The Burning Bush
The Band
The Burning Bush was formed after Lucie Skeaping was invited to make a BBC documentary to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and to explore her own East European roots. Since their debut at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, the group has performed to packed houses at major festivals and cultural events throughout the world. Recent activities include tours to Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Finland and South America. London concerts include the Barbican, Royal Festival Hall and Royal National Theatre. They are frequently heard on BBC Radio and have appeared in several films, including Polanski's Oscar-winning 'The Pianist' shot in Warsaw. A grant from the Arts Council has taken them to Israel and Greece for research. Their recent concert at the Royal Festival Hall with the BBC Concert Orchestra featured the World Premiere of 'The Vanished Shtetl' by Roderick Skeaping, a BBC commisssion for the orchestra to perform together with The Burning Bush, broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The group recently appeared in the new 4-part series 'Early Music' for BBC TV. They are also the subject of a new TV documentary film shot in Denmark (prod. Jan Harlan) to be broadcast in 2005.
The Music
The Burning Bush takes its inspiration from a wide variety of music from the old Jewish world, embracing both the Ashkenazi and Sephardi cultures. Folk songs in Yiddish from Poland, Russia and Ukraine, instrumental dances of the East European Klezmer bands, and mystical dances of the ultra-orthodox Hasidim, mix with the great tradition of Sephardi song from the exiled Spanish communities of Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Morocco. They also feature songs from the Jewish communities of the Yemen and Iraq, sung in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic.
Much of this music is preserved in the oral tradition, reflecting the musical language of the countries where Jewish communities settled over the centuries. Ballads, folk songs and romances, some dating back to Medieval Spain, co- exist with melodies of Greek or Turkish origin from the late Ottoman Empire. Yiddish songs and Klezmer melodies show the influence of early jazz with the immigration to the New World at the turn of this century. Many songs were sung in the home from mother to child; others were written for the ghetto theatres; some reach right out to us like the lullaby 'S'dremlyn feygl' from the Vilna ghetto; all portray the universal themes of love, sorrow, devotion and the vicissitudes of everyday life.
The Burning Bush's interpretations reflect the local character of the music through the use of traditional instruments and styles of performance. For the music of the Ashkenazi world clarinet, accordion, violins, cymbalom and bass predominate; for the Middle Eastern aspect of the Sephardi repertoire the group use less familiar traditional instruments like the oud, rebec, riq and the goblet-shaped drum, the darabukka.
The members are:
Lucie Skeaping trained at the Royal College of Music and came to Jewish music through her interest in Medieval and Renaissance English music and desire to explore the music of her own roots. She presents BBC Radio 3's twice-weekly series 'The Early Music Show'.
Robin Jeffrey studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music. He also performs as a lutenist all over the world and spends part of each year working in Athens with traditional Greek musicians.
Roddy Skeaping taught Viola da Gamba at the Royal College of Music, later appointed Leverhulme Research Fellow. Has made countless recordings of early and traditional music. His compositions include works for for choirs, chamber groups and theatre and film scores.
Ben Harlan is a graduate from the Guildhall School of Music. He has a special interest in improvisation techniques, contemporary music and jazz and in Music Education.
Robert Levy studied at Dornbirn Music School and at Bregenz Conservatory, Austria. He works mainly in musical theatre and is currently performing on stage in the London's hit West End musical 'Chicago'.
Jon Banks After gaining a BA. D.Phil at Oxford University he worked as a jazz pianist. Later took up the Medieval harp and dulcimer performing, broadcasting and recording. He has written a book on the Renaissance motet and classical rhetoric and currently holds a Leverhulme Research Fellowship.
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