Sanhedrin is an Israelian band whose music is somewhere between Symphonic Prog and Ecletic. Their debut album has just been released on Fading Records, a sublabel of Altrock.
I got in touch with them for their story.
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When,
where and by whom was your band born ? Did any of you, past and
present members, play in any other bands before joining up in your
band ?
Why did you choose to name your band after a religious
council ?
Sanhedrin
band was established at 1999 in Tel Aviv, Israel by
us, Aviv and Sagi Barness.
Sessions took place inside of a 20 feet
container which we renovated by ourselves and turned it into an
acoustic room.
Some of the band past members played in other bands
before Sanhedrin, some of our current players are playing for living
with other ensembles.
We looked for a name to be close to our
roots. Sanhedrin, or in its original name "Council of Elders",
was the top religious institution of the past.
The name Sanhedrin
simply sounds good to us.
The
story:
The
Israeli Prog band, Sanhedrin, got started at 1998 as a Camel's covers
"playing just for fun" ensemble, established by the Barness
brothers, Aviv (keyboards) and Sagi (bass guitar), with the drummer
Alon Badt and the guitarist Shachar Dor.
At
the same time, Aviv Barness began to write original music for the
band and collected original materials.
The
guitarist player Ellad Avraham gathered them when their guitarist
left, and brought with him different aspects and some new musical
ideas.
Sanhedrin
started to make first steps as an original material band, while each
of the group members contribute his share and influence as the style
of the band got developed.
Zivit
Naor joined the band as a flute player and the ensemble started to
perform on stage.
Drummer
Alon Badt left the band and went overseas and been replaced by Yatziv
caspi, who came with his own musical attitude. Sanhedrin continued to
perform but as the time went by, the group aimed to record an
album.
During that time, Yatziv left the band because of some
artistic disagreements and Ellad Avraham left for academic studies.
Later on he establishd with his friend, Arik Hayat, a prog band named
"Sympozion".
Sanhedrin
bumped into a crossroad, looking for a new guitarist and a new
drummer since they wanted to process the materials for recordings.
After
a long search for a suitable guitar player, Gadi Ben Elisha, a well
known professional guitarist, joined the band and brought with him a
deep maturity that made a real development of the musical
atmosphere.
The drummer has been replaced for a short period of
time by Shai Pasternak; a Berkley University
graduate, until Igal Baram took that function with a lot of success.
During
all that, the band has process their original materials, rising up
their own standards and an album has come into being.
Meanwhile,
the flute player, Zivit Naor left the band and became a mom of 2. The
band members did not give up on their dream and famous Shem-Tov Levi
joined them for the rest of the recordings.
Aviv
and Sagi knew from start that Udi Koomran would
be the perfect match for mixing the materials, since he participated
in many prog albums before and he is familiar among
the prog scene in Israel and overseas.
Udi
Koomran worked intensively for almost a
year to finalize the mixing and match the right colors for all of the
materials.
Members:
Gadi
Ben Elisha is a well known talented
guitar player in Israel with incredible
ability to thrill the heart of his listeners.
Plays since a very
young age and has a rich repertoire as a lead guitar player.
In
the last years he is a member in ensemble
"Shem-Tov Levi" which
combines jazz, Mediterranean, Balkan and Baroque music.
Shem-Tov
Levi is an Israeli singer, pianist,
flutist, arranger and composer.
During his long career, Levi
issued solo albums, along with working with many first-rate
musicians, and participated in a Prog-rock ensemble named
"Sheshet".
In
February 2005, Levi was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award as a
composer by ACUM - The Israeli league of Composers, music-authors and
publishers.
Yigal
Baram - a diverse and multifaceted
drummer, specializes in African, Brazilian Afro-Cuban music.
In
1999 founded the ensemble "Tipico"
that works to date. The band combines Cuban jazz and classic Cuban
dance music.
All
of these talented musicians joined Sanhedrin because their
passion for progressive rock, which was a landmark in the development
of each one of them as a musician.
Your
debut album Ever After has just been released. Please tell us more
about this album.
During
making the album it was important for us to have a linear line or an
interesting musical theme (a concept) preserve along each
section.
Compositions and musical process got the top priority
which required adventurousness in technical performance level.
It
was important for us to present an interesting challenge music for
the mind as well for the heart (emotion).
Some
years ago, even some decades ago, there was some really good bands in
Israel playing the type of symphonic prog you are playing. Were you
influenced by this scene at all or are your mainly influenced by
European bands like Camel, Anglagard, Genesis & Co ?
We
have a great respect for Israeli bands whom created a progressive
rock in Israel 40 years ago, however, We had influenced mostly by the
European classical bands
of the late 60 and early years of the 70,
mainly bands from England and Italy.
How is the music
scene in Israel these days and do you find it easy to get gigs
there ?
Compared
with the mainstream, the prog scene in Israel takes place in a small
volume and performances are held in accordance with the relatively
small demand.
The sympathetic Prog community of Israel is rather
constant. Too few people are looking for the excitement and interest
of what the Prog-rock has to offer.
What
is your plans for this year and beyond ?
Since
the recordings of the album, the band didn't play much together. All
band's members are busy these days with different projects.
We
initiate meetings to continue play, create and perform together.
To
wrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this
interview ?
Of
course.
For the past 10 years, the band had many incarnations,
especially in terms of good musicians who participated in it, we must
say, this contributed greatly to the
musical and ideological
diversity of the album.
Thank you to Sanhedrin for this interview
Their PA profile is here and their homepage is here
Edited by toroddfuglesteg - May 09 2011 at 09:06
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Sanhedrin
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