Experiencing Tel Aviv's Live Music

One of the advantages to having friends in the music business is that you sometimes gain exposure to acts you otherwise might never have known existed. For instance, this past week, after a Yom Kef (Day of Fun) involving ATVs that I have yet to write about, I returned home exhausted, and decided--on a whim--to hop a shared taxi to Tel Aviv to catch my friend (and occasional roommate) Michelle Citrin perform at one of the city's newish show/club spaces, Black Book (see photo at left--can you identify that lyric?).

This wasn't totally a Michelle show--she'd been asked to open for Roy Uadri, an affable performer who joked with me a bit before the show as he was doing his sound test before the doors officially opened. Roy's sound is decidedly eclectic, with influences of reggae, funk, hip-hop and the occasional melody lifted from classical niggunim, complete with "oy yoys" and "bubbabumbums." Here's the polished video for "Atzor T'azman" ("Stop Time"): And to catch a flavor of what the live shows are like, check out the catchy "Mi Ba" ("Who's Coming"):

And because Jewish geography definitely pertains to the music world as well, I ran into two people I sort of knew, some of Michelle's "Matzah" fans, and off in the corner of the stage, working his DJ magic, was the talented DJ Braindead, who was part of the TACT Family   entourage with us on the Israelity Tour... Later in the week, when I'm at that great music store in Ben Gurion Airport, I'll be sure to look for "Ad Hasof," Roy's album.