Esta‘s multi-ethnic musical show

Feb. 10, 2008

Washington Post says “their sound simmers as they cook their musical
stew.” The Village Voice says “Esta boasts impressive collective
technique.” And The NY Press says “Esta works their instruments into a
smart rock format.” And if you think the press reviews are good, wait
until you hear this; not only have Esta shared the stage with the likes
of Stanley Jordan, Cheb Mami, Sinead O’Connor, and Suzanne Vega - but they
also performed for President Bill Clinton at a White House reception in
honor of Israel’s 50th anniversary.
So just who is this accomplished band from Israel?

MILITARY TO MUSIC
“We - the four guys in the band - met during our army service in Israel,
which, as you have probably heard, is mandatory in our country,” Esta’s
Amir Gwirtzman explains, “but the story goes even earlier than that.
Shlomo and Ori have known each other and have played music together since
14, myself and Bentzi started playing music at 16. I met Schlomo during
Israeli army basic training in 1983, and we formed the basic band shortly
thereafter, moving to New York City in the early ‘90s.” They added a
female vocalist to the band in 1999, and worked hard to develop their
sound, “absorbing inspiration,” as Gwirtzman puts it, from the Manhattan
environment.
Gwirtzman plays saxophone, bagpipes, zorna, Ney, Thai mouth whistle, penny
whistle, and duduk. Bandmate Ori Beanstock plays bouzouki, jumbush, suz,
quarter tone and electric guitars, while Bentzi Gafni handles both
acoustic and bass guitars and keyboards. Shlomo Deshet is the rhythm of
the band, playing drums, percussion, riq, darbuka, congas, bongos, frame
drums, shofar, and melodica, and also adding vocals, while Yarona Harel
takes on those lead vocalist duties.
If you don’t know what several of those instruments even are, here are a
few hints: a zorna is a woodwind instrument thought to be the predecessor
to the modern oboe; a duduk is another woodwind instrument, but hailing
from Armenia; a Ney is a cane or reed flute; a bouzouki is a Greek
stringed instrument a little like a long-necked mandolin; a darbuka is a
goblet-shaped drum; and a riq is an Arabic tambourine.
“It really started with the basics - drums, guitar, bass, and saxophone -
but our quest for a wider sound coupled with the spirit of ‘We may seem
different but we’re all one blood’ led to us gradually acquiring and
learning more instruments,” Gwirtzman says.
The band somehow manages to fuse Balkan, Asian, African, Mediterranean,
and Western sounds into their songs. But an Esta concert is where you
really need to be if you want to learn - and hear - even more.

MANY INFLUENCES
“Israel, pretty much like the States, is an immigrants’ country that mixes
cultures of people coming from over 90 different countries around the
world,” Gwirtzman says. “Add to that the fact that this country used to be
an ancient crossroad connecting, by land, Asia with Africa & Europe -
meaning many convoys passing through - and the fact that it was conquered
along the history by many empires - Greeks, Romans, Muslim Arabs, Ottoman
Turks, Crusaders, and more - and you can imagine how many influences this
country absorbed as well as distributed to others.
“Add to that the fact that as we grow up in Israel, we are exposed to
mainly western music, like MTV, which is the younger generation’s main
influence, and you get the mixture of how Esta interweaves those
influences into our music.” 
They can’t pinpoint a favorite performing place, as they find them all
pretty interesting, and have already performed around the world.
“It’s always exciting,” Gwirtzman says. “We have quite a few interesting
stories from the road along the years. Of course the President Bill
Clinton story - right in front of the live news cameras, he started his
speech by praising and thanking ‘this band Esta’ for getting everyone in
the right mood. He added that if we could stick around for a month or two
in the White House, things would have looked different and a lot more
could be achieved.
“Another story is one time after a concert in Atlanta, Georgia, when a
certain hotel simply ‘forgot’ to wake all of us up when we had a scheduled
flight that morning to Charleston, South Carolina,” he continues.
“I was the one who noticed it at the last minute, and it was hilarious to
see a whole shocked band and entourage rolling directly out of their beds
straight to the waiting van. Another funny incident was at a world music
festival in Sicily, Italy, when a local sound company kept ‘forgetting’
what they were asked to bring, so it turned out they brought the acoustic
guitar on as the very last note of the concert was played. It was funny to
watch the local guy hand the missing guitar to Bentzi, who said: ‘Thanks,
um, but I really don’t think we are going to need it anymore.’”

Esta will perform live at the Dennos Museum Center on February 16 at 8
p.m. Tickets are $20 advance/$17 Dennos members, $23 at the door. Call the
Dennos box office at 231-995-1553 for more info.