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Folk Rock/Acoustic
Asaf Avidan & the Mojos
| Israel (in coop. with Klaus Bönisch Konzertagentur)
Booking-Agent:
Oliver Arnold
+49 30 261032928
oa@f-cat.de
With Asaf Avidan, it's all a question of attitude. Last night for instance, at a show in Israel, he smashed his acoustic guitar. Not as a planned part of the stage show but out of anger. The thing had kept bugging him for a while, yesterday it was the final straw. It's just like in a relationship, says Avidan – you know it's over before it's over. Passion, wholehearted energy, unwillingness to compromise – these are features that are holy rules for Asaf Avidan and his band the Mojos. „We are nonconformists. It’s all about our art and our convictions,“ says Asaf, „success has never been the goal. It’s just a tool that helps us to do what we like to do.“
When looking at the career of the quintett from Jerusalem, it becomes clear what Asaf means by that. Together with the Mojos he built a career in his home country and within relatively short time turned into a national phenomenon. Without a record label, without the media, without booking agencies. It was only when the large venues of the country sold out that editors and A&Rs realized their omission – and unrolled the red carpet. The Israelis award for Best New Artist as well as support slots, for instance with Morrissey, plus gushing praise from music experts. The international press queued up, saw an ambassador of his generation in Asaf.
Now it's finally time for the international release of "The Reckoning" – the album that triggered the euphoria at home. On it, you'll find a unique blend of 60s-songwriter-folk, blues and indie rock. Asaf Avidan & the Mojos evoke with fresh energy the spirit of John Lee Hooker, recall the early Led Zeppelin sometimes, other times Janis Joplin. The latter has to do with Asaf's unusually high voice that has a tremendous dramatic expressiveness. Asaf screams and rages, pleads and whispers and reaches incredible heights to bring across what he wants to say. The Mojos add vital emphasis to that voice, explode in intense jams, but also take themselves back to leave enough room for Asaf and his acoustic guitar. Despite its reverences to a glorious past, "The Reckoning" is an entirely modern record that brings together whatever you wish indie rock should be about – intensity, self-will, steadfastness, creative force. Listen around: Nobody else sounds like this band. "In Israel, it's still a no-no to sing in English," says Asaf, "of course, people listen to Britney Spears and Bruce Springsteen around here, but the local folks are supposed to sing in Hebrew please. That was another reason why the media at first didn´t want to know about us. But the people understood so much faster what we were about and came to the shows – again and again and always more."
Apropos of Hebrew: The fact that Asaf and the Mojos come from Israel has never been an issue for them. "I´m neither am I proud nor ashamed of that," says Asaf. "I happen to be an Israeli just like my eyes happen to be blue. We drink from the cultural well of our history, but our music is universal – equally meaningful to someone in Dubai or New York or Tel Aviv. I write about relationships, about love, death and beyond, how strange our short stay here on this world is. You don't need any particular passport to understand that."
That cosmopolitan self-conception has to do with Asaf's personal history. Both parents were diplomats and spent the 70s in New York City. Asaf was born in Jerusalem in 1980 and grew up partly in Jamaica until 1991. The parents were used to Western life and owned a record collection that laid the ground for their son's music. "In the early 90s, I loved Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam – and found the origins of that music in my parents' closet. You listen to Zeppelin, Hendrix, Joplin. And then you go further back and find Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Billie Holiday. It's all connected."
And then the army at eighteen: Asaf suffered from the drill and picked up the guitar to alleviate the pain. "Singing is something very therapeutic to me. I need to scream to get things off my chest, be loud. I know that my voice is unusual. I love it when people at first don't notice me at first – only when I open my mouth they fall silent. The looks I get then… something strange and fascinating happens."
Before Asaf turned professional musician, he already had another career. After he had completed film school in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, he quickly turned into a sought-after animator, Asaf's work was passed around on festivals and he was showered with accolades. But Asaf soon had enough of the film business and gave it all up. The EP "Now That You're Leaving" came into being in 2006 in a creative fit, alone in an apartment in Jerusalem. The first concerts immediately created a buzz, Asaf toured the clubs and eventually brought together the Mojos. They are a close-knit community and invite the audience to join the dramatic, passionate experience.
That world comes alive on "The Reckoning." There are five musicians in a room who fight and believe to create something that is beautiful and true. "A good record grows from life," says Asaf and once again evokes the old blues ideal, "maybe there's just one man who's clapping his hands – but if it comes from the heart and he believes it himself, it's enough."
