Shye Ben Tzur is an Israeli composer, producer, poet and performer who lives between India and Israel. He composes Qawwalis, instrumental and devotional music in Hebrew, Urdu and Hindi. Ben Tzur has been living, and creating music in India and Israel over a decade. After attending a concert in Jerusalem by the Indian classical musicians Hari Prasad Chaurasia and Zakir Hussain, Ben Tzur became interested in Indian music, which brought him into contact with Qawwali. His journey to the Indian sub-continent began while searching for a Classical Indian music teacher and guide. After years of studying Indian classical music in the traditional manner, Ben Tzur began to compose traditional Sufi Qawwali music but using his own language, Hebrew.
In May 2014 Shye had his debut London concert, in front of a full house at Queen Elizabeth Hall. Collaborating with Radiohead Guitarist Jonny Greenwood.
You can watch and read about it in the following links:
In February 2015 Shye and Jonny further developed their joint beautiful project with Shye's Indian Rajasthani musicians.
The project will be presented in Israel at The Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival on September 1st, 2015.
Junoon -The Rajasthan Groove Orchestra
One was born in Oxford and studied classical music, the other was born in New York and moved to Israel at the age of four. One is a guitarist and the creative force behind one of the most important bands of the last twenty years. The other began his career in a heavy metal band until he stumbled across the magic of Indian music.
One reinvented himself as the in-house composer for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the producer of a dub album, and the composer of soundtracks for leading directors. The other left Israel for Rajasthan where, after reading the quote “A person who does not speak his own language will be struck dumb even if he learns a hundred songs” by Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, began integrating Hebrew texts into traditional qawwali music.
The one is Jonny Greenwood, the renowned British guitarist who became a classical composer and avant-garde artist; the other is Shye Ben Tzur, the Israeli rocker who became a master of Indian music in Hebrew.
Shye Ben Tzur and Jonny Greenwood invite you to share in this fascinating musical cooperation which combines traditional Indian qawwali music and intriguing, cutting-edge, contemporary rock. This cross-continent cultural meeting creates a new sound as it seeks out the essence of life and its pure intent. The creative sparks of this partnership was revealed in London last year when Jonny Greenwood made a guest appearance at Ben Tzur’s concert. And this combination of East and West, ancient and contemporary, tradition and avant-garde led to a recent meeting, accompanied by 12 traditional Indian musicians, for three weeks of intensive playing and recording at the Maharaja Palace in Rajasthan. The fruits of this unique project is a ground-breaking album which will be released as part of their performance at the Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival.