Tzimmes – The Road Never Travelled (Tzimmes, 2021)
The Road Never Travelled is a colorful double album from Tzimmes, one of Canada’s leading Jewish music ensembles. The band performs an eclectic mix of music rooted in various traditions of the Jewish world, including Ashkenazi (Yiddish and Klezmer), Sephardic (Ladino and Mediterranean) and Mizrahi (Middle Eastern).
Tzimmes’ multifaceted sound ranges from acoustic traditional folk-style pieces to pop and modern Flamenco fusion. Meanwhile, the lyrics are in Hebrew, Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), Yiddish and English.
Disc 1 titled The Road Never Travelled, focuses on delightful secular pieces while Disc 2, called Liturgy Lane, presents original music based on sacred texts.
Vancouver-based Tzimmes was founded in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada) in 1986 by musical director, classical music composer and founder of the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO) Moshe Denburg.
The album includes material recorded through a period of 28 years and reflects the different musicians that have participated in Tzimmes throughout the years.
Moshe says of The Road Never Travelled, “When I turned 70 in 2019, I felt a need to complete a variety of musical projects that had been on the back burner for a while, including tracks that had been laid down in 2005-06, and songs I had been working on for many years. The songs are all original compositions and arrangements, and some of them hark back to the very beginning of my career. I decided to gather all these pieces of my musical life, together with the musicians I have worked with over many years, and bring the whole to fruition in a compilation of Jewish and secular music. The Road Never Travelled is the result of these dreams and schemes.”
The lineup includes Moshe Denburg on voice, guitar, musical director; Amy Stephen on voice, accordion, whistle, lever harp; Fabiana Katz on voice; Yona Bar-Sever on lead guitar, voice, electric bass; Saul Berson on clarinet, flute, saxophone; Tim Stacey on bass, electric bass; and Phil Belanger on drums.
Additional musicians and guests: vItamar Erez on keyboards; Joseph “Pepe” Danza on bansuri; Yuji Nakagawa on sarangi; Cameron Wilson on violin; Finn Manniche on cello; Russell Wallace on vocal chanting; Myrna Rabinowitz on voice; Naomi Taussig on voice; Debby Fenson on voice; Naomi Arney on voice; Adel Awad on daf (middle eastern frame drum); Julian Siegel on accordion, synth bass.
The CD booklet includes extensive liner notes with the original lyrics and the Hebrew and English translations.
Buy the album from Bandcamp or oySongs
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.