Rus Nerwich - Beyond the Walls

RUS NERWICH - 'BEYOND THE WALLS' ??Rus Nerwich is a Cape Town saxophonist who has just released his second album called 'Beyond The Walls'. This collection contains deep and emotional arrangements of holocaust-related songs that originated during the war in the ghettos and concentration camps of Eastern Europe. ??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 Digest recently spoke to Rus Nerwich about this important release: ??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? ??RN: 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? ??RN: 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? ??RN: 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? ??RN: 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 - SA Rock Digest