Old-school musical mash-ups - hold the torture: DeLeon.
By Michelle Broder Van Dyke
Eight days of fun packed into one night: two bands, DJs, latkes, He’Brew beer tastings, halvah, Hanukkah survival kits, and a menorah-lighting ceremony - this surely surpasses any party Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen are planning to throw this holiday season.
New York band DeLeon reinterprets pre-Spanish Inquisition Sephardic folk melodies sung in Ladino (a Judeo-Spanish language), Hebrew, and English into postmodern rock compositions. Fusing Spanish and Middle Eastern percussion and electronic rhythms along with a mixture of each aforementioned language, DeLeon's songs commandeer an array of emotions, ranging from lovelorn and woeful to lighthearted and gleeful, while reclaiming an ancient folk tradition for a modern audience.
“La Serena,” a standout track from their August self-titled release (JDub), begins with banging drum sticks. Claps come in, building momentum as railing vocals burst forth with a fishermen-themed love song that blurs into Ladino lyrics, backed by keyboards and bass. The song reaches its peak with a Spanish-inspired trumpet wail. Crying guitars cease suddenly as DeLeon return to claps and then reappear in a fragmented 14th century Spanish sorta way. Toward the end of the song, the outfit changes the style again, adding harmonized vocals and '80s-ish keyboards and trumpet.
Sway Machinery, another Brooklyn-based Jewish band, has been dubbed a supergroup since it includes Brian Chase, drummer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; Colin Stetson, touring saxophonist for the Arcade Fire; and Stuart Bogie and Jordan McLean, Antibalas’ tenor saxophone and trumpet player, respectively; as well as guitarist and possible bandleader Jeremiah Lockwood of JDub’s Balkan Beat Box. Their unique sound goes beyond the experimentation of the all-star indie acts these musicians hail from: they make cantor-inspired Ashkenazic Jewish spiritual music.
Lockwood studied the songs of his grandfather, the legendary Cantor Jacob Konigsberg, for inspiration but went further, melding Malian guitars, Saharan beats, Afropop horns, and American country blues into an original sound. The lyrics remain entirely in medieval Hebrew, deemed a dead language, and are written as cantorial chants. The band has also received a considerable amount of praise for its live performances, equipped with spiritualized fervor, rhythmic horns, and classy vintage three-piece suits.
SUPER 8: THE HUB HANUKKAH PARTY
With the Sway Machinery and DeLeon plus He'Brew beer tasting, free Hanukkah survival kits, free Rooftop Roots IV compilation, latkes, gelt, and dreidles
Sunday/21, 6 p.m., $8
111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna, SF
(415) 974-1719
https://tickets.jccsf.org/public/auto_choose_ga.asp?area=72
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