With ‘About Love,’ composer Mark Eliyahu strings along his devotees
Kamancheh player, who composed the theme music for TV show ‘Tehran’, performs with father, Piris Eliyahu, and three other musical colleagues for East-meets-West journey of sound
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Mark Eliyahu sat onstage at the National Library auditorium Thursday night, stringed kamancheh resting on his knee as he played the first of his otherworldly pieces of instrumental music.
The 41-year-old musical prodigy is known for collaborating frequently with every kind of musician, and is the composer of the theme music for the award-winning TV show “Tehran.”
Right now, however, Eliyahu is on a round of local and international shows called “About Love,” with his own band that includes his father, tar player Piris Eliyahu, along with percussionist Roni Evrin, keyboardist Haim Weiss and guitarist Yankale Segal.
These are a group of musicians who play together often, sometimes in different combinations, but their familiarity with one another and the music is clear throughout.
As always with Eliyahu, the deeply acoustic music he creates is a mix of ancient instruments — his kamancheh and his father’s tar — melded with Evrin’s array of percussion sounds, including the sounds made by a bowl submerged in a sink of water, against the background of modern electronics created by Segal’s electronic bass and Weiss’s keyboard tunes.
Each musician had a solo during the performance that gave them a chance to home in on their mastery of their instrument and its array of sounds.
Eliyahu’s music is always a fusion of East and West, “a deep journey of sound,” as he calls it.
Many of the fans in the audience drew a deep breath at the start of the concert and may have held that breath for the entirety of the 90-minute show, as they also held their phones up to record the show.
Whippet-thin and luxuriantly locked Eliyahu, 33, wearing billowy pants and shirt and an endearing little smile as he played, mesmerized the audience with his music and his undeniable charisma.
There were many highlights throughout, including when he introduced his father as his teacher, “his inspiration.”
Piris Eliyahu is known as a master of Eastern music, born of his Northern Caucasus background. His wife, Mark’s mother, Larissa Eliyahu, is a classical pianist in the Western tradition.
Mark Eliyahu spoke during the performance about traveling to Baku, Azerbaijan, at 17, learn to play the kamancheh, but the music was already in his blood; he was born in Soviet Dagestan and the family moved to Israel when he was seven.
Seated on a stool at the front of the stage, he kept turning on it throughout the performance, grinning at the other musicians, exchanging looks or raising one of his thick eyebrows at his father.
At one point, Eliyahu introduced the song “Tribe,” which he composed while in Baku when he was deeply immersed in learning how to play the kamancheh and also missed his family and home and friends.
He dedicated the song to the hostages, wishing that they all return home soon.
For one of the encores, the band played Eliyahu’s original music for the Emmy-winning Israeli TV series “Tehran.”
For more information about Eliyahu’s upcoming performances in Israel, as well as London, Brussels, Munich and other locations, see his official website.
