Mor Karbasi, St Andrew’s in the Square, GlasgowRob Adams
February 02 2009
Star rating: ****
Mor Karbasi had to be especially good to follow her opening act, the
Quebecois scallywags Galant, tu perds ton temps, with their lovely five-part
harmonies, exuberant singing and suitcase percussion - and she was.
Jerusalem-born Karbasi specialises in Sephardic and Hebrew songs, drawing
both on a repertoire that has been passed from mother to daughter for more than
500 years and original songs created in that tradition to make, with her
superbly understated band, music that sounds at once ancestral and of the
moment.
Her voice is a real thing of beauty, able to glide to soulful heights and
convey vivid images with a lightness of touch while her musicians create
sympathetic moods with flamenco-like guitar, oud, percussion, double bass and
the ultra-expressive ney flute or, as on the intimate, offstage encore, power
her along subtly with handclaps.