Anton, I just wanted to thank you, "publically," for finding IDK-how all of these beautiful OL videos. I like how the settings are aften not in the usual concert venues: You get infusions of good personality vibes when up-close with these guys, even if it is unilateral for me...I wish I could say I've met them, but, nope, not yet.
BTW, I got Arkan's debut CD with my OL shipment w-a-y back, & all I can say is that they're very worthy of opening (aka, being "special guests") for OL. I understand that the members are of Algerian Muslim descent. Excellent. They grind my skull with moderate Islamic ideas couched in brutal metal terminology, an entirely reasonable skull-jarring contrast more of my "Fellow Americans" need to hear or--if too timid--at least know. I hope these guys go far, especially b/c the bassist plays a five-string
Yep, uh, right:They're on the same page on a lot of motifs, though the music's more "extreme." That's okay: OL was very extreme for early 1990s Israel. Now, it's incorporated a wider spectrum of musical styles, which I never thought was possible for this ahead-of-its times band back in the day. But the OL ferocity remains, by God, wars....New Jerusalem...[Arab violins; so haunting].... Pardon the effusiveness, but today's a messed up day in the USA, &, though I typically listen to my Middle Eastern music (trad & rock/metal) nearly every day, I find it especially reassuring, as we all, hopefully, contemplate how we're going to make this rather hateful world a far better place for our kids & theirs.
The future is here, as far as I'm concerned: I've got very small kids, and when I gaze at their photographs (huh?! You'll see why), I am jarred into the realization that we're all one because there is no "one" individual: Two of my kids are as blond as any N-European, the third pale N-Mediterranean just like me. Yeah, well, things happen when one's family flees the "Promised Land," lives on the Rhine for 1,000 yrs, tries out Spain for size, then splits in a despot-induced panic, with half crossing the Atlantic after the expulsion of Jews from Spain & Portugal (1492--Columbus was a Jew, well, that was the mnemonic used in my parochial school; @ least many of his crew were Jewish) to the "New World" (to whitey), & the other half heading to E Europe, a graveyard for my family now. We all have our stories, & when we dig far enough back, most played out in a virtually identical manner irrespective of the religions & cultures that held/hold so many in a vice-grip, that give the illusory appearance that there is a "we" & a "them," & never shall the twain meet.
Our past burdens us for no rational reason; it thrives in darkness. We are a self-selected crowd. We've had enough Choshech (pitch darkness) & our frustration over this is, I'm certain, one cardinal reason for our enthusiastic embrace of
OrWarriOr as a presentation of OL's finest achievement: We want it. vaYehi Or: Let there be Light. That's what I'm getting at: My kids are all just like me, flesh of my flesh; I worry about them all the time. No, they don't live with me. And I've got a fair idea Re what they're learning and I have
strong reservations. I'll tell you more privately. It's rough...very rough. But they're tough little thangs: They'll see the light. The day when most of us wake up and realize that we're all kin, all brothers and sisters, the
Evil Urge will deflate like a popped global balloon.