All content on this site is (c) Aryeh Har-Even, all rights reserved, except where otherwise noted.
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Rock 'n' Moses
"Rock ‘n’ Moses" tells the biblical story of Moses. The
music primarily draws upon pop and rock; however, jazz, classical,
country and gospel elements are also incorporated into the work. The
show is about two hours in length, and except for the host, Rock ‘n’
Moses is almost entirely sung.
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"...both interesting and entertaining."
Elie Wiesel
Author/Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
“...compelling and colorful. The words inspire the imagination and succeed in creating a sense of hope and peace for humankind. Through a delightful twist on inter-generation storytelling, Rock ‘n’ Moses provides a new, dynamic approach to the teaching of respect, understanding and tolerance.”
Jim Carnes, Director
Teaching Tolerance Project
Southern Poverty Law Center
Montgomery, Alabama
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Currently,
I'm in the midst of post-production of the "Rock 'n' Moses" audio recording. Rather than
wait until the project is ready for release, I’ve decided to get a head
start and post a few more rough mixes.
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Credits
Book, words & music: Aryeh Har-Even
Instruments, vocals & character voices: Aryeh Har-Even
Producer & audio engineer: Aryeh Har-Even
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About the Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center began in Montgomery, Alabama as a small civil rights law firm in 1971. The Center handles innovative law suits. Several have reached the U.S. Supreme Court and many have resulted in landmark rulings. The Center’s Intelligence Project tracks the activities of more than 200 racist and neo-nazi groups as well as more than 800 militia and other antigovernment groups.
The Teaching Tolerance Project is an education project dedicated to helping teachers across the nation foster respect and understanding among their students. Its award-winning Teaching Tolerance magazine is distributed twice a year to more than half a million educators. Today more than 400,000 individuals support the Center financially.
(Information about the Southern Poverty Law Center, (c) The Southern Poverty Law Center.)
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Three Months in Mexico
“Three Months in Mexico” tells the story of Lionel, a twenty-nine year old back-packing Canadian, who has traveled to Mexico for the winter in order to get away from the expectations of family back home and do some soul searching. Upon arrival, he becomes involved in an unlikely romance with Guadalupe, a twenty-three year old market girl, who naively dreams of going to California in pursuit of the type of lifestyle which our young rebel can't get far enough away from. Through a series of romantic, comic and frantic episodes occurring over a three month period, the headstrong duo take us on a turbulent and thought provoking journey which captures all the color and drama of Mexico.
Stylistically, the music conveys the spirit of Mexico through the usage of Romantico (Mexican love songs), Ranchero (the Mexican equivalent to Country & Western), and Cumbia (Colombian dance music) idioms. Lionel, himself having grown up on Rock radio, brings a good measure of North American culture to the opera-musical. However, the above mentioned styles are given only as a reference; the music transcends simple categorization due to its being classically rooted and eclectic in nature.
“Three Months in Mexico” is in three acts, entirely sung and suitable for a medium size cast (as few as nine singers) with piano accompaniment. Set changes are few and can be kept simple. (E.g. The madcap taxi ride to Pochutla [act two/scene four] can effectively be staged with five chairs, a steering wheel and a silhouette of a compact Mexican taxi.) The unabridged version is approximately three hours in length.
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The
following audio excerpts for "Three Months in Mexico" are taken from a
piano/vocal demo recording that I produced back in the nineties.
Being early on in the process, only a few sections from the musical
made it into the recording studio at that time. The show is now
available for production.
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from Three Months in Mexico
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Credits
Piano: Aryeh Har-Even
Producer: Aryeh Har-Even
Audio engineer: Gady Foltys
Voices recorded and mixed at PRS in Toronto
Lionel (Eric): Blair Young
Guadalupe (Elisa): Patricia O'Callaghan
Chabello & Miguel: Michael Jones
Isabel: Shelagh Tyreman
Chorus: Patricia O'Callaghan, Shelagh Tyreman, Michael Jones, Chris Ryan, Blair Young
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In the Shadow of the Holocaust
under revision...
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