An Elemental Connection

Ahead of her performance on Mumbai Piano Day, Darya Mosenzon discusses how North African music has come to shape her life as a pianist, composer and performer.

By Narendra Kusnur

Having grown up in the musically rich landscape of Israel, Darya Mosenzon learnt classical piano from an early age. Eventually, she began exploring jazz, but what proved to be a turning point was her exposure to North African music. She decided to specialise in Moroccan and Algerian music, and even formed a trio, with oud player Charlie Sabach and percussionist Hillel Amsallem, releasing her debut album Darya in March.

Tel Aviv-based Mosenzon will play a solo set at the Tata Theatre for Mumbai Piano Day, curated by the NCPA and jazz maestro Louiz Banks. Here, she tells ON Stage about her journey and repertoire.

ON Stage: How did this tour come about? What set have you planned?
Darya Mosenzon: When approached by the Consulate General of Israel in Mumbai to perform at the Mumbai Piano Day celebrations at the NCPA, I was thrilled. This will be my first visit to India, and I am so happy and thankful to have this opportunity. I will perform solo piano versions from my debut album, which includes original music. There will also be some songs I love from the Moroccan and Algerian repertoire.

OS: Could you tell us about your background? Was anybody from the family into music?
DM: My maternal grandmother was a wonderful pianist. In my mother’s family, everyone played an instrument and everyone sang as well. When I was a child, it was family tradition to meet at my grandparents’ place every Friday. After dinner and prayers, everyone would gather around the piano, my grandma and uncle would play four hands, and we would all join in to sing lieder by Schumann, Schubert, Mendelssohn…

OS: Tell us about your initiation into learning music.
DM: I grew up in Jerusalem. When I was five years old, I was in the car with my aunt and she had the radio on. It was playing some ancient music from Europe, on a string instrument called the lute. It caught my ear and I asked my parents if I could play it. The lute is a big instrument, it was probably twice my size at the time. They answered that I should start by playing the piano. As it turned out, I stayed with it. The piano is a crazy instrument, you can play many melodies at once, you have such a huge expanse of sounds and possibilities.

OS: What kind of music was prevalent in Israel when you were growing up? I believe there were a lot of electronic music DJs, besides rock, classical music and even jazz.
DM: That is true. There were many genres, but growing up in a musically conservative family, I was exposed to mainstream music fairly late. There was a lively music scene, which included rock, jazz, Middle Eastern, North African and electronic music. I discovered these genres during high school and in my 20s, when I started going to shows on my own and downloading immense amounts of music.  My music teacher in middle school was a jazz double bass player by the name of Tal Gamlieli. He introduced me to jazz and to the first band I played with.

OS: Who were your favourite composers and musicians at that time?
DM: Bach and Chopin, in the realm of piano music. I was listening to Thelonious Monk and Chick Corea a lot at the time, as well as Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, some Irish folk music, South American music, Spanish music. My father was a very curious and avid listener, and I discovered a lot of music through him.

OS: What attracted you to Moroccan and Algerian music?
DM: I first heard Moroccan and Algerian music in my 20s, when some friends began studying the subject. They played some lossy phone recordings from a recent lesson, just violin and voice. The music was so beautiful, I had never heard anything like it. I took to it immediately, joined their band and soon began studying with two major teachers of Moroccan and Algerian music in Jerusalem, Elad Levy and Omri Mor. Later, I was lucky enough to study with amazing teachers in Morocco. I was also influenced by Maurice El Medioni, regarded as one of the most important pianists to come from Algeria.

OS: What led you to pursue North African music on a more serious, research-oriented basis?
DM:The first reason I chose to pursue North African music is that it was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. I just wanted to play it.  Thinking back, I was at a crossroads at the time. I understood that I wanted to be a pianist and performer, but I didn’t feel at home with classical European music, despite having grown up with it. I wanted a close connection with the audience and with the players, the feeling of everyone gathering to make and hear music and having a great time, that we’re all in it together. I found that in North African music.

OS: How did you go about with your study and make it part of your performance? Did you have to learn Arabic or did you already know it?
DM: This is an interesting question. In terms of studying this music, I had to change my approach completely. I was used to learning from sheet music. In North African tradition, there is no sheet music, you learn everything by ear, and the role of singing and playing the rhythms is crucial in the learning process. I had some very basic knowledge of Arabic when I began. I have been studying several dialects of Arabic, also French. They are so important for understanding the music and musicians of the region.

OS: The African continent has other different styles of music—Malian, Nigerian, South African. Have you followed these styles too?
DM: Africa is, of course, a huge continent with such amazing and varied music. Apart from Moroccan and Algerian music, I love listening to Tunisian, Libyan and Egyptian music, as well as Ethiopian, Eritrean and Sudanese music, among others.

OS: Your new album includes four of your compositions and a traditional piece. Could you tell us about your process?
DM: I can’t say I have one method for working on new music. It seems that every piece calls for something new and I have to learn anew how to write it. It was important for me to tour extensively with the music before recording it, to get feedback from audiences and I learned a lot from that. After about two years of performing the music, we began recording, which went fairly quickly. My bandmates, Charlie and Hillel, have played on the album. You can hear how masterly they are.

OS: How much Indian music have you heard? Are you planning any collaborations?
DM: I have been listening to Indian music more and more in the last few years. I love what I’ve heard— different genres and ensembles in classical music from different regions, but also new music, Bollywood, popular music. Konnakol is completely fascinating to me. I look forward to listening to a lot of new music when I visit India. I have been in touch with several artistes for collaborations. There are such unbelievable musicians in India. I hope to meet them and learn from them.

This article was originally published in the September 2024 issue of ON Stage.