Ravid Kahalani Vocal &Gimbri / Shanir Blumenkranz Bass & Oud/  Rony Iwryn Percussion / DanMayo Drums

Yemen Blues is acontradiction in plain sight. They’re a puzzle you unlock by finding thesolution inside yourself. Solo voices in unison; a collective in many parts. Onone level, it’s music at its most direct, it’s most emotionally emphatic. Onanother, it’s a spiritual quest, both enlightening and perplexing. A projectthat spans continents while preaching the universal, they obey multipletraditions while forging their own.

With a sense of thespirit in each note, Yemen Blues are worth comparing to spiritual jazz greatssuch as John Coltrane. Drawing from the great traditions of Jewish and Arabicculture in the Middle East, each note sings with a love for common humanity.“Spirituality unites us,” Ravid explains. “Love unites us. We move to extremes,but it’s soulful.”

This year hasbrought their studio album ‘Shabazai – A Tribute To The Poet’, an evocation ofthe work of legendary Yemeni poet Shalom Shabazi. Working withalacrity, Yemen Blues are ready to spin the creative dials once more, andthere’s no telling where it will land.

“It’s beautiful andit’s fun and it’s smart,” says Dan. “It breaks the rules – there’s somethingdifferent here.”

Ever the purveyorof clipped, sage-like wisdom, Shanir puts it even more succinctly: “It soundslike today, somehow.”

The first seed was planted by Ravid Kalahani – the founder,and talismanic audio guru behind Yemen Blues back in 2010. They have since becomea stamp placed on multiple projects, with many different voices. RonyIwryn is one of the most persuasive – an Israeli artist from Uraguay,he’s been there for over a decade holding down the percussion chair, with anopen heart, a thirst for salsa, and an ability to find strength in fragility.

Shanir Blumenkranz has his twinrole on bass guitar and oud spanning different worlds, different sonic systems.His electrifying personality belies a zen-like calm; a giant inNY's avant-garde scene, he’s worked on more than 150 albums, bringingtogether the twin poles of extreme noise and simple melody.

With each project,Yemen Blues adapted into different forms. The flavors varied, but the instinctstayed the same. Dan Mayo was the final part of the quartet, bringinga hip-hop crunch, a concentrated hunger for fun, a machine-like sense of thehuman groove.

There’s a certain magic to these four musicians - on one hand, their music istimeless, extending itself back through Millennia – you can hear the music of thedesert in Ravid’s voice, and his compositions.