by Liza Béar
Video by Liza Béar
New York, May 15, 2013–The legendary Tunisian singer Ghalia Benali performs “Romeo and Leila” as part of her evening concert at Florence Gould Hall during World Nomads, an annual springtime event organized by the French Institute Alliance Française, and this year devoted to Tunisia. Accompanying Ghalia Benali was a band of outstanding local musicians whose forceful playing reinforced Benali’s lyrics and vocal experimentation with added beats, intricate rhythms and rich textures. Drums: John Hadfield; cello Alex Waterman; Ned Rothenberg: clarinet, saxophone, shakuhachi; Stomu Takeishi, bass;Tanya Kalmanovitch. It would be invidious to single out one of these as all displayed superlative musicianship blending jazz elements with arabic folk music and perhaps also Central African beats.