A kabbalistic mix of Hebrew and English based on Hey- the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Described as being between Fairport Convention and Dylan.

18 MP3 Songs
WORLD: Middle East, WORLD: Judaica



Details:
Project Hey is a journey into the world of Kabbala fusing a performance/ recording concept. Hey is the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It appears at CDBABY as ofer5 although recorded between November 29 (UN partition plan vote) 2000 and January 23(birthday of Ofer's father) 2001.
"Hey has a numerical value of 5, alluding to the 5 fingers of the hand. As such it represents understanding, the hand that holds wisdom, distributing and channeling it. At the beginning of a word, the prefix Heh means "the". It is the definite article that specifies and delineates an object. Like the hand, the definite article holds and specifies a concept that is specific rather than general. At the end of a noun, Heh indicates the feminine possessive, "her". This is because understanding is the domain of the feminine essence." -Aryeh Kaplan's commentary on Sefer Hayetzira (The book of Creation).
Those familiar with Kaplan, the Book of Creation, Kabbala and the power and meaning of letters in the Hebrew alphabet may ask: how does this fit into a cd?
Kabala says that to flow from the upper world of emanation (Atzilut) to the lower world of action (Asiya) there needs to be a channel- a specific Universe, Year and Soul. Universe is the concept of a place. The place chosen is a small (24 square meters) performance space in the very heart of Jerusalem: Nahlat Hashiva, Synagogue alley, a meter wide which got the name because it leads to the Italian synagogue. A wooden door on the outside is all one sees. A spiral staircase leading down past a small toilet to a curtain on which is written the text to the 5th song - Hey. Behind it a room for which "womb" is the best description. In the past :synagogue,warehouse and meeting place. In the 80's known as Mizraka (the fountain), a teahouse with floor seating where Ofer played Neil Young, Cat Stevens and Pink Floyd. 2002: the place hosts poetry workshops, theater experiments, jazz evenings. Visions of Phillip Diskin, psychologist and theater director and Ofer who serves as a magnet to pull the creative ingredients into the cauldron and lighter to light the fire under the soup. Called Khan Katan (the little inn). The place is magic, a vortex of creative energy, which Jerusalem has an abundance of. Prophets from all over the world come to shout their truth on her streets.
The time (Year) came when The Foundation gave Ofer a Korg D-1600 studio in a suitcase which records 8 digital tracks. Ofer had been writing- discovering what it was he had to say / could not keep from saying. With these 18 (life in gematria) songs he made sketches, wrote charts and went fishing for musicians (Soul).
Over a period of 2 months, 6 performances were given at Khan Katan. Same 18 songs. 5 changing musicians. A small audience (the place holds no more than 30). Arecording every time.
The Musicians (Soul): Neta Amir (took the jump to sing here) or Ariel Gavizon on bass. Abe Doron (master of Bohdran Bongos and assorted percussion or Shmuel Mishan (eastern percussion). Daniel Yacobson (son of Jacob) - Clarinet and a surprising mouth harmonica on track 15. Daniel Nester - Bassoon and Rahel Jaskow on Harmonies. For someone outside Jerusalem these names may not be familiar. Among musicians in Jerusalem they are recognized as wizards on their respective instruments.
The cd captures the feeling of a live performance though the clapping and most commentary (with the commentary it is a Kabala lesson) omitted.
The music: you are listening to it as you read this so no description is necessary. The texts begin with English and end with a joke called: The King in Hebrew.
Hey begins with YOU CAN (if you believe you can - but you must believe that you can believe). Also called soundcheck for 4 microphones. An 8 bar canon inviting to sing along on the affirmation which served many workshops as a spirit-lift. I KNOW with themes that return in Ofer's writing - "she's already here - the annointed little girl in one of many kindergartens where peace comes to our town" -a chromatically climbing bassoon inviting to "plug in play along with us -put down that gun get on the magic bus". Prophecy which became reality 4 years later for the bassoon player. EIGHTH DAY jumps into the bible with a host of female characters - Eva, Sarah, Esther, Rachav, Miriam, Dina, Rachel and males who are only accomplices. A raggae groove with 4 year old Noam as overdubbed dolphin ending with "Ishmael - like Jacob had twelve sons - but no daughters. I.M.A.G.N.U.S. a Jethro-Tull-like-blues- bragger in 6/8 with charachters covering 600 incarnations. Hey -the meditative title piece uses only 5 letters in a tapestry of voices on the words Haya (was) Yihye (will be) Hove (present) Ehyeh (I shall be) and Havayah (essence, experience, being) Meditative prayer. What Abulafia the 13th century Kabbalist would have sounded like if women had sung his meditations. SHAHID - a call to turn from the politics of power and the military and find your own path and a prophecy - "the dagger will become a flute - the alters turn to drums and all the mosques and churches dance halls when the peace train comes" which is what has happened in these 4 years (Ruach at www.cdbaby.com/ofer4). MUSICIAN is Ofer's personal journey from soldier to musician with all his ancestors looking on. This is the first version of the song that answers what his work is. The English version was later recorded as track 3 on ALTERNATIVE (www.cdbaby.com/ofer2) and also as track 3 of 22 on the Hebrew version of ALTERNATIVE. Here you can hear the birth of the song. BUTTON:a sci-fi story with a moral question: would you take someone else's life and inherit all he has if it was someone you don't know nor will ever meet. Bouncy and cabaretish. LITTLE PEACE: a children's tune about being an example for grownups with the basic rules of peacemaking also was born here in the Hey delivery room before going on to the accordion-xylophone-trombone arrangement that is track 11 on Hebrew Alternative. From this point the songs dive into the search for the 4 (angels, humans?) who together find the combination. To the Tree of Life -BANANAS-in a Russian singalong, the moment of realization that you have arrived.DOORS- minimalist funk. The offering of Isaac in reverse on the eastern side of Jerusalem -MERHAV HAMORIA , or the family 13x4=52. All interspersed with hints and quotes of Hebrew songs from the 50's where one who recognizes the melody finds himself searching for the words which lead to Jacob, the middle path of Mercy between Abraham's love and Isaac's judgment. Waiting for Rachel. Wrestling with the angel. The stormy relationship with Lavan the father-in-law. The reconciliation with Esau-the brother he tricked and the burial of the father. The footsteps in which Ofer, whose grandfather Jacob had reached the Promised Land realizing that "we were in heaven but we did not know we were in heaven", is playing. Conversing with angels who are present and captured in the recording. Tower of Song is a translation of Leonard Cohen's song - the "obligatory?" blues song at the end of a performance. Ofer's 4th translation of Leonard Cohen which 2 years later blossomed into a full 2 sets of Cohen. A Hebrew version of Eighth Day with a bridge Me'ever Lanahar (from across the River), Grieg's Sunrise (from the Peer Gynt suite) arranged for guitar, bass and cymbals which sets the scene for the morning in which the king disguises himself and goes among his people, meeting his equal in a fisherman to whom he reveals his identity in a riddle (who is a Jew?) before bowing out with a musical quote from the Jungle Book.
A musical-theatrical-associative journey through the many sources that are Ofer's background channeled by 5 Jerusalem musicians to a specific place and a magic moment and captured on hard disc. 4 years later, Hey is being uploaded to CD baby so not only those who arrive at Jerusalem can be there in the moment and study Kabbala laced with music with Jerusaleman.