Curatorial projects with far-flung participants are increasingly a part of the Disquiet.com modus operandi. The most recent one — and there are several more in the works — is a collection of eight Hanukkah-themed remixes, just in time for this year’s holidays.
The project is hosted by the excellent folks at tabletmag.com, a website of Jewish art, culture, life, religion, news, and politics. You can get the full set here, and listen to a podcast, hosted by Sara Ivry, in which I’m interviewed about the set here. The album is titled Anander Mol, Anander Veig, which roughly means “another time, another way” (though there is some debate about that translation, and about how best to say “remix” in Yiddish).
The participating remixers are from around the world: “Maoz Tzur (Rock of Ages)”is Mark Rushton (Iowa City, Iowa; markrushton.com) working on a recording by Dov Rosenblatt, Rosi Golan, and Deena Goodman (archive.org); “Die Goldene Chasene”is xntrxx, aka Harro van Duijn (Etten-Leur, Netherlands: soundcloud.com/xntrxx), working on a recording by the late great Dave Tarras (archive.org); “Sivivon Sov Sov Sov”is Paula Daunt (Berlin, Germany: pauladaunt.com) working on a recording by Alicia Jo Rabins (archive.org); “Ose Shalom”is Diego Bernal (San Antonio, Texas: antipop.net) working on a recording by the 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra (afroklezmermusic.com); “Thermoglyphics”is Dance Robot Dance, aka Brian Biggs (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: dancerobotdance.com), working on a recording by the New Klezmer Trio (composed by the group’s clarinetist, Ben Goldberg: bengoldberg.net); “Chanukah Chag Yafe”is by ocp, aka João Ricardo (Porto, Portugal: ocp.pt.vu), working on recording by the Alexandria Kleztet (kleztet.com); “Hava Nagila”is Roddy Schrock (Brooklyn, New York: fundamentallysound.org), working on a recording by Paul Toshner and Felix Benasuly, who perform together as poi43.com (London, England); and “Yishama-O-Rama (Radiata Edit)”is Cut Loose, aka Jen Bell (Wellington, New Zealand: cutloose.info), working on an “Od Yishama” recorded by the Klezmer Rebs (klezmer.co.nz). (All the source material use was approved by the musicians and/or their respective record labels.)
Past Disquiet.com projects, such as the Our Lives in the Bush of Disquiet and Despite the Downturn collections, were conceptual at heart, often leading to abstract recordings. Anander Mol, Anander Veig is itself conceptual — the key difference is that the core concept is to achieve at least a modicum of populism. Translated: both before and after, this is party music.
Many thanks to all the participants (among them Brian Scott, of boondesign.com, who produced the cover art), and to everyone at Tablet.
I’ll have another post regarding the compilation in the coming days, collecting outtakes, including an alternate version of the Alicia Jo Rabins piece, a sonified short story by Sholem Aleichem, and seven different remixed versions of the Vox Tablet theme song.