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MSN Music
Christopher Hart
"At Floydfest in Floyd, VA, the Middle Eastern
beats coming from the
Global Village attracted music lovers like bees to pollen. The drumming
of Raquy and the Cavemen of Brooklyn, NY, brings
traditional Middle Eastern music and modern drumming to a pinnacle.
The drummers of Raquy and the Cavemen were all once students of Raquy.
Raquy has travelled to many distant countries including those in the
Middle East, Egypt and India, where she has experienced and absorbed
vast amounts of musical culture. She uses all this knowledge to bring
an amazing act to the stage.
Raquy performs with the dumbek
and the kemenche, also known as the spike fiddle. It is an instrument
from Iran, which is much like a violin, except instead of moving the
bow around the instrument to hit the different strings, the kemenche
sits on a spike that allows the musician to rotate the fiddle itself
while the bow stands stationary.
Raquy and the Cavemen allow
the listener to experience the musical cultures from The Middle East
and Egypt and fuse them with Liron Peled's hard rock drumming
background.
Incidentally, Raquy and Liron have tied the knot and reside in the
ever-hip Williamsburg section of Brooklyn along with the rest of the
Cavemen.
The Global Stage was a place
of psychic transport when Raquy and the Cavemen took the stage. The
name Cavemen is appropriate due to the rawness of the beats, and
there is also a timeless property to the music that makes it
impossible to dislike. The whole experience of the music takes you
on a journey to the roots of Middle Eastern drumming and as soon as
that kemenche starts flowing the trip goes deeper. Its sound is like a
close stare into the eyes and soul of the Middle Eastern culture that
lives inside the music. Raquy brings forth the experience of an ancient
culture straight to the stage for everyone to reflect, react and rotate
to. Daphna Mor, originally from Tel Aviv, Israel, leaves
all who witness her playing with a smiling jaw-dropped expression when
she plays two recorders simultaneously that evoke an echoing,
resonating sound.
Raquy and the Cavemen played
the closing set at Floydfest, and were cheered on by an enthusiastic
crowd. Their previous sets at Floyd left a buzz around the grounds
that let everyone know where to spend their remaining time at the
festival. The Hill Holler Stage hosted the closing set of the fest
and had a nicely saturated mud pit in front of the stage. Mud or not, people
danced, shook and spun and sooner or later took a face plant into the
mess. As the beats flowed, cheers and hollers filled the foggy
air of Floyd. The love that each band member has for their
instrument is especially evident when they are all on stage. They
move fluidly to the enchanted drumming, mystical kemenche and melodious
recorder. Find one of their shows and be enriched, encouraged and
energized."
A
different write-up about the same festival, also by Chris Hart:
"The quite amazing Raquy and the Cavemen
of Brooklyn, NY closed the festival at the Hill Holler Stage on Sunday
night with a free-dancing, mud slung crowd who begged for more when the
show came to an end. The combination of Raquy Danziger's Middle
Eastern musical talent and her husband's hard-rock background,
brought Raquy and the Cavemen's powerful sound to the fore. The
unreal ability of the band to leave their audiences in awe
was the buzz across the Floydfest grounds."
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Exclaim Magazine
(Canada)
David
Dacks
"Raquy and the Cavemen’s "Dust", released at the beginning of
the year,
was one of the most notable fusions of Levantine riddims with hard rock
and electronic touches. Most excitingly, this fusion is contained
almost entirely in the songwriting and the playing; it doesn’t sound
studio-bound in the least.
Touching down amid the heavily klezmerised Ashkenaz festival,
Raquy may
have been a little too intense for some of the bubbies and zaydes in
the crowd, but their children and their children’s children were swept
up in the grooves.
The Cavemen are composed of two multi-percussionists, a
bassist, a
woodwind player and husband Liron Peled, who played acoustic guitar and
hand drums. Immediately the complexity of the music was apparent as
bass lines chased percussion patterns against complex time signatures
and microtonal harmonies. The opening tune’s strummed yet foreboding
chords on guitar added to the distinctive percussive harmonies.
It was a remarkable demonstration of what Page and Plant have
always wanted to do but have never succeeded at.
As Peled peeled off one Zeppelin III riff after another, the
energy
increased and Raquy entered with the kemeche, or Iranian violin. She
sawed away at dark harmonies against the guitar, her playing becoming
more powerful as the soundman got a handle on how to mix the
instrument. The crowd was intrigued but not enraptured until the next
few pieces, which were dedicated to traditional forms.
Accompanied by a quartet of hand drums, Raquy showed off her
formidable
command of the dumbek. She bent the pitch of notes, used a variety of
striking techniques and even showed some choreographed moves with Liron
— this performance was as much a clinic as a show.
The finale was a suitable climax, departing the Middle East
for
Bulgaria. Woodwind player Daphna Mor did Roland Kirk justice by jamming
two recorders into her mouth and harmonising with the kemenche. Next
time, I hope Liron will get into some of the thrashy guitars and
menacing electronics that made Dust even more intense, but this was
still a very satisfying afternoon."
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Indie-Music.com
Derek
Blackmon
OK. I have to disclose that lately I’ve really been sinking my
teeth into World Music. Maybe it’s just that my disenfranchised
American attitude has finally cleansed my palate for the sounds of
other lands. (See? We don’t all support George W. Bush!) With that
aside, the only problem I’ve found with Raquy and the Cavemen is quite
simply: Nothing. I know that’s a very lame slight, but seriously,
that’s how captivating their sound is.
Collecting almost an hour's worth of Middle Eastern-based
sounds on Jordan, her latest release on Meef Records, Raquy Danziger
has a knack for creating deep, rhythmic beats and making it palatable
for the layman. Danziger, a percussionist, who is a lifelong devotee to
the Middle Eastern Dumbek, creates a dense, organic sound that makes
John Bonham seem a trifle boring. With some added grooves from Liron
Peled on guitars, percussions and the Moog synthesizer as well as a
sextet that features instruments from various regions of the Middle
East, Asia and Africa, the group en masse forms a collective sound that
makes the drumming portion of a Grateful Dead show seem like an
opportune time to get a fresh beer and buy some souvenirs.
This isn’t the kind of music you throw on at a party to
impress your friends. This goes a bit deeper than that. These sounds
frame peaceful moments of reflective soul-searching for the individual.
Granted your friends may very well dig it (and I hope they do!) but in
the midst of these rhythms, you can’t have a conversation about how bad
your job is and pound Jager Bombs.
The more volume I put behind this, the more earth-shaking and
powerful it felt. And the more I loved it.
The press release that arrived with the CD indicated Raquy and
the Cavemen are somewhat familiar to the Greenwich Village scene, which
was extremely reassuring, considering this is the neighborhood that
spawned the likes of Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk and Phil Ochs, among
countless others of the 60s Folk movement. So someone in the know is
aware of the talent here.
Before you rush out to buy the latest genre-bending release
from your new favorite artist, give this one a shot. Head to your local
record store and buy it, request it, or demand it with a peacefully
clenched fist.
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Subba-Cultcha.com
(UK)
Eddie Thomas
The deal here is that Raquy Danziger, a classically-trained
pianist now internationally known for her skill with the dumbek (a
Middle Eastern instrument often called a tabla) has formed a world
music group with her husband Liron Peled and others, and based
themselves in New York. Owing to the backgrounds of the musicians
involved, and the instruments they wield, their music is very much in
the tradition of Middle Eastern music. But their approach, borrowing
from the drama and power of the rock tradition, sets them apart.
It’s certainly a change for me to hear an album based on the
nai, riq, dumbek, bendir, zila, oud and dahula, instead of guitar, bass
and drums. Certainly my spell-check can’t cope. As a novice to this
kind of thing, I couldn’t hope to explain what part all the above
instruments play, but I can tell you that I like it. A lot. The sound
is tied together and brought into (for me) more familiar territory with
guitars, drums and Moog synths, and it proves as dramatic and enticing
a recipe as anything I’ve heard this year.
“Jordan” certainly has a lot of appeal which could transcend
the snobbery of the world music scene and cross over to a broader
appeal. I hope it gets the chance to do so.
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Florida Entertainment
Scene
NYC Based World Music Ensemble Stirs Up Powerful Blend of
Blistering Rock And Exotic and Ancient Middle Eastern Vibes On New
Indie Release, Jordan
Leader/percussionist Raquy Danziger is world’s foremost expert
on dumbek, a classic Middle Eastern drum
Critical praise for the fiery, densely percussive hybrid music
of Raquy and The Cavemen (pronounced räh-key)—who are currently riding
high with Jordan, their new independent release on Meef Records—has
been rumbling with an intensity worthy of the New York City based
ensemble’s rock and roll meets Middle Eastern exotica. One reviewer
exclaims, “You won’t really know the meaning of dynamic, joyous and
percussive until you’ve experienced Raquy!
Others note the way leader Raquy Danziger plays “traditional
tunes with the energy of a rocker” with “a blazing skill that shocks
and amazes.” Rock fans might want to latch onto her burning ensemble
via words from a live review by Exclaim Magazine in Toronto: “It was a
remarkable demonstration of what Page and Plant have always wanted to
do but have never succeeded at.”
The charismatic Raquy may have been born in Michigan and
educated at Brandeis University in Boston, but she is a true citizen of
the world. Globally renowned for her expertise on the dumbek, an
ancient Arabic drum instrument she calls “beautiful with tons of
possibility,” she has traveled to nearly every continent accompanying
some of the greatest Middle Eastern music masters. Raquy has performed
in Canada, Mexico Turkey, Greece and throughout South America, and has
taught students throughout the U.S., Egypt, Canada and Israel, in
addition to her thriving teaching practice at home. In all, she has
taught hundreds of aspiring musicians, many of whom have later
performed with her.
She recently returned from a month in Egypt, where in March
she performed with a fifteen piece percussion troupe led by virtuoso
Said El Artist, the most famous dumbek player from that country, whose
compositions are known throughout the world. She played the solo dumbek
part in Said’s compositions and also taught the ensemble one of her own
pieces, which they performed on an outdoor stage on the Nile at the El
Sawy Cultural Center.
During Raquy’s stay in Egypt, she also appeared on the Samir
Sabry Show performing one of her drum solos. Both Al-Jazeera and Orbit
TV Networks filmed the concert and interviewed Raquy and Said. “This
was a great honor for me,” she says. “Anyone who knows about Middle
Eastern music has heard of him, and I have been learning from his style
for years.” A daily journal of her Egyptian journey is available at
http://raquy.blogspot.com.
When she’s not out globetrotting, Raquy and The Cavemen are in
perpetual motion, performing at clubs in the West Village, East Village
and Greenwich Village, including a semi-regular Sunday spot at Café
Figaro. Although the charismatic Raquy is the band’s focal point in
concert, Jordan—her first album with the Cavemen, and third overall—is
very much a collaborative effort between herself, her Israeli born
musician husband Liron Peled (who plays guitars, drum set, Moog
synthesizer and percussion) and three top New York performers—Daphna
Mor (recorders and nai), Yotam Beery (bass) and Rami El-Aasser (riq,
bass dumbek). The album also features special guest artists Osama
Farouk (dumbek, zils, bendir, dahula), Haig Manoukian (oud) and Raquy’s
father, Robert Danziger on bassoon.
In addition to performing on high dumbek, riqs and daf, Raquy
plays many of Jordan’s lead melodies on the Iranian kemenche, a bowed
violin-like instrument that is a staple of much Middle Eastern music.
Raquy and Liron had partnered musically on her 2004 recording Dust, and
gathered the ensemble that would become The Cavemen for a performance
at its record release party. Raquy then decided to keep these players
as her official band.
“The albums are in similar styles, and Jordan has more of the
same instruments,” says Raquy, whose solo catalog also includes 2001’s
much-heralded Masmudi. “Dust, however, has more Indian and Persian
chanting, while the new project puts the kemenche in a more prominent
role. There’s also heavier Egyptian style drumming. The riq is a frame
drum like the tambourine, and we play three of them. The daq is another
frame
drum. It’s the perfect blend of ancient and modern sounds,
with Liron drawing on his background as a hard rock drum set player
from Golan Heights to keep the rock vibe going.
“About half of the 15 pieces on Jordan are melodic, featuring
kamanche, guitar and bass, and the rest of them are solo drum
compositions,” she adds. “Liron likes the melodic songs, and my
favorites are the drumming pieces. It’s a nice balance. Jordan is named
after my grandfather, and the title song is written in a beautiful
Middle Eastern mode, with minor and major chords at the same time. It’s
happy yet somehow heartbreaking.”
A classically trained pianist, Raquy’s defining trait is the
intense wanderlust she has felt since childhood. After receiving her
college degree in history, she set out to see the world, traveling to
places like Israel (her ancestral home), Turkey, Greece, Cambodia and
Vietnam. She stayed longer in Varanase, India, where she immersed
herself in the study of Indian rhythmic cycles. “My piano teachers
always said I had a good sense of rhythm, and I was very attracted to
Indian music’s use of mathematics, cycles and groupings,” she says.
Later, in Israel, Raquy was drawn to the dumbek (otherwise known as
tabla) and the groove of Middle Eastern music, which, she adds, “is
great party music that can bring you to ecstatic levels of energy.”
Raquy and the Cavemen have appeared at Lollapalooza, Central
Park Summerstage, The North by Northeast and the Ashkenaz festivals,
among many others. They perform regularly in the U.S. with occasional
tours in Canada, Israel, Egypt and The West Indies. Wherever they go,
the band plugs into that city’s belly dance scene and takes over with
its undeniable energy.
“I think our music is universally popular because its rhythm
is very catchy, accessible, and everyone can feel it,” she says. “Even
if people have never been exposed to Middle Eastern music before, they
can get into the rhythm immediately and appreciate its beautiful
melodies. Because there are no language barriers, it is accessible to
everyone. I love both teaching and performing. Whether they are
students or just fans, the people attracting to this kind of music are
very cool. Everyone is there having fun.”
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Splendid Magazine
Brett McCallon
"Many modern musicians can barely be bothered to achieve basic
competence on their instruments of choice, so the musician calling
herself Raquy stands out from the pack in the best possible way. Not
only does she have a total mastery of an array of exotic drums that you
and I haven't heard of (Oh, sorry Mr. or Ms. Cool; I should have known
that your knowledge of the Zarb was both broad and deep. That's right.
I thought so); she has also mastered a host of picked and bowed
stringed instruments you and I haven't heard of (let's not do this
again). And by mastery, I mean the kind of blazing skill that can so
shock and amaze someone who hasn't heard these instruments played
before that all future performances by other musicians are in danger of
seeming amateurish.
The rhythms and tones that emerge and coalesce in the opening bars of
the Greek dance "Yietierre" are all the more impressive after you read
the instrumental credits in the liner notes; while Raquy's collaborator
Liron plays several more conventional instruments, Raquy plays four of
the aforementioned drums and stringed instruments, somehow making their
interplay sound as organic as any live combo's spontaneous
collaboration. The music she plays is even more exciting on tracks like
"Kurdish", an original composition based on Kurdish folk songs that
harnesses a truly rock guitar/bass/drums sound to the service of
Raquy's more exotic muse. It's the kind of perfectly balanced endeavor
that gives hope for the future of such world/rock combinations -- hope
that's hard to find elsewhere.
Each of these tracks is fantastic in its own way; even relative
throwaways like the rhythmically chanted, a capella "Tanan" add
valuable texture and variety, making the album a richer experience by
their presence. Dust goes from strength to strength, from the distorted
bass tones and sinuous melody of "Raquin" to the stunning, epic wall of
drums that conclude "Hafla". By the time "Axarai" (think Radiohead Goes
to Ankara) fades into the stately drone of closer "Huseyni Saz Samai",
you'll be ready to listen to the whole thing all over again.
Dust is an intriguing, exciting, deeply personal expression of love for
the instruments and possibilities of a style of music that we should
all know more about."
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