Club D'Elf to Perform at Spire Performing Arts Center in Plymouth This May

Boston-based world-dub-jazz collective Club d'Elf will perform at Spire Performing Arts Center in Plymouth, MA on Friday May 3. The band consists of a rotating cast of musicians, which for these shows will feature founding member Mike Rivard (bass & Moroccan sintir), along with Lyle Brewer (guitar), Paul Schultheis (keyboards), DJ Mister Rourke (turntables) and Dean Johnston (drums). While the music the band performs defies category, Club d'Elf was the recipient of the 2023 Boston Music Award for Jazz Act Of The Year.

The show will include a heartfelt tribute to recently deceased core band member Brahim Fribgane, who hailed from Casablanca, and represented the spiritual connection to the Moroccan traditions such as Gnawa that have heavily influenced the bands music. "He was my musical soul brother, and I loved him dearly. A bigger heart has never existed, and when he sang and played oud, he had a direct route to your soul, touching places you didn't even realize existed. Truly one of the greatest musicians I've ever known, and certainly the one from whom I learned the most", relates band leader Rivard (who also plays with the Boston Pops Orchestra and appears on Natalie Merchant's latest album). "It's heartbreaking to play without him, but when we play songs like "Zeed Al Maal" and "Sidi Rabi" now, it feels as if his spirit is onstage with us, guiding us."

"Zeed Al Maal" is featured on the band's recent double album, You Never Know, which reached #2 on the Relix radio chart. A folk song from the Gnawa tradition, Fribgane sings and plays oud on the track, while Rivard plays the guembri, a three-string bass lute. Rivard tells the story of the origins of the song:

"'Zeed Al Maal' was taught to me by one of the great Gnawa masters, Maalem Mahmoud Gania. I visited him in his home in Essaouira during my trip to Morocco as part of a cultural delegation from the city of Somerville, MA. Over tea and the sound of the relentless rain on the roof, Mahmoud played the song over and over while I absorbed it. I had been listening to Mahmoud for many years and to be in the presence of one of my heroes—who treated me like an old friend—was one of the greatest experiences in my life. Later when I returned to Boston and showed the song to the band, Brahim of course knew it, but as is common in Morocco, had a different way of playing it. We incorporate both interpretations on our version"

For over twenty-five years now, Club d'Elf has been helping audiences lose track of time while creating mesmerizing musical chimeras that weave their distinct, Moroccan folk-infused trance with elements from an astonishing spectrum of other styles, including jazz, hip-hop, electronica, avant-garde, prog-rock, and dub. Trance forms the central core of the Club d'Elf aesthetic, weaving together the band's various influences.

"Trance music provides a portal into the eternal, the timeless realm," Rivard continues. "Whether it's Fela Kuti, Steve Reich, James Brown, Talking Heads' Remain in Light or gnawa, the key element is repetition. What makes conveying the true essence of trance music challenging in this age of short attention spans and eyes glued to devices is that it happens over time, when the brain settles into a slower frequency. Learning to do that as a musician, for me at least, has meant confronting issues such as 'Who am I? What is my place in the universe? And what is eternal?"

While the music often takes listeners into unfamiliar territory, it's always a journey like no other, infusing ancient vibes with modern execution, and an unwavering and sacred dedication to the groove.

Onstage and in the studio, Rivard cedes the spotlight to the collective, allowing for free-play and improvisational dexterity. Through it all rides the trance, pulsing, calming, poking open the mystic truths which may just offer us all the hope of brighter days ahead.

See Club d'Elf Live:

5/3 Plymouth, MA - Spire Performing Arts Center 
25 1/2 Court St, Plymouth, MA 02360
(508) 746-4488
https://spirecenter.org/

Photo Credit: Mark Wilson

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