The Alaev Family & Tamir Muskat

The Alaev Family are something of a discovery. Originally from Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, this Central Asian Jewish family emigrated to Israel 20 years ago. The eight-piece group includes three generations of the family with the 80-year-old Allo Alaev, playing doira (frame drum), at its heart. The opening ‘Yoblohoy’ is a sort of prayer that has the same sort of Tajik/Uzbek Bukharan melody that permeates Sevara's excellent debut Yol Bolsin. But it's driven by strong vocals and percussion and then a growling clarinet from Zvika Alaev that enters like the sound of a Jewish shofar (ram's horn) signalling the Sabbath. Making his own percussive contributions is producer Tamir Muskat, best known for his work in Balkan Beat Box. ‘Boé Boé’, an arrangement of a traditional wedding song, has a wonderful rhythmic texture with barked-out vocals and ‘Imshab Shabi’, another wedding song, moves towards an electronic dance beat with the growling bass guitar. Other family members play accordion and violin; Amir Alaev plays kanun (zither) impressively on ‘Greek Salad.’

This is a distinctive debut disc. With exuberant polyrhythmic drumming and party atmosphere, The Alaev Family is a band that will surely deliver a great show onstage and hopefully appear at festivals over the summer.