Radical Jewish Culture
Zeena Parkins :  Mouth=Maul=Betrayer
Cat. # 7109
Released 1996
cd time - 52:18
US Price $16.00
 
One of the best known and most exciting of N.Y.C. improvisers and composers, electric harpist Zeena Parkins has released five extremely varied albums under her own name, as well as numerous records as a member of the groups Skeleton Crew (with Fred Frith and Tom Cora), News From Babel, Elliot Sharp's Carbon, No Safety and OWT.

One of the most intriguing and inspiring of Zeena Parkins' long-form compositions, Maul examines the lives and deaths of Jewish gangsters throughout the ages. Utilizing texts in the lost language of Rotwelsch, she weaves a complex tapestry of voices, sounds and instrumental counterpoint, evoking a side of the Jewish experience perhaps best forgotten.
 
 
Personnel:
Matthias Breitenbach: Voice
Carsten Dane: Voice
Andy Haas: Didjeridu
Zeena Parkins: Electric Harp, Sampler, Piano
Sara Parkins: Violin
Margaret Parkins: Voice, Cello
Jim Pugliese: Drums, Vibraphone
Mark Stewart: Cello, Guitar, Mandolin