Mor Karbasi
(Website)Mor Karbasi, still a tender 22 year old, burst upon London’s global music scene earlier this year with the release of her first album “The Beauty and The Sea” – heralded by fRoots and later The Guardian – whose Robin Denselow wrote…..
Mor Karbasi sings in Ladino, Spanish, Hebrew and on rarer occasions, English. Fortune has brought her a wonderful singing voice and she puts it to most excellent use – as Ian Anderson at fRoots puts it…
She has been winning fans to Sephardic music with her wide-ranging repertoire – from traditional songs dating from or inspired by the Jewish culture of fifteenth-century Spain to striking new Ladino-influenced compositions of her own. Mor is bringing some of these songs back to a wider public.
Her own writing has been considerably shaped by her interesting Sephardi lineage: descending from Moroccan and Persian Jews. She has been and indeed still is, an avid supporter of Flamenco which also adds a strong flavour throughout her songs. Her mother played Moroccan piyyutim (liturgical poems) and sang Andalucian Jewish ballads at their home and continues to be a constant influence on her young daughter.
This heritage already made for an inspirational Middle Eastern melting pot, when Mor met British guitarist Joe Taylor three years ago. Joe is a gifted guitar player already recognised as such within his band Blackbud, (signed to Independiente – label to Tinariwen and Travis).
His compositional input, delicate instrumental flourishes and musical direction add a modern dimension to the whole atmosphere and is an important element in the artistic offering which is Mor Karbasi..
Mor Karbasi performs over 40 concerts in the UK, USA, France, Spain and Italy in 2008: including WOMAD, Wychwood, Larmer Tree Festivals, UK and the Chicago World Music Festival and in New York, US.
Night Life, The New Yorker: “If the sound of young London-based Israeli singer Mor Karbasi doesn’t make your pulse race, make an appointment with your cardiologist immediately—not since the late Ofra Haza has a voice soared so sweetly in music of the Jewish diaspora”.
Albums
The Beauty And The Sea
Label: Mintake
Release date: January 01, 2008
On Tour
- November 07: Limoges - Centre Culturel Jean Gagnant
- November 28: Paris - Satellit Café
- November 29: Bressuire - Théâtre de Bressuire