Eliyahu Sills and Rachel Valfer have made a name for themselves among fans of world music as members of The Qadim Ensemble, a group whose music synthesizes various musical traditions of the Middle East. Their new album as the duo Rachel & Eliyahu Open the Gates (released on January 31, 2020) is a collection of Jewish Middle Eastern music inspired by both contemporary work and the more traditional. The single “Hineh Ani” displays the lively and richly imagined compositional quality of the project’s music incorporating wind and string instruments, percussion, harmonium and dynamic, melodic vocals in Hebrew. The impetus behind the writing of the album was to demonstrate a love for culture, the music therefrom and for each other and the songwriting reveals layers and nuances of that love in the sonic details of musicianship and the polyrhythms inherent to the music giving it an ever-evolving and hypnotic quality while maintaining a vibrant and energetic quality. Listen to “Hineh Ani” on Soundcloud.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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