RebbeSoul - Press

 

Praying With The Guitar  

 

Bruce Burger interviewed by Liron Nagler-Cohen

 

Translated from the original Hebrew by Michal Bar

 

After playing piyutim (liturgical poetry) to the nations of the world, Bruce Burger, a.k.a. RebbeSoul is playing instrumental Carlebach songs, speaking with G-d through his guitar.

 

At first glance, you would not label him as a Rabbi or a Rebbe. In fact, not even at a second glance, but Bruce Burger, 53, is RebbeSoul, a musical brand name who combines Jewish music with soul and jazz.  Now he is coming out with a project renewing Carlebach nigunim (melodies) as instrumental pieces, unique from the more prevalent, Carlebach style and just as unique for the soul.

 

Burger made aliyah (moved to Israel) about 3 1/2 years ago and lives in Zichron Yaacov and, like many other Jewish, western, music creators, his heart lies in the east but his work originates far in the west.  He was born in upstate New York and embarked on his musical career at the age of 22, when he moved to California.  At age 12, he had a plastic guitar his parents rented for him "because they didn't believe that I would take the instrument seriously.  I played at bars that I wasn't even allowed to enter because I was too young." Burger tells, "They just looked the other way, and let me play."

 

Like the classic Jewish mother, his own mother didn't see music as a worthy profession one can make a living at. With a degree in engineering and his guitar in hand, which he was much more attuned to, he traveled across the US to look for a his place.  "I went out of my house in a snow storm and drove for 2 weeks until I finally got to sunny California, where I only had on a pair shorts and my guitar in the back of my car.  I spent 3 months practicing about 10 hours a day, working on every style of music.  I didn't care what it was."

 

"I found my sound"

 

In LA, Burger started recording and doing session work for other musical artists.  "There was a lot of diverse, musical activity at that time" he reminisces, "and I felt that I was becoming a musical chameleon.  I didn't know what I was going to play at a session before I arrived and had to play all styles.  What I really wanted was to find my own sound."

 

In 1992, when he was already immersed in the local music scene, it came.  "One day I was invited to a Shabbat dinner with Chabad hassidim.  I wasn't really so involved with Judaism but I said to myself, 'why not?  I'm invited and it might be worth checking out.'"  I went and I was captivated.  All the men sat together at this big table and sang with great passion and kavana (zeal).  When I looked at them, I thought that this is probably what my ancestors did.  I realized this was my sound and this is what I want to play."

 

"I was enchanted by the sight of the women who lit the Shabbat candles that night.  It reminded me of my mother when I was a child.  The vision really struck me.  Afterwards I wrote my first RebbeSoul song, Sister Sarah, which was inspired by this candle lighting."

 

Burger created the melody and the words and saw that it was good so he decided to add the Avinu Malcaynu prayer, in an instrumental style. "I wanted something on the album to connect to my roots." he says.  "It's like a young, black American singer doing a traditional blues tune.  At that time, doing a traditional Jewish song on a mainstream album was very unusual and I didn't know if it would work or not.  I decided to call the track just Avinu to make it easier for radio people to pronounce in order to hedge my bets."

 

The musical Prophet is always the one from out-of-town

 

The gamble paid off.  The uniqueness exposed RebbeSoul to the media.  He established a band and found himself surrounded completely by gentiles.  "All my Jewish musician friends were mocking me - why do you want to do Jewish music?  On the other hand, the non-Jewish musicians were really turned on by it.  This is how I became the only Jew on stage!  I began wearing my baseball hat because I felt I needed to put something on my head, playing this kind of music."

 

As a rule, a kippah (yamuke, skullcap) and Bruce Burger, have a fairly occasional relationship.  "I don't walk around with a kippah so most people say I'm not religious," Burger relates, "but every time I play RebbeSoul, I put something on my head because I consider this a prayer of the highest degree - like the nigunim of the hassidic tzaddikim (holy ones).  To the great Rebbes, a nigun, a melody, is something that comes from the heart and goes straight to heaven without anything getting in the way.  So when I do it, I want to make sure there is something on my head, out of respect."

 

Burger released five albums as RebbeSoul (including one by Common Tongue) until a friend who is a follower of Reb Shlomo Carebach, convinced him to create an album based on Carlebach songs.  "I'm not part of the Carlebach culture," Burger admits, "but I like challenges.  I did a lot of research and contacted people who intimately know his music.  I have a notebook full of his material I arranged and carefully selected the songs that I figured would work well together as an album.  I chose to make the album instrumental as I did not wish to repeat what others had already done and also because I consider myself a player first and a singer second.  I am a player that sings, not a singer that plays."

 

Universal Carlebach

 

RebbeSoul, as he is more well known as, hopes the Israeli audience will connect with this special but familiar sound.  Israel is his home personally although he feels he has some road ahead to make it his home here professionally.  "From the first moment I arrived, I felt as if I were among extended family even though I did not even know Hebrew.  People here care for one another in a very profound way.  For someone who looks in from the outside, Israelis may look rude or insolent but you're always the nicest and unfortunately, also the rudest to your own family.  When you are really in need however, you can count on your family and that's how I feel here."

 

He believes music is universal.  "I played RebbeSoul everywhere,... in Poland, in Watts and East LA.  When I finished playing Avinu or Carlebach songs, people who had no historical connection to it, stood up and cheered.  When you play FROM the heart it goes directly TO the heart.  When you play G-d's music with honesty, everyone understands it.  Maybe that's how people can learn to understand each other in this world."

 

Original article in Hebrew here ...

 

 

 

BRUCE BURGER interviewed by Dominick Miserandino

 

Bruce Burger has taken world music to knew heights... originally playing rock version of Jewish music Bruce has now taken this further with Common Tongue, playing world music with influences from dozens of different musical cultures.

 

DM) There aren't many artists recording songs with an influence of Hebrew roots. What inspired you to start doing this?

 

BB) I was searching for my own sound. As a studio musician, playing guitar in LA, I had to be a chameleon of sorts. It requires having a vast palette of sounds and styles at your fingertips. A bass player friend of mine once remarked that he wanted to hear Bruce Burger- MY sound. I ultimately found it in my roots. Hebraic music goes way back. Many of the traditional songs in RebbeSoul are hundreds, even thousands of years old. Even the original RebbeSoul material I write contains elements of the ancient traditions, linking people from generation to generation.

 

DM) Do you sing any of the traditional songs on this album?

 

BB) The other singer, Lynn sings "Eliyahu" on the new Common Tongue album. That's a traditional song to the prophet Elijah. We do a sort of hip-hop version of it. On the various RebbeSoul albums, I sing many traditional songs.

 

DM) You recently formed Common Tongue after recording on your own. Do you prefer working in a band or solo?

 

BB) They're both quite different. The band has a certain interaction between the players that is unique to that format. I like the spontaneity and for that reason, do not rehearse the band very often. Every night is always a little different and that's especially fun when the players are slammin'. They always keep me on my toes.The solo show is more intimate and there, I interact with the audience. They're the ones who keep me on my toes. I experiment even more when I play solo because there's no one else that needs to follow me. Of course, it's also more nerve-racking because I don't have a group of other musicians to cover for me in rough spots!Cassio (the percussionist) and I have been playing some duet shows lately and that's been really cool because it's kind of a cross between the band and the solo performance. We try all kinds of things and experiment a lot. Often we bring extra percussion for the audience.

 

DM) Where do you hope your musical career will go from here?

 

BB) I already have plans for two more RebbeSoul albums. We also have a few tracks done for the next Common Tongue album. I look forward to these recordings and releases and want to play and tour a lot more, both in the US and outside. I've also been producing some other projects, bands, and artists and really like it. It gives me a chance to help others grow as well.I'm just finishing up an unusual album where a group of artists including myself went into a juvenile detention hall (prison) to do music with the incarcerated youth. We actually made a CD of their work. They're between ages 13 and 18 and it was incredible seeing how this project turned some of these kids around. Maybe they'll get a chance to better themselves. It was very rewarding.

 

DM) Do you still keep in touch with the kids?

 

BB) Impossible. We only knew their first names and they move on to other prisons all the time. It's a constant revolving door.

 

DM) Do you feel your music is geared more towards Jewish listeners or all listeners?

 

BB) When I first started RebbeSoul, I assumed that my audience would be mostly Jews but when RebbeSoul and Fringe Of Blue got on the radio, I found I had a large non-Jewish audience. I began receiving mail from people with names like Christian Smith or Takashi Akagi telling how they liked songs like Avinu which is a traditional Jewish prayer.Common Tongue is clearly more universal as the material comes out of many ethnic traditions like Arabic, Brazilian, Jewish, R&B, jazz, etc. It's a real combination of things but played pretty radically. Those people who expect to hear us play ethnic music in a traditional way that has been done for years will fall out of their chairs. Nothing is sacred and everything is sacred- at the same time.

 

DM) What do traditional Jewish leaders and other religious leaders say about how you play the music?

 

BB) My music has run the spectrum of being called sacred to sacrilegious. I've played in synagogues to people who openly weep when I play "Avinu". Yet, I've been banned in certain religious neighborhoods where teenagers have confided in me that they listen behind closed doors with headphones on.Either way, as RebbeSoul, I'm just playing music from the Jewish soul. It's a glimpse into a world of who we are as a people. Whether, one is Jewish or not, we are all still part of a bigger group which is the human race. We all have that in common and if we can appreciate each other for our differences, then what a more pleasant world it will be. Our differences can be a source of fascination rather than of divisiveness. That's why I wrote Prayer For Peace (Harachaman) and recorded it on my Fringe Of Blue and RebbeSoul-O albums. It's about peace in the Middle East and I've gotten both flack and praise for it.

 

DM) Do you feel that people enjoy your work more musically or spiritually?

 

BB) Music can bring out spiritual meaning from the depths of the soul. Most of the great rebbes were known to be wonderful singers and rhythms have been used ceremonially in many religions for thousands of years. There is a connection between music and spirituality and what separates them is blurry line at best. A very blurry line.

 

DM) Then maybe a better question is, what is a Rebbe?

 

BB) Actually I thought it was a fine question but I'll answer this one too. The Rebbes were the mystics, the shamans of the Jewish people. They were mostly known in Hassidic communities in Eastern Europe and there are many stories and legends about them. They were also very musical and music is considered very holy and spiritual in Judaism. There are still some Rebbes around today. That mystical element with music is where the name RebbeSoul comes from.

 

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