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Avishai Cohen: "When the BDS asked me not to show up, I told them 'go to hell' - Walla! culture

2020-08-30T05:52:14.278Z


Despite the corona, this is without a doubt the best professional year in the life of the international Israeli trumpeter Avishai Cohen. In an interview with Walla! Culture He talks about participating in demonstrations in Balfour, returning to Israel and the Jerusalem Jazz Festival


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Avishai Cohen: "When the BDS asked me not to show up, I told them 'go to hell'

Despite the corona, this is without a doubt the best professional year in the life of the international Israeli trumpeter Avishai Cohen. In an interview with Walla! Culture He talks about participating in demonstrations in Balfour, returning to Israel and the Jerusalem Jazz Festival

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Yotam Ziv

Sunday, 30 August 2020, 08:35

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Photo: Kaupo Kikkas

This week, four years ago, the Israeli international trumpeter Avishai Cohen finished recording his album Cross My Palm with Silver. In the album, Cohen devoted two sections to two political issues that are important to him: the section Will I DIe, Miss? Will I Die? Dedicated to the situation of refugees in Syria, and to the Israeli occupation that lasted over fifty years he dedicated "50 Years and Counting". When the album came out a little less than a year later, Cohen discussed these issues with the most popular newspaper reporter in Spain, Al-Pais. Following the interview and in light of the fact that Cohen is one of the most prominent musicians in his field in the world, representatives of the BDS organization approached him and asked him not to perform at a particular festival as a sign of protest. "I never listened to them, and when they approached me I told them," Go fuck yourself, "Cohen said in an interview with Walla! Culture." This is none of your business to tell me where to show up and where not to appear. "

Jazz plant-based rights struggle of African Americans for equality. It seems that in Israel jazz is just music, what do you think about it?

"Even in the struggle of blacks in the United States, there were those who took a clearer stance, and there were those who took a clearer stance. For me personally, there was never a problem with expressing my opinions. I was never afraid to take a stand."

Should musicians express their protest in the current era?

"I think so, but one should respect that everyone expresses their protest from their personal place. Not everyone has the power to do anything at all times."

What does your check look like?

"I go to Balfour every weekend, but without a phone and without a trumpet. People come with instruments, drums and poplars. I just stand there on the sidelines. Lately I've been less on social media."

What do you say to artists who do not protest at all?

"I once had an argument about this with an African-American friend who talked about blacks and their struggle, but during the conversation he told me that he did not support the struggle of the LGBT community. I told him that in my opinion if you are in favor of human rights, you have to fight for everyone. We need to be there for all the oppressed. "

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Fight for everyone. Avishai Cohen (Photo: John Jacobs)

Despite the corona bursting into our lives earlier this year, it was Avishai Cohen's year. A year in which the musician recorded two albums under the European label ECM which is one of the quality symbols of world jazz, two albums added to two previous ones he recorded on the prestigious label. He recorded his previous albums on the label of his sister, the international clarinet player Anat Cohen. But those he recorded this year expressed his versatility as a composer and performer. His fusion / rock / psychedelic ensemble "Big Wishes" gained international recognition through the album and no less, his wonderful duet album with his good friend the pianist Jonathan Avishai (who lives in France), revealed his soft, melodic and caressing side. Corona interrupted the world tour of these two masterpieces, but the highlight of the year was his one-off performance with the Israeli Camerata Jerusalem and all his ensembles on one stage at the Tel Aviv Opera House.

How did you feel at the show?

"I didn't catch it at work, only in retrospect after the concert was over did I feel it was the best thing I ever did. It was a perfect combination of my three ensembles on one stage, I moved between them naturally because they are all like my family."

How were the reactions?

"People came up to me and said they cried with excitement, some of them don't even come from jazz. There was probably something really special there. I make music to touch people. And when I manage to touch it's a great happiness."

So this has been the most successful year of your career?

"It's hard to say. I see it as a slow combustion. Another step and another one and another album and another interview and another article and another cover and another album and another competition and another album and another cover and another project and another composition and another record and another composition. My career is always another stage and another stage. "Every year is my best year. But now I am really in the best place I have ever been. There is Big Wishes which is a certain band and there is my jazz quartet and the duet with Yonatan Avishai, it allows me to show a different face."

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Cohen (42) has released 11 albums to date as a leader and has collaborated with many artists on dozens of other albums. Among others, he played with trumpeter Roy Hargrove, with saxophonist Mark Turner and with table master Zakir Hussein. He was also a member of the super group SF Jazz Collective along with Joshua Redman and played in Ridley Scott's film "American Gangster". For four consecutive years, Cohen was the "Critics' Choice" of the prestigious jazz magazine DownBeat, he was chosen "Jazz Artist of the Year" in France and was chosen to host a Red Hot Chili Peppers performance in Tel Aviv. In recent years he has lived with his family in Goa In India, but in the last year, just before the corona, he returned to Israel and made it his permanent residence.

How does it feel to return to Israel?

"The last time I returned, it was from the United States almost a decade ago. I was afraid of coming back here and did not come with the intention of staying. I came to Israel with my face out. When we got back from Goa I already knew I would not be leaving anytime soon, I have no more desire to leave. Everywhere there are better and less good things. In Israel you are pushed to queue, but when you are stuck, a thousand friends will offer you their home. When I lived in New York, I never really felt at home. In India for example, everything is quiet and calm and good, but before a flight, an airport clerk may not let you know that you can not raise the trumpet to the plane because it is made of metal no matter what I tell him. So every place with its good and evil. I'm very good in Israel. "

As someone who used to perform almost six months a year, Avishai Cohen finds blessing during the Corona period. "It came to me like a gift from heaven. You can finally stop, suddenly it's really okay to be home and water flower pots. Not to travel to the airport, not to pack and not to be stressed. I haven't stopped moving for 20 years." With his return to the country and his performances here, more and more people recognize him on the street. "It's nice," he says. "It's also lucky that I'm not really famous, because otherwise it would have been horrible. The feeling of being anonymous is no less pleasant. Some music lovers know and recognize me and those who don't, and it's quite comfortable, too."

For the past six years, he has been the artistic director of the Jerusalem International Jazz Festival, co-created by the Israel Festival in collaboration with the Yellow Submarine and the Israel Museum, which will open on September 8. Along with his other pursuits, he really likes working on the festival. "This year's jazz festival joins forces with the Israel Festival," Cohen explains. "We have a common slot in this festival, and basically these two things are happening in parallel."

What are you focusing on this year at the festival?

"I worked with Tamir Muscat and together we chose artists who correspond with the theme of family. It comes from the corona and from gathering inside the house, all the last months. We tried to check and ask ourselves what a family is. We brought to the festival the family, texts or artists themselves who play. Jazz, the audience has a great and almost unique opportunity to see and hear our Israelis who came from the US: we have the GTO (Gadi Lehavi Tal Mashiach and Ofri Nehemiah) who are each a crazy outing, there is the harmonica player Roni Eitan who is usually in San Francisco , There's the Mirage by Eden Ladin, Tom Oren and Omri Moore. We also pay tribute to one of the musicians who greatly influenced Israeli jazz, Amit Golan, who passed away a little less than ten years ago. I really liked him and learned from him. "

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Source: walla

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