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Rehovot Arts & Leisure: The sound of a different drummer
Rehovot, a city of about 110,000 residents, is a few miles southeast of Tel Aviv —
close enough to the Mediterranean to incur a coastal town’s hot and humid summers, but too far inland to enjoy the benefits of a beach.
It was in these stifling quarters that Asaf Sirkis learned to play drums, swinging his arms through the hazy heat in Shaaryin, Rehovot’s Jewish Yemenite neighborhood.
"I would play for hours in a sound-proofed room with no air conditioning when the temperature outside would be something between 35 to 40 degrees Celsius [95 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit], and I would sweat my head off," said Sirkis.
Born in Petah Tikva in 1969 — about as far from Tel Aviv as Rehovot — Sirkis moved around Israel with his family before settling in Rehovot. After choosing the drums, he began a new odyssey.
Sirkis subsisted on Jewish wedding gigs and the occasional festival until 1999, and then left permanently for London. He wasn’t trying to escape Rehovot’s weather — "I liked it, and I still do," he said. Rather, he was trying to make some money.
"Unfortunately, in Israel it’s really hard or close to impossible to be a jazz musician, do your thing, and make a living too," Sirkis said.
"I think that many musicians and artists who left Israel had a similar experience as me in that sense. You go abroad to make a career."
His trio, "Asaf Sirkis & The Inner Noise," released "The Song Within" late last year, and the album was quickly named one of 2007’s best by allaboutjazz.com. The Inner Noise performed at the most recent London Jazz Festival, with a live broadcast from the BBC Radio Theatre.
After "The Song Within," that group’s third release, Sirkis felt he had other material to explore, so he formed the Asaf Sirkis Trio and started recording "The Monk," due for release this year.
"With the new trio I felt I had that sound in my head for a long time, and after three albums with my Inner Noise band, I just had to do something different," said Sirkis.
The new group will tour behind "The Monk" in the spring.
"When I was in Israel I dreamed of being on tour all the time and playing great creative music and doing it for a living," said Sirkis. "In Europe it really happened."
He continued, "In Israel I used to practice my drums so much — all day long, but then there weren’t so many opportunities to play the music I wanted to play live. Here I rarely find time to practice but I’m playing almost every night, and [I] learn so many things that even if I’d practice at home I wouldn’t be able to learn in a million years."
Sirkis has no plans to return to Israel, but most of his immediate and extended family still lives there. He visits often, sometimes just to see relatives, and other times to play with the musicians with whom he performed growing up.
"My mother is still in Rehovot, and I’ve got an older brother and an older sister. Lots of nephews too! I was there a few months ago and I played in some of those clubs I used to play in years ago with my old friends. It was quite moving."
It is unfortunate, he said, that Israel is such a difficult place to stage a music career. With its abounding talent and a passion for the arts, he wonders why Israel doesn’t provide the infrastructure that other cities give to their musicians.
"I think that in Israel there is a lot of talent, but not only that — there is a great urge to express. People have actually something to say rather then just indulging themselves in the technical side of music. The funny thing is that because of the lack of proper gigs and music education, a musician, if he or she was eager enough, would have to naturally find his own voice first, before anything else," he said, reflecting on his own maturation in Rehovot.
"Later you can go abroad, study or make a career and refine your art, but with a strong voice somewhere there."
Still, for Sirkis and many like him, his inner noise is urging him to greener pastures.
"Europe is a very cultured place in many ways and the arts take a more substantial role here than in Israel, he said.
In particular, London "is a vast city. I always meet new musicians and the scene is flooded now with amazing young talents from all over the place. It’s got so much more to offer a musician."
To hear more from Asaf Sirkis, go to www.asafsirkis.co.uk .
Source: Joseph Leichman. The sound of a different drummer JStandard.com (8 Feb 2008) [FullText]
close enough to the Mediterranean to incur a coastal town’s hot and humid summers, but too far inland to enjoy the benefits of a beach.
It was in these stifling quarters that Asaf Sirkis learned to play drums, swinging his arms through the hazy heat in Shaaryin, Rehovot’s Jewish Yemenite neighborhood.
"I would play for hours in a sound-proofed room with no air conditioning when the temperature outside would be something between 35 to 40 degrees Celsius [95 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit], and I would sweat my head off," said Sirkis.
Born in Petah Tikva in 1969 — about as far from Tel Aviv as Rehovot — Sirkis moved around Israel with his family before settling in Rehovot. After choosing the drums, he began a new odyssey.
Sirkis subsisted on Jewish wedding gigs and the occasional festival until 1999, and then left permanently for London. He wasn’t trying to escape Rehovot’s weather — "I liked it, and I still do," he said. Rather, he was trying to make some money.
"Unfortunately, in Israel it’s really hard or close to impossible to be a jazz musician, do your thing, and make a living too," Sirkis said.
"I think that many musicians and artists who left Israel had a similar experience as me in that sense. You go abroad to make a career."
His trio, "Asaf Sirkis & The Inner Noise," released "The Song Within" late last year, and the album was quickly named one of 2007’s best by allaboutjazz.com. The Inner Noise performed at the most recent London Jazz Festival, with a live broadcast from the BBC Radio Theatre.
After "The Song Within," that group’s third release, Sirkis felt he had other material to explore, so he formed the Asaf Sirkis Trio and started recording "The Monk," due for release this year.
"With the new trio I felt I had that sound in my head for a long time, and after three albums with my Inner Noise band, I just had to do something different," said Sirkis.
The new group will tour behind "The Monk" in the spring.
"When I was in Israel I dreamed of being on tour all the time and playing great creative music and doing it for a living," said Sirkis. "In Europe it really happened."
He continued, "In Israel I used to practice my drums so much — all day long, but then there weren’t so many opportunities to play the music I wanted to play live. Here I rarely find time to practice but I’m playing almost every night, and [I] learn so many things that even if I’d practice at home I wouldn’t be able to learn in a million years."
Sirkis has no plans to return to Israel, but most of his immediate and extended family still lives there. He visits often, sometimes just to see relatives, and other times to play with the musicians with whom he performed growing up.
"My mother is still in Rehovot, and I’ve got an older brother and an older sister. Lots of nephews too! I was there a few months ago and I played in some of those clubs I used to play in years ago with my old friends. It was quite moving."
It is unfortunate, he said, that Israel is such a difficult place to stage a music career. With its abounding talent and a passion for the arts, he wonders why Israel doesn’t provide the infrastructure that other cities give to their musicians.
"I think that in Israel there is a lot of talent, but not only that — there is a great urge to express. People have actually something to say rather then just indulging themselves in the technical side of music. The funny thing is that because of the lack of proper gigs and music education, a musician, if he or she was eager enough, would have to naturally find his own voice first, before anything else," he said, reflecting on his own maturation in Rehovot.
"Later you can go abroad, study or make a career and refine your art, but with a strong voice somewhere there."
Still, for Sirkis and many like him, his inner noise is urging him to greener pastures.
"Europe is a very cultured place in many ways and the arts take a more substantial role here than in Israel, he said.
In particular, London "is a vast city. I always meet new musicians and the scene is flooded now with amazing young talents from all over the place. It’s got so much more to offer a musician."
To hear more from Asaf Sirkis, go to www.asafsirkis.co.uk .
Source: Joseph Leichman. The sound of a different drummer JStandard.com (8 Feb 2008) [FullText]
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