SAN DIEGO — There is a sense of solidarity when an internationally acclaimed artist shares a living room space with the community at large, and a heightened sense of togetherness when viewers from all over the world take a moment in time to experience a resonant musical event as a people. Idan Raichel’s “In Your Living Room” Live Concert from his home in Tel Aviv, Israel, continued the new format of live concerts in situ in this time of quarantine.
The concert, sponsored by The Jewish Agency For Israel, was billed as a Stay At Home/Safer At Home in situ performance. While the concert took place in the early days of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, with more and more confirmed new Coronavirus cases worldwide, the concert had a global reach in a time of need, as people were asked to shelter in place. On the live feed of the March 19th Facebook concert, messages were posted by viewers from Sweden, Brazil, France, and the U.S., exemplifying Idan Raichel’s large following in Israel and abroad. On display was Idan Raichel’s multi-instrumentalism (piano; guitar; vocals; percussion), his songwriting prowess, and his production acumen. A case in point for his popularity and stature is Raichel’s song “Feker Libi” (co-written with Doron Medali), chosen to represent the State of Israel in the Eurovision contest for 2020 (canceled due to Covid-19).
My own introduction to Raichel’s music was through the song Mi’ma’amakim, a musical lament that infuses an ancient Biblical text fragment that’s often quoted in part or in whole, in musical settings, with an Ethiopian vocal melody, as a preamble for a love song/rock lament. There is a universal plea in the Biblical text: Out of the deep have I called unto thee O Lord, O Lord, hear my prayer. At the intersection of the universal is, in Raichel’s rendition, a personal plea of a lover calling unto the beloved.
Idan Raichel’s “In Your Living Room” Live Concert, by its very nature of being an in situ performance, at home, is intimate and personal, while the universal plea of the concert is heard in the act of broadcasting to an audience sheltering in place, musically and textually promoting a sense of unity and universality. The success of this live concert is that Idan is already at home, both physically, and musically, as he is well-suited to presenting his songs as he originally conceived them, in their unadulterated form of the composer on piano, accompanying his own vocalizing.
The same is true for the audience, a varied group of listeners, brought together by a global pandemic, many of whom were at home with Idan Raichel’s World Music, and his interpretations of Jewish, Arabic, and Ethiopian music. I have instantly warmed up to Raichel’s intimate set, and I recommend to anyone interested in hearing an answer to a universal plea at these uncertain times to share in Raichel’s musical address, and to take a cue from his musical response. You never know, you might find yourself in search of more musical answers, and if you do then please share these with the rest of us.
Here is a list of Raichel’s set, with a few descriptions added to each song, in case these details can serve as starting points for further interest in Raichel’s music:
00:00 – 05:12 — Pre-broadcast there is a hypnotic track of World Music, so if time allows then take a moment to listen, for a minute, or two, before you delve into the concert proper, to enjoy, and to set the mood.
05:12 – 05:56 Shalom from Tel Aviv prelude/preamble, piano/vocals. Introductory jam to set the mood, and provide harmonic setting for the first song of the session.
05:56 – 09:42 — שאריות של החיים She’eriot Shel Ha’Chaim – Remains of Life–Piano/Vocals D Major, a rock ballad. Time signifies what remains of life. A kind of a philosophical rock ballad.
10:04 – 12:22 ממעמקים MiMa’amakim – Out of the Deep Piano/Vocals Key: B minor. A love song/rock lament, an homage of a lover to a lover. This song is tinged with biblical musical flavor, burrowing the psalmic phrase “Out Of The Deep Have I Called Unto Thee O Lord,” only that here the singer calls unto a lover.
13:12 – 17:25 בואי Bo’ee – Come Let’s. Piano/Vocals Dichotomy between lovers joining and the time that is on its march forward
18:09 – 20:40 שבט אחים ואחיות Shevet Achim Ve’Ach’ayot. Tribe of Brothers and Sisters. Guitar/Vocals
22:45 – 25:15 לפני שייגמר Li’Fnei She’Yigamer. Before It All Ends. Guitar/Vocals. Shout out to all the countries involved in the broadcast.
25:24 – 27:28 ואם תבואי אליי Ve’eem Tavo’ee Elay. If You Come to Me. Piano/Vocals
28:32 – 31:01 פקר ליבי Feker Libi Guitar/Vocals. Eurovision song by Idan Raichel, a multi-lingual song in Hebrew, Arabic, Amharic, and English, selected to represent the Israeli delegation to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2020, which has now been canceled due to the Coronavirus.
32:05 – 34:44 מחכה Me’Chake. Awaits. Piano/Vocal
35:38 – 38:50 רוב השעות Rov Ha’Sha’Ot. Most of the Hours. Piano/Vocals A rhythmic, pulsating harmonically adventurous rock tune.
39:26 – 40:40 מחכה Me’Chake Awaits. Piano/Vocals One verse of Me’Chake, rock ballad, something will touch us and we will have no more what to fear/ A goodnight/farewell lullaby to all of us as we face the Coronavirus crisis.
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Omer Zalmanowitz is a writer, musician, and teacher living in Southern California. An enthusiast of all things woodsy and montane. He says his greatest achievement to date is having fallen in love with the world over and over again.