THE LIVNAT BROTHERS AND THE JEWISH BLUES PROJECT

The Livnat brothers create and play original music in Israel and abroad. Aviv Livnat and Arik Livnat grew up in a home imbued with art and creativity. Their mother, the painter Eve Livnat-Merzer immersed them from an early age in the world of art in general and of music in particular; to this day, they maintain an artistic dialogue with the hand-hammered copper of their grandfather, the renowned artist Arieh Merzer.
They began their joint musical activities after the release of Aviv Livnat from the Israel Air Force band where he served as a guitarist, followed by that of Arik Livnat in his capacity of saxophone soloist from the Israel Defence Forces Orchestra. They inaugurated the "Ways" group in 1988 under whose name they recorded their first disc, "The One You Can't See," which came out in 1990 and was dedicated to the memory of their father, the Israel Air Force pilot Arnon Livnat, who was killed in the Six Day War. The roots linking the Livnat brothers to jazz are firmly planted in the field of rock and progressive rock. They studied classical music and composition. Aviv studied classical guitar and Arik classical flute; they went over to jazz only later. The diversified melting pot from which they sprang as musicians laid its mark on the Livnat brothers' style of playing and writing; their constant efforts to expand even further the borders of shape and style, and the freedom with which they did so, was a signature of their musical oeuvre. They moved from free-style jazz productions, through textual songs and works, classical music and music for theater, dance and movies, and up to composing Jewish jazz and music; this is the direction they are lately exploring in depth and for which they are reaping exceptionally wide acclaim at home and abroad. Music critics have bestowed on this stylistic fusion the label "Jewish Blues." It is difficult to find any other group that, like the Livnat brothers, continues to maintain its place in the Israeli jazz scene - creating, performing, and recording - for such a long time; this is certainly no easy task under existing conditions in Israel. Almost 7 years elapsed between releasing their first and second discs, although they did appear many times in festivals during this period (they took part in the first festival of "Jazz Blues and Videotape"), and in various jazz clubs, before recording their second disc. Meanwhile, Aviv was active in the plastic arts, too, as a painter, and exhibited several times in Europe. He lived for a while in Paris, and even met the guitarist Pat Metheny and played together with him. Arik, on his part, started to study at Yoram Levinstein's School of Acting, and on completing the course began to appear in the Haifa theater and to host TV shows. Their various quests, their turning to, and development of, different media and artistic fields, as well as the year Aviv spent in Paris - all these led to starting work on the second disc, "Meditation of the Sad Soul." This disc included melodies by Aviv to the texts of poets from Greece (Kavafis), and Portugal (Pessoa), and also from Israeli poets (Leah Goldberg), etc. Arik, who had immersed himself in theater productions and at the same time composed music for a number of shows, and even appeared together with the singer Stevie Wonder during the latter's round of performances in Israel, joined Aviv on a one year's musical journey that lasted until they finished recording for the disc.
In 1997, "Meditation of the Sad Soul" was released under the label "Golden Peacock," the brand name of the company they founded and which presently brings out their albums. A round of presentations of the disc was accompanied by an exhibition of paintings by Aviv under the same label; these paintings make up part of the design of the album.
The year the album was released the Livnat brothers appeared with their group all over Israel; during the festive gala performance they announced the launching of the arts foundation Raz-Ram whose aims are to aid orphaned children and youth, and to promote values of culture, art, and heritage through music and the arts. The Raz-Ram Foundation began its operations in 1998, but the idea to set it up was already conceived many years prior to that; it heralded the realization of Aviv's vision. Thus, while leading an intensive life of musical activities, the Livnat brothers harnessed themselves to the task of voluntary-communal activities, and to widening the nationwide scope of activities of the Raz-Ram Foundation. Arik and Aviv were invited to appear in Jerusalem before the US president, Bill Clinton, and his wife; this was in 1998 during his last appearance in Israel as president, and at this meeting the Livnat brothers received an invitation to visit the White House. Throughout their early years of activity reporters often found it difficult to classify the Livnat brothers' musical style. Jazz critics tended to look for the jazzy aspect while pop critics felt more of an empathy towards the rocky melody of the music. In general the media always tried to place them inside a contemporary-style drawer, one of either rock, or pure jazz, or pop, as a result of which the Livnat brothers found themselves, to a certain extent, neither here nor there; it took them several years to consolidate their unique status that is in accord with their original style and sound. They produced their first performance of "Songs Hand-Hammered in Copper" in 1999. This was a multimedia show combining jazz with Jewish music which signaled a change in direction of the Livnat brothers' musical oeuvre, and opened up additional strata of sound and soul, as well as of kind and size of audience. The show was presented in different auditoriums all over the country: the "Israel Festival" in Jerusalem, the "Tel Aviv-Jaffa Festival", the "Safed Klezmer" Festival, the "Jazz, Blues and Videotape" Festival, etc. In 2000 they made a concert tour of Poland with their production of "Songs Hand-Hammered in Copper," at the conclusion of which they recorded a performance, which was broadcast live on the Polish National Jazz Radio, in the jazz club, "Blue Note"; this constituted their third disc, "Jewish Jazz Live in Poland." It was put out under the Golden Peacock label, with the cooperation of "Adama Music." Following the Polish tour, the show has been performed in festivals and concert halls all over Europe and the US. In Bulgaria, they appeared together on the stage with the ensemble of the bassist, Victor Bailey (Weather Report, Madonna, Sting), in the Sofia International Festival. They appeared in Czech Republic in the Prague Philharmonic concert hall; in UCL, the University of London; in Brussels and Paris; and in a world music festival in the town of Carpentras in southern France. They have lately returned from a concert tour in the US. In May 2002, a special concert was held in the UN General Assembly in New York, as part of its international conference on the subject of children in the world. They recently composed original music for a show called "Jacob Jacobson" that was produced by Helen Beer and presented in the Bloomsbury Theater in London's West End; this music received the British Millennium Award. In 2002 the Livnat brothers were awarded a "Golden Feather" by ACUM (an ordinary member of CISAC) for their fourth album, "A Child's Dream," music that was written over the years for theater, movies, and dance. A fifth disc, "Arik Livnat," which was recorded in 1998 but came out only in 2002, is a solo performance by Arik and musically produced together with Aviv. In the Jazz Blues and Videotape 2000 festival, the Livnat brothers gave a performance of "Fugue for Fouga-Saxophone," a show which combines original live music with a video of Israel Air Force Fouga jets in air combat (the video material kindly provided by the Israel Air Force Training Services Unit), an aeronautical dance performance that examines the artistic linkage between flight and music experiences. This is a multimedia performance that combines video, music and theater. The encounters of the Livnat brothers with different audiences during their performances abroad, and music making with musicians working in Europe, was conducive to a reorganization called "Partisans of the Millennia," whose objectives are to draw different cultures closer together and to try to bridge existing chasms and gaps through music. A new CD release 2004 "Ven Yash Iz Geforn". The music of this CD was inspired by the novel Ven Yash iz Geforn. The Livnat brothers engage with the musical layers which emerge in the novel, exploring both its human and Jewish content. Seventh released in 2007 - MANGER BALLADS- the Concert Gala was in London.