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MP3 Yehonatan Elazar - Nostaljia
10 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Jazz Fusion, SPIRITUAL: Jewish Folk
Show all album songs: Nostaljia Songs
Details:
was born in Miami, Florida, USA. My family came from the Dominican Republic in 1976. We are Sephardic. Our heritage comes from Spain and North Africa. My musical interest began when I was about 8 or 9 years of age, when I began creating rhythms with buckets and pans in my backyard. I did this for about 3 years, until my father brought a broken drum set to the house. I continue to play the drums until the age of 13, when I encountered the world of the saxophone. My mother promised to buy me a sax if I had good grades in my 7th grade school year. I brought home straight A’s! She had no choice but to buy one. I began teaching myself through books and cassettes. At the age of 14, I started playing the bass guitar. I played both the sax and bass through high school in the jazz band. I won many music awards in different high school jazz events throughout the state of Florida. I took my first professional lesson at the University of Miami for sax. Later, I moved to Florida International University and majored in Jazz Performance.
My musical influences are Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Joshua Redman, Paquito D’Rivera, Stan Getz, John Pattitucci, and Victor Wooten. My musical inspiration comes from Hashem. Sometimes I can be walking and a melody will come to my mind, and I will start scatting all the way home until I sit down at the piano or work out the harmonies with the guitar. Other times, I could be meditating about a particular passage of Tehillim or a Torah concept. Furthermore, I could just think about my everyday experience as a Caribbean Sephardic Jew and be moved to incorporate Sephardic melodies with my unique musical and spiritual experience.
I just finished my album, “Nostaljia.” The theme of this album tells about the experience of the Jew in exile. This is the journey from the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash to Spain, then the inquisition and expulsion in 1492. These souls went to all parts of the world, including the New World. On this album, I incorporate Brazilian rhythms, including Baion and Bossa Nova. One particular original tune, “Qahal Zur Israel” is recording in the Baion rhythm, which is from Northeastern Brazil, where the first New World synagogue was founded. I wrote this tune in honor of the Qahul Zur Israel synagogue of Recife which was closed in the 17th century when the Portuguese took over from the Dutch, and the Jews had to leave Brazil or convert to Catholicism. The tune, “Elianika” was composed in honor of my daughter Eliana. I used to play around with the guitar before she was born and used to always react to my music in the womb. When she was born, she recognized the melody on the guitar, which I later developed in a Flamenco style in her honor. The melody of “Im Ishkahekh Yerushalayim” came to me one day when I was meditating on the Tikkun Hatzot prayer, which describes the destruction of the Temple. The rest of the tunes are traditional Shabat and Ladino melodies in which I took liberties to fuse with Mediterranean and jazz elements.
It is my desire to share this beautiful gift with everyone. In the past few years, I have noticed that music unites cultures. When I think about the “Golden Years” of Spain, where Jews, Christians, and Muslims were at peace with each other, I strive to make this the goal of my music.
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