EPK - L'Oud and the Abstract Truth
L’Oud and the Abstract Truth, a double-disc of ecstatic middle eastern roots music, pairs the poetry of James Stone Goodman with the deep arabic grooves of the Epichorus, creating a form of poetry-in-music at once ancient and new. Over the course of twenty four tracks, recorded live across New York City, with a cornucopia of master-musicians bearing old and unexpected instruments, L’Oud and the Abstract Truth will dazzle and delight.
L’Oud and the Abstract Truth, is the product of a multi-year effort by Rabbi James Stone Goodman and the Epichorus, to record a traditional music-video for every portion of the Torah - called “The Maqam Project.” A maqam is an arabic musical form, similar to a mode, that is played as a kind of structure over which one improvises. In many middle eastern Jewish traditions, there is a maqam associated with every Torah portion. James Stone Goodman has been writing poetry to this form since 2009; approached by his student, Rabbi Zachary Fredman, bandleader of the Epichorus, the two found a way for poetry and music to meet.
Due for release in the spring of 2016, L’Oud and the Abstract Truth will be the 8th album by James Stone Goodman, and the 3rd release from the Epichorus, whose 2nd studio record is also in the works. The double-disc package will carry a 48-page booklet illuminated by 12th century Ottoman naval maps, beneath original poetry. Rabbi James Stone Goodman is a poet and musician based in St. Louis, Missouri; Rabbi Zach Fredman leads The New Shul, in Manhattan’s West Village.
We met beneath our differences, before the exiles. We met at the intersection of the common sound we made, the music in our hands, and if we could find our way to each other through music, could peace be far behind?
"Epichorus’s sound is as diverse as its penchant for weaving musical legacies"
“... an excellent example of how creating culture together can promote true interfaith dialogue.”
PHOTOS
Contact - rabbizach@newshul.org