The Idan Raichel Project - 'Within My Walls'

Israeli World-Pop

At its heart, Within My Walls, the second release from The Idan Raichel Project, is pop music. Unlike Western popular songs, though, which too often careen frantically towards high notes and cheap thrills, this collection of songs is subtle and smooth. Lush arrangements and quiet intensity tie together the multilingual narrative, resulting in what is easily the most accessible non-Western pop album I've heard in years.

The problem that I have with most pop music is that it's music for passive listening. Sure, it's fun to hum along with in the grocery store, but it tends to be kind of empty under the surface. The Idan Raichel Project has reimagined pop music to be an active-listening genre with Within My Walls. Sure, the songs are all strong, anthemic ballads, but they demand (and hold) the listener's full attention. With each repeated listen of the album, you hear new sounds, pick up on nuances that you hadn't heard before, and otherwise find something different in every song.

There are some obvious differences between the songs on Within My Walls and the songs you'd hear on American Top 40 radio. First of all, none of the songs are in English (they're in just about everything but English: Hebrew, Spanish, Cape Verdean Portuguese, Arabic, Swahili...). Secondly, in the place of the ubiquitous wailing guitar solo, you'll find strains of Iranian spike fiddle, oud, and even dripping water used as percussion. On a more subtle level, the songs themselves are less formulaic than typical American pop songs. Sure, some of them have a Verse-Chorus-Verse-Bridge-Chorus layout, but the cheap tricks (key changes, high notes, sudden a cappella moments) are few and far between, and when used as such, they don't feel cheap.

Idan Raichel, the visionary producer behind the project, began this journey with the goal of collaborating with musicians of many cultures to create something that crosses borders without political overtones. On Within My Walls, Raichel brought in a number of singers and songwriters, including Marta Gomez (Colombia), Mayra Andrade (Cape Verde), Somi (Rwanda/Uganda), Maya Avraham (Israel), and Shimon Buskila (Morocco/Israel). Each of these singers, as well as others (including Raichel himself) take a turn on a song or two. However, despite the fact that each song is entirely different from the rest in language, meaning, and cultural influence, they're tied together by theme and production style. Raichel brought in a 24-piece orchestra to add depth and cohesiveness to each song, many of which were recorded in mobile studios around the world with additional instrumentation added later. The effect is a grand one, giving each arrangement a lush, sweeping effect.

It's a rare CD where every song seems to be a necessary part of the whole, and one of the more impressive aspects of the album is that Raichel cleanly resisted the temptation to go too far. Even the quantity and length are appropriate - 13 tracks, just under 45 minutes - it's an "all killer, no filler" situation. That said, some of the tracks are really extraordinary. The opener, "Todas Las Palabras," featuring the soft, sweet voice of Colombian songstress Marta Gomez, is a clean, powerful way to start the record. The sultry croon of Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade on "Odjus Fixtadu" is pretty irresistible, and the sadness in Shimon Buskila's voice as he sings for his deceased mother on "Min Nhar Li Mshiti" translates easily, even if you don't speak the language.

Release Date: March 2009
Label: Cumbancha Records
Playing Time: 43.7 minutes