Veteran percussion outfit Tremolo to appear at Opera House in Tel Aviv

Beat and rhythm have been around since the year dot. Tomer Yariv is more keenly aware of that than most and, for three decades or so now, he has been doing his bit to keep percussive musical fare going at a steady rate – actually, at all sorts of rates.

The Beat Evolution show, due to be performed at the Opera House in Tel Aviv on June 7 (1 p.m.), by the Tremolo ensemble he put together close to a decade ago, takes the audience along a continuum that charts the development of rhythmical sound in all of its cultural guises. There are also nods in the direction of some of the stellar musical acts of western commercial music en route.

The uniqueness of the performance

As you might expect from the show title, there is a timeline progression element here. Yariv says that’s par for the instrumental course. “Over the years I have been a percussionist – I like to research the field – I have discovered that there aren’t many things that have accompanied man since the dawn of history up to the present day,” he posits.

 “Food was always important, and religion soon emerged. But there is something else to which people don’t pay that much attention. There was always the beat. Before there was spoken language beat was used by prehistoric man.” It was a sort of primeval email or social media channel. 

“They used it to transmit messages, like if you wanted to announce there was a wedding taking place that evening, or a lion had turned up at the cave.  And, of course, there were cult rituals and that sort of thing.”

He suggests there are some priceless side benefits from communal rhythmic movement to be had too. “That generates a sense of togetherness.”

You find that at secular gatherings too. “If you have 6,000 or 60,000 people at a Beatles or a Led Zeppelin or Genesis concert, you see them all moving in the same way. That brings them together, into a sort of community, at the drop of a hat. That has always fascinated me, and the members of our ensemble too.”

The aforesaid giants of pop and rock history all, coincidentally, feature in the Beat Evolution show as the gang offers a tribute to the drummers – Ringo Starr, John Bonham and Phil Collins – who powered the bands and kept them in rhythmic step.

Yariv wants, naturally enough, to entertain us but he’d also like us to gain some insight into the emotional and cultural aspects on offer from his chosen path of sonic adventure. 

“After over three decades of performing on stages, here and abroad, I can tell you that people often respond after concerts by saying they weren’t aware that percussion instruments impart the broadest range of feelings.

 They know that you can play percussion instrument delicately and emotively. They can also get people to smile, and they can also draw people into a trance.”

IT’S NOT ALL ALLURING stuff. “Percussion can sometimes be frightening,” Yariv notes. “That can also happen during the course of a show. But across a performance of 70 or so minutes you get so much in terms of the feelings and senses the instruments evoke. I don’t know of any other instrument capable of doing that.”

Yariv doesn’t just want to strut his, and his colleagues’, stuff. He wants us to join them for the ride. “Our objective in playing these instruments is to go through some sort of journey, together with the audience – along a journey of time, and of multiculturalism but also a journey through different feelings.”

Those can include corporeal feral experiences. The Tremolo arsenal takes in some 50 instruments, from diminutive hand-held artifacts through to enormous Japanese drums played by all the members of the group at the same time. Having attended concerts by muscular Japanese percussionists over the years I can testify to the effect powerfully, thudding beats can have on your rib cage and other parts of the body. 

Yariv says that imparts an all-round spectator experience. “This is an important multisensorial aspect. We should listen to music with all our senses, not just with our ears. We should listen, and we should watch – there is a very striking visual aspect to what we do.”

Tremolo shows generally have the members of the quintet moving around the stage in a seamless choreographed manner, as they switch instruments. The viewing experience is also enhanced by the range of percussion instruments on offer, which require a different physical approach by the musicians. 

“We don’t just use drums,” Yariv, who serves as Tremolo’s artistic director, explains. “We have marimbas with very big pipes but are played very delicately. We have xylophones, a vibraphone, glockenspiel, church bells. We have a lot of instruments. It is exciting to see this, and to listen to it. It is not boring.”

That is a patent understatement and, according to Yariv, we are getting that in increasing numbers. “I think percussion music is possibly the only area of acoustic instrumental music where audiences are continually growing. 

“At long last percussion instruments are at the front of the stage, not behind the band or to the rear of the orchestra.” 

The proof of their increasing popularity is in the bread-winning pudding.

“We have our center in Poleg Industrial Zone in Netanya. We are supported by the Municipality of Netanya. I don’t know another ensemble in Israel whereby six people make their living solely from the music they make. The members of other bands all play in orchestras and all sorts of outfits. We – five musicians and our director – live off Tremolo. That’s really something.”

While Yariv is a firm believer in the versatility of percussion instruments, and their ability to provide a comprehensive spectator experience, The Beat Evolution cast includes video artist Yaara Nirel who adds rich visual layers to the percussive performance as they hammer, thud, beat, ring and drum their way through the show which was conceived by all five musicians, based on Yariv’s score. 

There are also some electronic layers to the concert mix, courtesy of Ariel Blumental. “Ariel writes soundtracks for movies and music for TV series. He added more updated sounds to our acoustic music,” says Yariv.

It all sounds, and looks, like quite an odyssey across time and cultures. 

“This whole show is, basically, storytelling. It is a story told through a story. But people come to see the music, not just to hear it. We have a choreographer who helps us with transitions, dance and other movement which give you the sense that you are now in Mesopotamia, then with the Incas or in Islam. A lot of thought went into this.”

That and no small measure of joie de vivre.

For tickets and more information: https://www.tremolo.co.il/