In The Press
Portrait Biel Bienne (PDF)
Portrait Biel Bienne (PDF)
Portrait Biel Bienne (PDF)
Fredi Hallauer (CD Critic)
on the new album "Emerged from the Light"
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"Eli Shewa, actually Elischewa Dreyfus, is a singer from Biel. She is the daughter of a Christian mother and a Jewish father, who together founded an interreligious and inter-spiritual centre, to which an Indian teacher gave the idea.
All these elements plus the music from all these cultures with the beautiful, trained voice of Elischewa unite on this album. She is musically supported by Amélie Berner on harp and Uda Auch on accordion. The recording was done in the Stadtkirche Biel. This gives an incredibly beautiful sound and the music, the singing touches you immediately. The repertoire consists of own compositions, two Sanskrit mantras, a Bach melody with text by Eli Shewa, an adaptation of a song by Hildegard von Bingen, the Ave Maria, two Jewish melodies with text by Eli Shewa and R. Kahn.
What sounds like a jumble here actually comes from one cast, one heart. The booklet reveals a little more about the background and all the lyrics can be read in German and English. This is an album of very soothing music, especially in these difficult times and for the Christmas season or Weinuka."
about the live concert in May 2021
The singer Elischewa Dreyfus was finally able to perform with her project together with the harpist Amélie Berner and the accordionist Udo Auch. She herself still played the monochord. They didn't actually play a concert, but offered a sound experience, a sound journey. “Emerged From The Light” is a universal prayer, an approximately one-hour cycle with elements from European classical music, traditional Jewish music and Hindu Sanskrit tradition. The classical musicians include parts by JS Bach, WA Mozart and Hildegard von Bingen.
The centerpiece was the touching voice of Elischewa. It sounded very powerful in the uppermost heights and still strong enough in the very low registers. Elischewa was able to get a lot of different facets out of her voice and this made this sound journey so special.
The music was pretty simple, but the voice filled the room and cast a spell over you. The texts and contents of the various parts were available as brochures for reading, but it was nicer to devote yourself to these sounds and read the texts at home. Elischewa knows how to convey your concerns without having to understand a word. Great.
Magazine Spuren
CD Presentation
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On "Emerged From The Light", Eli Schewa makes songs from various spiritual traditions resound, with a classically trained, touching voice that she is easily able to swing to impressive heights - accompanied only by harp and accordion and monochord.
The songs recorded in the city church spread a calm and meditative mood.
Matthias Gerber
