Music
Just Released, an album of beautiful Ladino songs :
Entre Las Huertas
Entre Las Huertas carries an intimacy that can only come from musicians who genuinely live inside this music. Rather than treating Ladino music as a museum artifact or flattening it into Western aesthetics, The Qadim Ensemble cultivates their repertoire in a setting akin to a salon, where improvisations and richly ornamental, rhythmically complex phrases capture the spirit and lived experience of the Eastern Mediterranean. Primarily recorded live — no click tracks, no electronic enhancements — Entre Las Huertas favors presence over perfection, embracing the improvisational interplay that lets the music breathe with the same fluidity and emotional nuance found when songs dance between musicians and audience, as at a living room gathering or lifecycle event. Arabic, Turkish, and Persian instruments including oud, ney, and qanun, darbukkah, riqq, tombak, and frame drums, blended with accordion and upright bass form the album’s core sonic architecture.
Transmitted primarily through the oral traditions of Sephardic women, the kantigas carry stories of love, longing, motherhood, humor, and domestic life.
Featured virtuosic musicians include Rachel Valfer (vocals, oud), Eliyahu Sills (ney, flute, bansuri, acoustic bass), Dan Cantrell (accordion), and Faisal Zedan (Arabic percussion). The Qadim Ensemble’s work speaks to an ecosystem shaped by exchanges across Jewish, Arab, Turkish, Greek, Armenian, and Balkan communities long before modern borders hardened cultural divisions. It was commonplace in premodern times for musicians for all these ethnic and religious communities to make music together throughout the Ottoman Empire, Islamic Spain and throughout the Middle East and North Africa (aka SWANA). That ethos remains central to the ensemble’s identity. Rather than emphasizing separation, Qadim illuminates the shared modal languages and musical vocabularies that have long connected these cultures.
Open the Gates – שַׁעַר פְּתַח דּוֹדִי –Sha’ar P’tah Dodi
Soulful, timeless music from the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Jewish diaspora, with lyrical vocals, traditional acoustic instruments from the region including the oud, ney, darbukkah, saz, santoor qanun, as well the upright bass and classical guitar.
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Reviews of Open The Gates – Sha’ar P’tah Dodi
“An organic blend of ancient and modern . . . stunning. . . expressive . . . warm. . . a magical collection . . . full of heart, passion, and virtuosity.” –Staccatofy
“With Open The Gates, Rachel Valfer & Eliyahu Sills bring us the very lush sounds of Jews indigenous to the Middle East in a very modern package. . . Rhythmic and cultured sounds amid sublime vocal harmonies. . . Expressive . . . display of boundless skill.” – Take Effect Reviews
” Jewish Middle Eastern music both contemporary and timeless in approach finds its inspiration in the historic and mystical melodies of antiquity. . . . connection to their ancestral origins through music . . . . an organic blend of ancient and modern without losing nuance and timelessness.” TheSemitic.com
Eastern Wind
Eastern Wind
Eastern Wind, a journey through multiple cultures of the Near East, received rave reviews world wide, reaching #7 on Billboard’s World Music charts. Including songs traditional songs in Arabic, Hebrew, Armenian and Turkish, this album takes the listener through ancient Armenia, Yemen, Egypt, and Turkey and North Africa.
With lyrical vocals, traditional acoustic instruments from the region including the oud, ney, darbukkah, saz, and Middle Eastern percussion.
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“Beautifully presented, the players bring superb musicianship and palpable enthusiasm to each performance. Eliyahu’s ney flute along with Rachel’s succulent vocals are stars. creating a sense of human communication with the divine.” — All Things Considered, NPR
“Advocates of peace . . the beautiful music of The Qadim Ensemble is incredible” — KQED
“Visionary . . . achingly beautiful . . .” — San Francisco Chronicle
“The Jewish and Arabic musicians who comprise this eclectic world-music ensemble show the power of unity.” — The Boston Globe
Song of the Reed
Song of the Reed
Meditations and devotional melodies on the Turkish (Ottoman) Ney, the reed flute, sacred to many Sufi traditions.
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