Upon hearing her latest album I am very glad Ruth Dolores Weiss overcame her Hebrew fears.
By ASI GALmoshav band 88.298(photo credit: )
At first listening I don't like Ruth Dolores Weiss. I feel her vocals don't convey a truth from deep inside her but rather convey the well-processed thought of a money-making producer who believes her voice is the way to reach listeners. I blame my critique on a world of American Idol in which young artists are produced and taught all the shticks and tricks of the trade to impress groups of screaming fifteen-year-olds. But at second listening I try to cleanse my mind. I imagine Weiss sitting at the piano, singing her own songs written from the heart. And it's beautiful.
Before her current album Be'ivrit (In Hebrew), Weiss made two albums in English. I love the Hebrew language and feel that most Israelis don't use the full potential of their writing abilities when they write in a language foreign to them. Weiss claims that she writes in English because in Hebrew she has a borderline psycho obsessive need that every word will be exact. In English, however those compulsions are non-existent. Upon hearing her latest album I am very glad she overcame her Hebrew fears. In Be'ivrit she manages to convey all the right emotions in a poetic way that is lost in her English songs. Her desert songs beautifully depict the rugged landscape, "Kayitz (summer)" makes you feel like running in a field of grain and her version of Lea Goldberg's "Mishirey Eretz Ahavati (Songs from the Country I Love)" is mesmerizing. Beautifully Israeli. No shtick.
Weiss takes the stage at Tel Aviv's Levontin 7, 4:30 p.m. Tickets are NIS 50-60. For more information (03) 560-5084
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