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Quarter to Six
רבע לשש
ARTIST: The Idan Raichel Project
TITLE: Quarter to Six
FILE UNDER: Israel/World
CAT. NO.: CMB-CD-26
8 90846 00126 8
The Idan Raichel Project Returns
With the New Album “Quarter To Six”
A Soundtrack For The Crossroads Of Life
Featuring collaborations with Ana Moura
(Portugal), Vieux Farka Touré (Mali),
Marta Gómez (Colombia), Andreas Scholl
(Germany), Mira Awad (Israel-Palestine), and
some of Israel’s top young voices.
“This one-man Middle East peace accord makes
music that is an ambitious celebration of multicultural
diversity. The ethnic elements are cleverly rewired with
modern grooves to create an ambient journey that
thrillingly bridges the traditional and the modern.”
- The Times (London, UK)
www.cumbancha.com

To say Israeli keyboardist and composer Idan Raichel
has been busy since The Idan Raichel Project’s last
album Within My Walls was released would be an
understatement. In the past four years, Raichel has released
a 3-disc live album set, written numerous songs
and toured with GRAMMY winner India.Arie, performed
at the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony, co-written a
song calling for racial harmony with Israeli President and
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres, performed for
President Obama and family at the Kennedy Center on
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, performed at the ceremony
inaugurating the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in
Washington DC, sold out shows at Radio City Music Hall
and other major venues worldwide, toured India, South
America and Africa and released the highly praised Tel
Aviv Session album with Malian guitarist Vieux Farka
Touré.
In that prolific span, Idan Raichel somehow managed
to find the time to create perhaps the most enchanting
Idan Raichel Project album to date, Quarter To Six. The
new album will be released by Cumbancha on May 21,
2013 with a North American tour bringing the complete
lineup of diverse musicians to major stages starting in
October.
The album title Quarter To Six, is based on a quote by
the influential Israeli writer/actor/singer Yossi Banai,
who passed away in May 2006. In one of his works Banai
describes seeing his mother staring silently out a window.
With concern Banai asks if she is doing well, and his
mother responds, “It feels like it is quarter to six. It’s going
to be dark soon.” This deceptively simple statement
resonated with Raichel who states, “This quote really affected
me. It’s a way to describe the end of life. People
learn to accept this time of the day, to come to terms
with their life, in peace. And I thought of this moment
in my life as also an interesting junction, a crossroads.”
Raichel adds, “After ten years with the Project, I feel we
have reached a time of change and reflection, a transition
period, both musically and personally.”
While reflections on the end of life are not generally considered
uplifting, the songs on Quarter to Six explore the
positive aspects of personal reflection, self-analysis and
acceptance that these moments of transition can provide.
They comment on the emotional resonance of seeing
your life as it is, and comparing it to how you dreamt
it would be. “I don’t see it as depressing, when I am
thinking of this moment Banai called quarter to six. I’m
thinking that if the day was a lifetime, I’ve had an amazing
day. When I started this day I just wanted to make
music, I never dreamt I would end up where I am now.”
Musically, Quarter To Six differs from previous albums by
the Idan Raichel Project by using more acoustic arrangements
and a more subtle approach to the songs. The album
was written in bits and pieces over the past four
years and Raichel describes it as having two parts. Raichel
explains, “There are sixteen songs, so you might think it’s
long, but once you play it from A to Z it moves fast. I conceived
of it in two parts so it would be more of a journey
for the listener. It’s one CD but halfway through it takes a
short break before it continues.” That pause is representative
of the album’s overall theme of taking a moment for
reflection.
The Idan Raichel Project has distinguished itself with adventurous
collaborations with artists of different generations
and cultural backgrounds and Quarter To Six
includes up-and-coming Israeli singers as well as guests
from around the world. “Sabe Deus (God Knows)” features
the enchanting vocals of Portugal’s Ana Moura, who joins
Idan in Hebrew then moves on to Portuguese to deliver
the heart-wrenching, fado-flavored melody. Vieux Farka
Touré, a Malian guitarist and Raichel’s partner in the acclaimed
Touré-Raichel Collective, guests on the soulful
“Mon Amour (My Love).” Palestinian-Israeli singer Mira
Awad joins the Project on “Ana Ana wa Enta Enta (I Am
What I Am)” an Arabic-language song that demonstrates
how Raichel uses music to transcend political divisions.
The song “In Stiller Nacht (In A Quiet Night)” features the
remarkable German counter-tenor Andreas Scholl. A number
of years ago, The Idan Raichel Project was the first Israeli
band to produce hit songs in Arabic and Amharic on
Israeli national radio, and Raichel looks forward to this collaboration
with Scholl as an opportunity to break Israeli
mainstream radio’s aversion to German language songs.
Raichel has also become known for bringing attention to
new Israeli talents, and he invites a number of new singers
to participate on the album. The closing track “Or Ka’ze
(A Light Such As This)” features a talented young Orthodox
Israeli singer named Ishai Ribo who needed to get permission
from his Rabbi to take part because it is generally
forbidden in Orthodox tradition for a male singer to be included
on an album that also includes songs performed by
women.
With the release of Quarter To Six, Raichel is excited to see
the reaction of listeners all over the world. “I always say
that once you release an album the songs are not yours
anymore,” comments Idan. “If you’re lucky enough it will
become other people’s. You are the writer, you have the
credit, but it’s not yours anymore, it becomes the soundtrack
of other people’s lives.”