Shalom Hanoch & Matti Caspi – The Songs Are What Matter (NMC 2023)

haikar-ze-hashirim
  1. Never Knew You'd Leave Me
  2. Come and Dance
  3. Days of Drought
  4. Here Here
  5. A Man Within Himself
  6. My Second Childhood
  7. Waiting for the Messiah
  8. Maya
  9. After you left
  10. It Was Worth It
  11. Long Past
  12. In This Lifetime

Yossi Hersonski on the album:

Even if the stylistic connection isn’t exactly coherent, it is still a one-of-a-kind encounter. An evening that is more than just a nostalgic sing-along. Two fully formed creators finding points of connection between them.
So yes—ask the audience at the end of the evening. Only smiling faces. They were busy singing most of the time. The question of whether Matti Caspi and Shalom Hanoch were naturally meant for each other didn’t really matter. For these songs—they absolutely were. Take familiar songs, a good ensemble, and set out on the journey.    
Criticism? Who needs criticism? On the other hand—and there’s always another side—one cannot be completely exempt from at least a touch of it. Two possibilities stood before me: A pleasant, flowing evening for those who enjoy singing together, songbooks, nostalgia—which is perfectly fine. 2. An evening that elevates the songs, offering new interpretations and exciting new arrangements. After two hours and 12 songs of a joint performance, I tend to choose the first option—less of a one-time event. Youthful loves, selected milestones the two chose for a musical interlude that lasted more than four years. And in truth, more than either of them—it is the songs that prevail.

The performance was recorded on May 23, 2023, at the Tel Aviv Culture Hall.
 The performance was recorded on May 23, 2023, at the Tel Aviv Culture Hall. The album is dedicated by Shalom and Matti to the late Guy Iluz, who was kidnapped during the October 7 terrorist attack and taken to Gaza, where he met his tragic death. “If we can remember Guy, who worked with us on the production of the show, also through this recorded performance—through the songs and the music—and if in doing so we can offer even a small measure of comfort to his family, it would be an honor for us.”

(from yosmusic.com)

Moshe Levy – piano, Hammond organ | Jean Paul Zimbris – drums | Yonatan Albalak – guitars | Fernando Knopf – bass | Chen “Pepe” Meir – percussion

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