klezmer, Indian, Balkan, Arabian, Bedoin, Turkish and Armenian cultures.”

When Darma takes the stage at Arts Place this Saturday at 8 p.m., it will be part of a unique ride through world music and distant cultures.

At least that’s what brought frontman Eyal Sela and his ensemble to Portland as part of the Midwest World Fest. The group — which played at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo back in 1994 — arrived on Monday, and conducted student workshops at East Jay Middle School and in Fort Recovery this week prior to Saturday’s concert.

“Teaching music is the excuse for teaching them diversity,” Sela said on Monday. “And it’s like we’re playing music, and unconsciously we are showing them ourselves ... We play Middle Eastern music with a Western approach many times, so for them it’s not really, really strange. It’s strange and familiar at the same time.”

Sela is billed as playing a total of seven instruments, although it’s only six by his tally, not counting his vocal cords. He started playing when he was much younger, listening to classical music and playing recorder and clarinet. Soon after he was an aspiring jazz musician and, now — a few decades later — he’s widely regarded as one of the world’s best woodwind players. Some of the instruments he plays include the Turkish clarinet, Indian bamboo flutes, Irish penny whistle, Norwegian osterdal, Armenian dudak and the common clarinet.

Tickets for Saturday’s performance are $6 for (high school and college) students and $12 for adults.

The backbone of Darma consists of strings player Gershon Weiserfirer, bassist Gilad Ephrat and percussion players Itamar Doari and Yinon Mualem. Each musician comes with a long list of credentials and varying talents.

“At the beginning I was a jazz musician and jazz musicians often when they play woodwinds they play three: the saxophone, clarinet and the flute, so that’s what I was in the beginning,” Sela said. “After that I became more and more in contact with ethnic music, and when it came to ethnic music it came natural to me, it was fine with me to go on to other instruments.”

Arts Place was selected by Arts Midwest as one of ten organizations to host the Midwest World Fest. This residency is the first in a two-year cycle that will feature four performance ensembles. Other groups will represent Mexico, Japan and the Gullah culture from the Sea Islands of South Carolina.

Darma will have its newest CD “Call of the Mountain” on sale following the concert, which was just released in America. Unlike previous releases, Sela calls this newest collection of music a “project CD.”

“It’s about a special culture that involves mystical dancing in Israel,” he said. “The CDs we’ve produced in the past were my material, which is world cross-culture music and my original compositions.”

A discounted ticket price and an intimate theater at Arts Place should only enhance Saturday’s concert. The band was disappointed during its public concert in Lima, Ohio, when only a handful of people attended the show. Sela and his ensemble have higher expectations for Saturday.

“The people that come to the concert are really moved, that’s what I’ve seen,” Sela said. “After the concert they don’t just walk home, they hang around and they don’t want to leave. They think they should cherish it because it’s something different.”[[In-content Ad]]