Of course the real proof comes in the listening. Anybody can claim a heritage and how much a culture influences them, and have impressive liner notes and still produce crap for music. But that's not the case with Pharaoh's Daughter and their disc Haran. The sounds and the rhythms that are created by the combination of musical instruments woven together into a beautiful texture captures what must have been the emotion behind the original song.
Basya's upbringing may have inspired her to search for music of her own heritage, and assisted her in the singing and adapting of songs like "Hashomer", "The one who observes", a 13th century Talmudic text about the rewards of keeping the Sabbath. (The Talmud is the codification of Jewish law). But she would have been equally out of her depth when it came to songs in Ladino (the language spoken by Jews who lived in Spain and Portugal prior to being expelled in the 1400s) ancient Aramaic, and Arabic as the rest of her band mates.
What they have done is take the traditional songs, use instruments appropriate to the culture or the physical region, and incorporated some modern elements into each. From the infectious joy and fun of "By Way Of Haran," the opening song of the disc, one knows this is not only a labour of love, but something they are all taking a great deal of pleasure in.
Taking her lead from the wordless songs of Hassidic schoolgirls, Basya's voice on "By Way Of" emphasises the enthusiasm of the song's tune and rhythm without the restraining influence of lyrics. "Ka Ribbon", the second song, takes her back to her Sabbath table singing songs for the Sabbath, but in Aramaic, the old common tongue of the Jews. But then they bounce across one of the biggest cultural gaps in our world to sing "Samai", an Arabic song complete with accompaniment by instruments appropriate to the music. Both the oud, a Turkish style of Lute and the ney, a Turkish bamboo flute often used in sacred music, are incorporated and performed with the same amount of ease as all the other instruments used on the disc.
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