Play, Mr. Tambourine man

(photo credit:GANGI N ALL)

Zohar Fresco performs at this year’s Oud Festival

All good things come to those who wait, they say. In Zohar Fresco’s case, it was a matter of his fans biding their time until the internationally renowned percussionist was ready to release his debut album, Tof Miriam (Tambourine). That long-awaited turn of events will be marked on November 14 (9 p.m.) when Fresco is joined by his band at a concert at the Jerusalem Theater as part of this year’s Jerusalem International Oud Festival, which is run by Confederation House.

The 40something Fresco first burst onto the local ethnic music scene as the youngest member of pioneering cross-cultural band Bustan Abraham, which enjoyed a successful national and international performance and recording stretch between 1991 and 2003. Betwixt and between, and thereafter, Fresco earned a crust keeping time for vocalist Achinoam Nini (aka Noa) and performing with artists from across a broad stylistic and disciplinary swathe that took in American avant-garde jazz drummer Hamid Drake, Polish jazz pianist Leszek Mozdzer, doyen of the Israeli Eastern music community oud player and violinist Taiseer Elias, who was also in the Bustan Abraham crew, and celebrated American contemporary classical composer Philip Glass.

So what took so long? The percussionist says that the CD has been in the works all this time and that he was determined to cover all his musical and historical bases before putting out the end product.

“I had various offers to record an album, but I refused because I wasn’t ready,” he notes. “This album is the result of a lot of research into the tambourine.”

In fact, Fresco’s love affair with the simple-looking hand drum began many years ago.


“I found a tambourine in our backyard when I was a kid,” he recalls. “I didn’t have a teacher. I spoke to all sorts of musicians from here and abroad and asked them questions about how to play the tambourine, what sorts of sounds to get out of it. But I didn’t have any formal lessons. I didn’t have a teacher to show me how to play the way I play today.”

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