What didn’t stop was Gottlieb’s urge to compose. Once she composed her first piece, however, the dreams stopped. The tools were not hard to come by, as Gottlieb was already a classically trained flautist. “That’s what drove me to start composing, I wanted to acquire the tools to ‘download’ this piece from my subconscious.”
“I had a recurring dream with swirls of colors and orchestral music,” Gottlieb recalls. Her first passion was composing, a love sparked by a mysterious, vivid dream in her mid-teens. Like Mahmoud Darwish says it - It is within our power to be as we ought to be.” It’s possible to do better at loving this place. “I do believe at the core of my being that it is possible to elevate beyond the pain and hurt. “People of all backgrounds love the land, its views and fragrances and flavors,” reflects Gottlieb. Supported by a band of close collaborators (including Anat Fort on piano and Ihab Nimer on oud and Arabic violin), Gottlieb presents the flavors and sensations of everyday life, in what she called an “open letter to my homeland.” Gottlieb’s voice, with its cool refinement and warm welcome, brings a jazz-inflected, pitch-perfect sense to these little, but weighty tales. Written over many years, the songs of Roadsides(Arogole Music release: October 15, 2014) chronicle clunky ceiling fans and hymns of female blessing, watermelon hugs and sorrowful absences, abandoned sheds and soaring, hopeful wings. I started digging into Palestinian poetry in translation and composed songs that spoke to me.” I felt I wanted to include Palestinian voices as well, voices that are an essential part of the tapestry of the country. “As this set of pieces evolved, it was initially based on the Hebrew poetry that I grew up with. “These songs extend out of my love for poetry and the Hebrew language, my native tongue” explains Gottlieb.
Jerusalem-born composer and vocalist Ayelet Rose Gottlieb sings and composes from these spaces, accessing the compelling, tumultuous world of her homeland. In the little things lurk the big picture, and the details of everyday life suggest the wild regions of the heart. She continues to compose, perform and teach. The Jewish - Arab, Israel based band on the recording features Ihab Nimer on Oud and Violin, Udi Horev on guitars, Anat Fort on piano, Ora Boazson-Horev on Bass and Dani Benedict on drums and percussion, as well as several special guests, including Israeli pop-icon Alon Olearchik (Kaveret) as guest vocalist on three tracks.Ĭurrently living in Vancouver Canada, Ayelet recently became a mother of twins. The album concludes with Mahmoud Darwish’s poem From One Sky to Another, Dreamers Pass - in which the Fathers and Daughters choir sings his words - “It is within our power to be as we ought to be”, leaving the listener with a fragment of hope for better days to come. The poems are not outright political, but rather, reflect small human moments that weave a personal statement. Ayelet uses these contemporary poets' words as a canvas for her compositions, and creates a set that she considers to be an open letter to her turbulent country. They are currently working on their second album for this series.īorn in Jerusalem, her upcoming release Betzidei Drachim / Roadsides features her compositions to the words of Israeli and Palestinian poets (translated to Hebrew). Mycale (Ayelet, Sofia Rei, Malika Zarra & Sara Serpa) released their debut album on Zorn’s renown Masada series, Book of Angels: Masada Book II, in 2010 (with Basya Schechter). She has released three albums featuring her original compositions, and performs with her own groups as well as with Zorn’s a-capella quartet, Mycale.
Including John Zorn, ETHEL, Avishai Cohen, Matana Roberts, Ihab Nimer and Anat Fort.