A unique premier album by Mordechai Yitzhar (Baumol)

Despite his American /European pedigree, already as a child, Mordechai became enamored with Sephardic melodies. Two members of Brooklyn’s Syrian Jewish community who came on Aliya to Gush Etzion, spent their Shabbat afternoons teaching the ancient musical traditions of Aleppo to local kids. Together with the Hassidic tunes and Sixties folk-rock he heard at home, these influences have co-mingled to produce an authentically Israeli, innovative fusion of East and West in Mordechai’s original compositions.

“Sephardic Piyutim, together with the music of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach are the two main influences in forming my musical approach,” says Mordechai. For 5 years now, Mordechai has been performing at weddings and other parties with his band named “Kisufim”, which he founded together with friends from his stint at the Hesder Yeshiva in Tzfat. Later, he went on to develop his musical talents at Jerusalem’s Musrarra School for Eastern Music.

“After 5 years of playing at weddings and parties, I was eager to record my own originally composed songs – many of which were written years ago,” says Mordechai. He spent over a year recording and mixing his new first album entitled “HaShvil HaMeyuchad Sheli” (My Own Special Path) together with the gifted musical producer Eran Klein. The result is an exquisitely crafted, alluring fusion of Eastern and Western melodies, featuring originally composed tunes and lyrics, both robust, and at the same time, elusive.

Mordechai, in discussing the disk’s title song “Through Darkness and Light” says” “It expresses the search after my own unique path which enables me to stay warm and fulfilled despite the cold and darkness which may surround us – a path that may even help me to warm the hearts of others.”

After privately producing and successfully selling out his first round of “HaShvil HaMeyuchad Sheli” (My Own Special Path), the album is now being re-released by Hindik Records and will shortly be available in stores in Israel and the U.S.

Mordechai’s special Gush Etzion path began 25 years ago in Efrat where he grew up as one of Yossi & Sarah Baumol’s 9 children and continues today in Tekoa, where he now lives together with his wife Netta and two children.

For more on Mordechai's music:

http://www.hindik.co.il/main.php?mod=nf&id=14

http://www.shlager.net/default.asp?articleID=818

http://dos-music.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post_9909.html