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Artist
Shofar
12+ albums
free jazzjazzklezmerjewishpolish
about
The existence of this trio, which released its debut album in 2007, speaks to the resurgence of Jewish Culture in Poland since the demise of communism there. Inspired by the pioneering work of ethnomusicologist Moshe Beregovski (whose work documenting indigenous musics in the Ukraine, Poland and Moldavia beginning in the 1920s is roughly analogous to that of John Lomax in the American South), the three musicians – guitarist Raphael Roginski, altoist and bass clarinetist Mikolaj Trzaska and drummer Macio Moretti – apply a free jazz spin to centuries-old Hasidic musical forms including negunim (wordless melodies) or freylakhs (meant to accompany dancing). In their intent, they are not unlike John Zorn’s Masada quartet, which plays Jewish themes as Ornette Coleman might have reimagined them ca. 1959, or Masada trumpeter Dave Douglas’ Tiny Bell Trio, a unit whose instrumentation Shofar mirrors, which reinterprets Eastern European melodies in a free jazz manner. The three collaborators in Shofar come from diverse backgrounds. Guitarist Roginski, who divides his time between Warsaw and Tel Aviv, has also explored Jewish themes in the ensemble Cukunft, but his musical interests range from early blues players to ‘60s rock, from Bach to idiosyncratic American composers Harry Partch and Henry Cowell. Reedman Trzaska, who runs the Kilogram label with his wife, was a founder of the important ‘90s group Milosc, which released two albums with American trumpeter Lester Bowie. His collaborat
