Beyond The Walls
The SA Rock Digest recently spoke to Rus Nerwich about this important release:
Rus Nerwich - Beyond The Walls
The album’s title, ‘Beyond The Walls’, explains how these timeless melodies, born in pain and tragedy, have been sensitively re-interpreted in a contemporary jazz idiom and given a new life. This serves to capture the essence of their composers’ creative expression, amidst great horror and pain, and stands as a testament to the power of music and to the enduring power of the human spirit.
On the album Rus Nerwich plays soprano and tenor saxophone and is accompanied by his group, which includes Andre Peterson on piano, Dominic Peters on bass, and Kevin Gibson on drums.
The Interview:
SA Rock Digest: Having released a mostly traditional jazz album debut called ‘As Above So Below’, what caused you to take this different direction for your second album?
Rus Nerwich: In May last year, after finishing my debut album, I spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of role music played in my life and what kind of contribution I thought I could make to the world of music….a very overwhelming thought. I realised that the only way to make an authentic and sincere contribution was to deal with themes, subject matter, and music that was part of who I am, my heritage. I had spent much time playing standard jazz compositions and as beautiful and engaging as that experience was, there was something missing - this was not my story. As an improviser I felt I was reflecting on a reflection, as opposed to being the reflection.
SARD: So what did you do?
Rus Nerwich: I decided to go to the Gitlin Library, which is a local Jewish library, to see what books they had on Jewish music, as the obvious starting point on this journey was to go inward. After looking around for a little while I came across a book entitled, ‘Yes, we sang! Songs of the holocaust ghettos and camps’. I saw the title and immediately knew that I had found what I was looking for. I brought the book home and immediately began playing through the melodies. Each note resonated inside me like I was the saxophone and the melodies felt like they had always lived inside me. I played them over and over again, and realised that if ever I wanted to make a contribution this was my opportunity.
SARD: What did you do then?
Rus Nerwich: Inspired by the approach of the jazz masters I decided to immerse myself in the challenge of breaking down and rebuilding musical possibility. I realised that these songs were born in ghettos and were therefore screams, cries and prayers that were never heard. I wanted to lift them out of those ghettos and bring them to a place where they could breathe and where they could sing. I thought very much about the kind of energy that was contained in the melodies and how as a sensitive soul and musician I would have the opportunity of engaging with that energy and what kind of creative experience that would be.
My brief to myself was that I wanted to do a creative interpretation of songs that emanated from the Holocaust ghettos and camps, and I wanted to do it in the context of a jazz quartet that would allow for a spontaneous response to the music and also wanted to respectfully and sensitively honour the writers and musicians who, through their art, created and shared their truth. Now I wanted to share mine.
With this in mind I proceeded to get hold of the musicians I felt could most appreciate and relate to what I was trying to achieve and see how they felt about embarking on what would be a very intense and emotional journey. I called Andre Petersen (pianist), Dom Peters (double bass) and Kevin Gibson (drums) - all people that I respect as friends and musicians - and spoke with them about the idea.
SARD: How did they respond to the idea?
Rus Nerwich: At first they were unsure, but that quickly faded as the power of the message and significance of the work became apparent. I was on a mission and I wasn’t stopping till I had finished what I started.
SARD: How did you begin?
Rus Nerwich: I would spend hours playing the songs, grappling with which ones would be most appropriate, which song would be most conducive to the quartet set-up, and which melodies would stimulate improvisational ideas. There had to be much consideration about rhythm and feel. I knew it was important to choose songs that reflected the victory (as hollow as it was) as much as the pain. For the album to be well-rounded and balanced there needed to be a broad range of feels, rhythms, moods and musical approaches and still have a cohesiveness to bind the songs into a collective statement. In many cases these songs had been written with words, presenting a further challenge, how does one accurately communicate the message and emotional depth of the writer or the piece without including the lyric, so the lyric became very important during arranging the songs.
Many a time Andre and I would read the words and that would guide us to the kind of textures and harmonies that were needed. We were constantly making every effort to remain true to the original feeling of the pieces and what we perceived the intention of the composer and poet to be, while still rearranging it and reworking it to fit into a more modern context. There were however times where the significance of the lyric was so great that the melody and lyric could not be separated.
SARD: Did you try and contact any of the composers or survivors?
Rus Nerwich: That was another challenge but also an opportunity for a creative solution, so I decided that I would try and get in touch with some of the survivors and see if they would be interested in making a contribution to the project, they would also bring a level of authenticity that only they could bring as well as being a bridge for the musicians to connect with the incomprehension of what happened to the Jews of Eastern Europe during the Holocaust. I went to the Holocaust Museum and was given the names of a few survivors living in Cape Town and, after a few brief conversations, I knew that this whole project was being guided from up above.
SARD: How so?
Rus Nerwich: The voices that I had heard reciting the poems in my head were the voices I was hearing on the other end of the telephone. The pieces were all coming together. Mrs Miriam Lichterman, a survivor of four different camps, as well as the infamous death march, had agreed to contribute by reciting a poem by famous writer Shmercke Kascerginski on the album. The poem was written over a melody which had been written by an eleven-year-old and encapsulated the pain, desperation and sheer horror of life for the Jews of Eastern Europe. This was to be the emotional climax of the album and my way of recognising and honouring the souls that had lived through the torture.
SARD: How long did the album take to complete?
Rus Nerwich: Andre and I worked for four months, three times a week, arranging the songs. When I wasn’t with Andre I was thinking and engaging with the music, the themes and the subject matter. I bought books written by survivors, I read survivors’ stories of loss and love regained, of hope and hopelessness, and questions of God and where he was when his people were being reduced to ashes. I lived the Holocaust in the only way I could, through the stories of people and through the emotion contained in the songs and the music. I was thrust into a world that I was not really prepared for and the process of preparing for the recording became more and more intense.
SARD: So was the recording process difficult
Rus Nerwich: We took it one step at a time, one song at a time. Andre and I arranged each song, fashioning each piece with absolute respect and love, and with full understanding of the significance of the work we were doing. As we would finish arranging one song, I would choose the next one in what was a very natural and flowing process, not without its stresses and creative blocks but always moving forward. Once we had finished the arrangements, rehearsals started and the refining of every detail was considered. ‘Beyond The Walls’ was coming alive and soon would be born. It was nearly time to go into the studio.
SARD: Did you have any outside support in making the album?
Rus Nerwich: I was always helped and supported by the two men who had agreed to fund the project, so the task was made that much easier because I had access to the best studios, musicians, artists and writers. I really needed and wanted to put together a world class product and package. After six months we had rehearsed the band and were ready to record.
SARD: How were you feeling at that time?
Rus Nerwich: It was to be the most challenging week of my musical life. I’m proud and honoured to have been blessed with the inspiration to record this work. I believe it is a testament to the power of the creative spirit to transcend all situation and time and be the ultimate tool for communicating and sharing the most profound and intimate of human emotions.
‘Beyond The Walls’ is available at Mabu Vinyl & CD and other major CD stores in Cape Town and across SA.