ישראל
I just returned from an epic trip to Israel. The trip was a gift from my mom who wanted to introduce me to family that we had in Israel on her side of the family. She had not seen them in 40 years and I had never met them. I had been fascinated with Israel for many years and considered it a priority travel location. But it is expensive to get there and back and that has been the main deterrent. We walked down the old cobblestone streets of Jerusalem, visited ancient ruins around the country, floated in the Dead Sea, and got to spend time with relatives. I also did some traveling on my own as well, including a short stay at Kibbutz Lotan, and a snorkeling trip in the Red Sea.
I decided to book a small Israeli tour to coincide with my travels in Israel. I didn’t know exactly where to start with booking shows in Israel. The Israeli music scene is very unfamiliar. I started with the word folk. I found a contact name in a travel guide. “If you are looking for folk music in Israel, contact Carol Fuchs”. And so I did. She sent out a request to her email list and soon, I had some gig offers from a few folk clubs who meet once or twice a month. The first was in Tel Aviv. It was a non-paying gig, something I don’t agree to much anymore, other than in unfamiliar territories where anything is better than nothing. It was in a community center in a flourescently lit basement room with low ceilings and tile floors, which also meant bad acoustics. It was also to a much older demographic than I am used to, but it was a true listening crowd. Not a word spoken during the performance, other than voices humming along here and there. I sold a bunch of CDs, which made up for the non-payment. The older demographic still buys CDs and they are also attuned to lyric based music from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, which my music is more assimilated to. So it got me thinking that I should play more of these types of shows. And I did.
The next night, I performed at the Karmiel Folk Klub in Karmiel, Israel. A slightly younger crowd, but still an older demographic than I am used to. The setting was more conducive for a music performance. There was an upbeat female Irish duo who performed after me. It was nice and I told them so. The one lady replied politely, “Good luck with your music”. I felt like Marty Mcfly from Back to the Future when she said that. The themes in my music can be trying for someone looking for very upbeat ditties or love songs. When playing to a diverse audience who is unfamiliar with your music, it is important to concentrate on those who connect with what you are doing rather than trying to please everyone. Those are the people who come back next time and bring others with similar taste.
The other two shows, I set up through couchsurfing.org. I did a search for musicians on that site in the cities I was traveling though. I find that music opportunities sometimes pan out better through non-music sites than the the music based ones. The music based sites, such as myspace are oversaturated with other musicians looking for gigs.
All in all, the shows went well. I was worried about a language barrier, but the audience was very receptive and responsive to the lyrics especially. English is required in school in Israel, so almost everyone speaks English. Leonard Cohen is the big thing in Israel at the moment, and that is a promising sign.
I would like to return to Israel soon with more of a focus on playing music around the country.
