A significant part of the social revolutions were built slowly and gradually, and only in retrospect could the process be understood.
An example of this is the first female jazz group in Israel, which was established as part of the first female jazz festival in Israel - "QueenTA Woman Jazz Festival", which will be held in May at the Yellow Submarine in Jerusalem.
The group "Queenta Ensemble" recorded an album of Shoshana Demari's songs in jazz arrangements written by Chen Levy, and is a significant part of the revolution that Israeli jazz is undergoing, which for years excluded female musicians in general, and instrumentalists (players and not singers) in particular. The group of female musicians is led by the singer Levy, who is the artistic director of the founding festival in which the group was born. Other members of the group: Hadar Neuberg who plays the flute, pianist Katia Tobol, Inbar Paz on the double bass, and the youngest member of the group, Mai Segal, who recently turned 21.
In a conversation with them before their performance at the "International Exposure" festival, they talk about the importance of performing with a female ensemble, but emphasize that despite everything - it is a musical connection between female musicians who simply complement each other.
The "International Exposure" music festival (a joint venture of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Yellow Submarine) will be held in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and will be attended by key people in the music industry from all over the world to discover Israeli bands and open a door for them to an international career.
This ensemble, it should be noted, gathers prominent female musicians in the Israeli jazz scene who have managed and are managing international careers, regardless of their gender.
Courtesy of the Yellow Submarine
How does it feel to play in such a band?
"The atmosphere in our band is very enabling. I got to know and love all of them, and they are amazing women and musicians. There is a spice for everyone in this band, and the ego does not play a role," testifies Neuberg.
According to Paz, "I feel good in our band, among other things, because the connection between us is deep. Musically, I don't find a difference between playing with men and women, but something in the atmosphere is different for the better."
"There is a deeper joint search than anything I've done so far," Tobol adds.
The choice of Damari's songs was not accidental.
Levy says that the decision was made following the documentary she saw, "Queen Shoshana".
"I was exposed to her personality, the one that goes beyond music," she says, "she was opinionated, a careerist and a feminist. She is an exciting and inspiring woman for me."
Why do you think there were no female jazz ensembles in Israel until now?
"The obvious thing is that they were not in the scene. They are not in front of my eyes. When I studied at the Jerusalem Academy, all my teachers were men except for the voice development teacher, and there were no female players at all. So it never occurred to me to play only with women," Levy says.
According to Neuberg, "I think that today there are more and more women who play jazz and feel part of the scene. On the other hand, the clique was more closed in the past, and now it opens up and is ready to accept other things. The combination of the two inspires a lot of hope for the future."
For Segal, the drummer, it is a mission.
"There is a lack of women in the scene here, and this group was born to promote female musicians into it."
Precisely when they are asked about the reactions of the audience, the picture becomes clearer.
They all make it clear that when bands with men played or led, the audience's reactions were more about gender than the music.
According to Paz, after her performance in New York someone from the audience said to her: "I have never seen a woman play the bass."
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us