Despite waves of intolerance and persecution, the peoples of the Near East often got along. And even when they weren’t, they were hearing each other’s music. That’s one message behind the latest album by the New York City ensemble Divahn. On Shalhevet, they perform texts found among Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish communities from around the Mediterranean which were, centuries ago, often set to melodies of Arabic or other origins.
As an all-female group, Divahn cross a traditional barrier. Performing on instruments in public was usually a male prerogative. Their powerful, evocative voices rise in choruses of ecstasy. The settings are acoustic string and percussion instruments, a mini-orchestra of supple rhythms that respond to the urgency and emotions of the words being sung. Divahn’s boundary stretching isn’t eclecticism for its own sake—as in ready for Starbucks’ “world music”—but is thoroughly grounded in a deep understanding of cultural connectedness.
