Jewellery of Love&Death had begun as an art project and later evolved into this album.
Back in 2003 I moved to Spain to make an art project about birth and death which I called “Wombs”. Initially, I planned to make that project by painting, but ultimately, for technical preferences, I chose to work with photography.
At the same time I accompanied the work with writing my thoughts, poems and short stories. All are semi autobiographic drawings of my life experiences.
Slowly, I started exploring the text, searching for compositions to the lyrics which later I gathered to group of songs, creating the full album – Jewellery of Love&Death.
The Death concept does not refer to physical dying but serves as a metaphor for the temporariness, the emigrant status of being a stranger, a constant seeking and the inevitable departure. The intimate introversive landscapes of the songs expressing the constant search for compassion and sympathy, unsurprisingly growing as death approaches.
My immediate choice was to preserve the character of the text as a story. Rather than following a classic format of a verse – refrain with rhymes, I kept the songs free of texture. The verses are not necessarily equal in length or order and occasionally the refrain does not exist. Music wise, the boundaries between the songs are vague, giving a sense of hearing the album from beginning to end as an endless lullaby song.
Recording the album live was the better way to capture the ¨story telling¨ feel. The jazz musicians played a significant role in giving the intimate sound which escorts the album like a moon in a night walk. At times, it feels like the singing is an echo to the music and vice versa. This dialogue stretched the songs to an extensive time length.
I was privileged to have such extraordinary musicians take part in creating the album. All are very well known in the contemporary world jazz scene .
Simon Starr - Producer, Arranger. Contra bass & Slide Guitar.
Avishai Cohen – Trumpet
Gadi Lehavi - Piano and Hammond
Gadi Seri - Percussion
Yoav Goren - Arranging and sampling
Daniel Anglister - Sound engineer, sampling and sound design