Avishai Cohen and THE BOOGIE

Tonight, I joined Sarah and the Dorot fellows at a concert by the Avishai Cohen Trio. I know very little about Jazz. The last jazz club I went to was probably Zanzabar Blue in Philly, where the group leader was playing one of those keyboard-guitars that haven't been seen since the 80's. Even so, I can say with certainty that this was one of the best performances I have ever seen. While I had never heard of him before, Avishai is apparently a world famous jazz bassist, and his fame is well-deserved. Israelis packed into the intimate venue to catch his performance, which supposedly only comes to Israel every couple of years. When they began to play, the energy in the room was incredible. Accompanied by a pianist and drummer on par with him, they completely blew us all away. (Yisroeli, you would have been in heaven.) He moved from slow mournful melodies, where he was practically hugging the bass, to fast-paced solos, which he would execute while simultaneously tapping out the beat on all different parts of the bass. A really incredible experience - I highly suggest giving a listen to some of his music, although I'm sure the live energy was a large part of it.

After the jazz concert we headed to the BOOGIE. The boogie is a truly unique Jerusalem experience, that takes place every couple of weeks on Thursday night. Lots of young adults show up for a night of dancing to the beat of everything from hip-hop to country and Jewish simcha music to Israeli folk songs. There's a kind of a hippy feel to it. No one dresses up - rather everyone tries to wear clothes that are flowing and loose fitting, because the dancing isn't ordinary either. Everyone just totally lets loose, throwing away all inhibitions and letting the music move their bodies. You see so many people, all doing their own thing, that you just feel like there's no need to hold back - you can't look any weirder than anyone else. Not to say that there weren't some great dancers there, because some people seemed to really know what they were doing - and in this venue, it's all smiles and energy, which makes them even better.

There was one nice feature of both these events that stuck out to me. Even though I haven't been in particularly active of late with regards to religion, and I certainly have lots of reservations and skepticisms about how religion should play a part in my own life, there was something nice about the small touches of Judaism that are alive here in Israel, even in events that aren't religious in nature. The Boogie was obviously full of young Jewish students, and the Jewish and Israeli songs gave it a nice feel. But even more interesting was Avishai Cohen. This was a concert that was in no way a religious event. I'm sure that he, and most of the audience are completely Chiloni (secular). And yet, the last song of the night was the only one with words, and the words were those of the Shalom Aleichem, traditionally sung on Friday night at the Shabbat table. Everyone in the crowd sang along, and there was an amazing feeling of keeping alive a traditional religious tune in a young, energetic crowd.