Our
Story | The
Band in Concert|
Ensemble
Member Biographies
PARTNERING
FOR PEACE, PERSON TO PERSON — MENDILOW’S BORDER-BUSTING
MISSION SETS SOUNDSCAPE FOR “SKYLAND” CD
Blurring boundaries and connecting sounds, syncopations, rhythms and
roots is central to the mission inspiring the Guy Mendilow Band’s
latest CD, “Skyland.” Israeli peace songs and Sephardi canticas
meet Bahian street beats and blues. Drawing from a life lived in Israel,
South Africa and Brazil, where musical collaboration cuts through ancient
conflict, Israeli born musician Guy Mendilow is sowing the seeds of
peace with music.
“Mendilow
is no dilettante…he learned the music of these countries by living
and working there – so when he sings…he knows what he’s
talking about” — Boston Phoenix
It’s no surprise, then, that the Guy Mendilow Band includes world
class musicians from Israel, Argentina, Japan and the United States.
Or to find the group now partnering with international peacemaking organizations,
such as Seeds of Peace, whose work with Palestinian
and Israeli youth and adult educators helps forge the personal relationships
so critical to communication and reconciliation. The band’s ongoing
work with Seeds of Peace will be highlighted in their upcoming appearance
at the Chicago World Music Festival in September.
On a personal level, Guy’s musical mission is to explore the connection
between places he’s called home. Out in the world, he has oriented
his band around the premise that music, and music making, can play a
unique role in the effort to transform “the other” into
a fellow human being to whom one can at least listen, if not necessarily
agree.
“It was the height of Apartheid and my family, though secular
and Israeli, was invited to participate in one of the only integrated
church services in Johannesburg,” Mendilow recalls about the sparks
of this passion. “We were sitting in my elementary school gym
after-hours, a large gathering. The service was almost entirely singing:
blacks and whites together, in beautiful harmonies. It lit something
strong in me.” Throughout his childhood, Mendilow and his family
played continental hop-scotch, with community singing in the living
room as an important way of connecting with others.
“The
glory of what [Mendilow] does is finding a common ground among different
cultures. And that’s what makes this music so exciting.”—
Jewish Advocate
“Skyland”
challenges your concept of borders as you listen to Sala’am, an
Israeli anthem used during the peace marches, that subtly introduces
Brazilian elements in its arrangement and whose warm harmonies nod to
Crosby, Stills & Nash. Or take the tastefully modern setting of
the ancient Sephardi song Durme Durme, sung in that melting pot language
of Spanish, Arabic, Greek, and Hebrew, created from the wanderings of
the ancient Jews from Spain to the Mediterranean and Middle East. Mendilow
pushes the sonic envelope by taking ancient instruments in new directions,
though the band does this whimsically, with an almost adamant refusal
to take itself too seriously. For instance, Whistler’s Brother,
is a track in which Mendilow’s award-winning overtone singing
playfully duels with a flute. Or Blues for Dino, a tongue-in-cheek slide
berimbau (musical bow and arrow) blues number — a tip of the hat
to Brazilian berimbau hero Dino Nascimento. The fusion that occurs on
Skyland stems from a life-long cultural mix infusing most aspects of
Mendilow’s life.
To Guy Mendilow the music cannot be separated from the message, whether
you are part of the audience at Bethlehem Musikfest, New York’s
Tribeca Performing Arts Center, in a master workshop with government
education ministers from Palestine, Israel, Jordan or Lebanon, or swapping
songs between Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the 26 diverse young people
in the American Boychoir — Mendilow’s first touring experience.
The Guy Mendilow Band continues to blur musical boundaries with “Skyland”
and offers its modest contributions to today’s larger peace puzzle:
by creating person to person connections, one song at a time.
-Jeri Goldstein
(Photo
Credit: Craig Harris)
