Global Grooves And Other Adventures
Israeli keyboardist Lior Romano talks about his various projects, as well as his new dance-friendly seven-inch
If you listen to enough Israeli-made world music and funk, one sideman—and more recently, bandleader—who’s name seems to be everywhere, is keyboardist Lior Romano. Romano’s ubiquity owes a lot to his prodigious chops, and tasteful playing, as well as to his positive outlook, and obvious ability to hang. His curriculum vitae includes regular gigs with A-list, Israeli artists like Karolina and Ester Rada, and also stints as a member of various bands, like the Amharic-language Ethiopian outfit, Ground Heights, and the well-traveled, reggae group, Zvuloon Dub System. He’s also a frequent contributor to assorted projects on the Batov record label, including Sababa 5, Baharat, and his recent self-titled seven-inch, Romano.
Romano is busy, but he’s not an anomaly, and is one of a number of new-breed Israeli musicians with superior musical skills, fluency in multiple genres—often groove-centric world styles, funk, and expansive modal jazz—as well as a command of Near Eastern musics, and nuggets from the Jewish diaspora. In Romano’s case, that includes Ethiopian rhythms and melodies, ‘70s-era Israeli disco, and assorted Mediterranean and Balkan feels.
“He is a crazy musician, and is somehow involved with so many other things that are happening,” Batov label head, Doron Erez, says. “He also plays with a lot of big names on the Israeli scene. His influences are more hardcore Middle Eastern, but I think he also has something that’s a little more funky. He has an interesting story, too. He was convinced that he had to play by himself—he never knew that he could play with other people—he was always at home by himself with the keyboard, making beats, bass lines, and playing leads. It wasn’t until he got older that he started playing with other musicians.”
Romano’s days as a loner are long since over—COVID-related isolation notwithstanding—and I spoke with him about his work as a session player in Israel, the intricacies of Ethiopian scales and modes, the camaraderie of being part of a small, but exciting, local scene, and the fun of seeing many of the same faces at different shows around Israel.
What’s your background?
I am from South Tel Aviv. I started playing piano at a pretty young age, when I was seven. I had a private teacher, and then I went to a high school that had a music department. I have a full bagrut in music [editor: a Te’udat Bagrut is the Israeli equivalent of a high school diploma, and shows that you passed a matriculation exam in a particular subject or subjects]. The options they gave you were either classical or jazz. I am not classical and I am not jazz, but I am closer to jazz than classical, so I chose jazz, and I have a full diploma in jazz. I wanted to go to college for music, too. I got accepted to Berklee in Boston, but I didn’t have enough money to go there. They offered me a scholarship, but it was not enough.
You posted a great video online, “Funk Party,” which looks like it’s from a wedding. The bass player is Max Olearchick from Big Thief. It seems like everyone in Israel knows each other and works together.
I just know him from the music scene. My bass player couldn’t do the gig, so I called Max and he came. It is a small scene. What can I say? I also managed to play on three different things on Batov Records: Romano, Baharat, and also a group called Sababa 5.
You’ve toured with some big names, too.
I’ve opened for Alicia Keys, Sting, Bootsy Collins. I’ve opened for a lot of reggae bands that came to Israel, too. I played with Albert “Apple Gabriel” Craig, one of the singers from Israel Vibration, when he came to Israel. I was in a reggae band called Zevulun Dub System, and we were his backing band.
Are you still with that band?
It doesn’t exist anymore, but before we broke up, we managed to play the SunFest Festival in Jamaica, and that was a cool experience. After that, we played with the singer from Israel Vibration when he came to Israel.
Were those shows with Alicia Keys, Sting, and Bootsy when they came to Israel, too?
Alicia Keys was when she came to Israel. Bootsy was part of a festival in France. Sting was at a festival in the Czech Republic. I was playing with a singer, Ester Rada.
Are you still playing with Ester Rada?
It’s not happening, but officially I am still with Ester. I didn’t get fired yet. But it is not happening very much because of corona.
Her music is a synthesis of American R&B and pop, but with an obvious Ethiopian influence. It seems to incorporate a subtle polyrhythmic feel as well.
What I like in Ester’s music is you can take something like a pop song, and then fuze it with Ethiopian rhythms like six over four, which is very cool, and then transition between them. For example, if you play four, and then you play six fours, it lines up. You come back and it is like a party.
Meaning that every 24 beats, you arrive back at a big downbeat or one.
Exactly. I like playing the Ethiopian music with Ester. I listen to a lot of Ethiopian singers, and there is one who is very famous, Mahmoud Ahmed, who I got to collaborate with. He came to Israel to do a show, and Zevulun Dub System recorded with him.
Have you checked out the Ethiopian scales, too?
They have a lot of scales, and some of them sound very strange to Western ears. But they are mostly pentatonic, either major or minor. The scales are called Tezeta, and there is a Tezeta major and a Tezeta minor. In Hebrew, Tezeta is erga (ערגה), which means, “to yearn for something.”
Is that sound expressed in the scales?
Yes, it is between sad, melancholy, and happy at the same time. [Editor: that dichotomy is similar to the blues scale, which obfuscates the distinction between major and minor.]
What would be some of the strange scales?
Imagine a B major chord, but the bass note is C [which is an interval of a minor second]. The scale notes take notes both from B and C major. It’s a weird scale, and it sounds dissonant. I don’t know the name of it, I just know the scale.
Does Ester use that scale, too?
Ester uses mostly Tezeta. Actually, as an interesting aside, we made a little bit of history with her song, “Nanu Ney,” which is in the Ethiopian language, Amharic. It was the first Amharic song on the radio in Israel. People know it, too, and when we play it in shows they like it, and they dance.
Does her music use non-Western notes or microtones?
I can talk about microtones, but I do that with Yossi Fine [bassist with David Bowie, Rubén Blades, and many others]. He started his own band, and in that band he plays microtonal guitar. He called me, and I played bass and keyboards at the same time. I used my computer for performances, and it has a quarter tone synthesizer.
Do you also work with the singer, Karolina?
She’s amazing, and she’s a real soul singer. Before corona, we were supposed to do a double show with Ester and Karolina singing together. Hopefully that will still happen.
Ground Heights, which is another band you work with, also has lyrics in Amharic.
It’s different from Ester, because everything is in Amharic, and we mostly do covers of famous Ethiopian songs, plus original songs by the singer. Her name is Hewan, or Hava in Hebrew. She was born in Israel, but grew up speaking Amharic with her grandmother, so she knows the language.
Being that the Israeli scene is small and that the country is somewhat isolated, does that make it hard to get gigs, and also, hard to get gear?
First of all, it is hard to get gigs here because not only is it a small scene, but we have a lot of really good musicians, and there is a lot of competition. In terms of getting gear, you can get stuff in Israel, but it is more expensive. It’s not that you can’t get it, you can, but you have to order it, and the Israeli mail office is terrible. For example, I have a Nord keyboard. I bought it in New York, and it was waiting for me for a year over there. When I went on tour with Ester, I got it when we got to New York. But I managed to save a lot of money. In Israel, in Shekels, it was going to cost 15,000, but I got it for 10,000 in New York.
Is the audience oversaturated as well? Is it hard to get people to come out to shows because there is so much good stuff happening?
Yes it is hard. It is the same people all the time. It is a small scene and it is difficult to bring people to the shows. Mostly, the same people who come to the reggae shows, come to the Ester Rada shows, and also the Karolina shows. It is the same people.
Do you recognize people in the audience?
Yeah, people come and say hi.
So it is really a small scene.
But you know what, it is very special, because Israel is like kibbutz galiot (קיבוץ גליות, the ingathering of the exiles). Everyone comes from his house with his own influences and the music his parents listened to. It is very interesting. I know people who play electronic music, and at the same time play Arabic music with an oud and those types of instruments.
Is that similar to your story as well? For example, your project, Baharat, has a lot of Turkish, Syrian, and Egyptian influences.
Yeah, that is from what my parents listened to. My mom is from Turkey, and my dad is from Egypt. I used to listen—not a lot—to music when my dad put on a record.
Do your parents speak Turkish and Arabic?
Yes.
Are you familiar with either of those languages?
Manly bad words [laughs].
What are you trying to do musically with Baharat?
It is a difficult question. I look at it as hipster music. Genre-wise, it is a bit surf, and a bit Middle Eastern, but I can’t really put my finger on it. Aris San is a big influence. He’s a Greek musician who came to Israel in the 1970s. He has a lot of famous songs that Israelis know. He sang in Greek and in Hebrew. I don’t think he’s Jewish.
Does Baharat play live or is it only a studio project?
It’s only a studio project. I did it with two of my very close friends. Gil Livni is on the guitar, and Matan Assayag is on the drums. They were roommates and I would always come over to play, and from that, it became a little project, and we decided to record something.
What is the origin of Romano, your solo project?
After Baharat, I started thinking about my solo project, and this is it. The music is similar to Baharat, but it is more of a disco, or dance, vibe. I am writing more songs, and I am planning to do more. As soon as the economy and work come back, and I have some money, I am planning to go to the studio again to record some more.
Photo courtesy Lior Romano
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