Roy Oliel

Alon Farber Hagiga: Reflecting on Freedom

by Jack Bowers
October 6, 2021

Israeli saxophonist Alon Farber's Hagiga (in Yiddish, “celebration") is exactly that--a warm tribute to contemporary jazz from the Middle East to South America and beyond, ably performed on the group's fourth album, Reflecting on Freedom, by half a dozen well-schooled Israeli musicians and--on several of the album's nine tracks--special guest percussionist Rony Iwyrn and vocalist Sarai Zak-Levi. Hagiga has been in the forefront of Israel's burgeoning jazz scene for more than two decades, thanks for the most part to bright ...