Hitting The Right Notes: Israeli Pianist Darya Mosenzon Shares Her Musical Journey

Tel Aviv pianist Darya Mosenzon began her career as a classical pianist and moved to Moroccan and Algerian music. Darya recently participated in Mumbai Piano Day held at NCPA. Th 34-year-old musician, who recently released her first self-titled EP ‘Darya’, discusses her early days as a musician, pianist and composer.

Excerpts from the interview:

Have you listened to any Indian music?

I have been listening to Indian music more and more in the past years. I love what I’ve heard, different genres and ensembles in Classical Music from different regions, but also new music, like Bollywood, pop, rock. Konnakol is completely fascinating to me. I really look forward to listening to a lot of new music when I visit India.

What do you know about Indian culture, food and its people?

I have been fortunate enough to learn a little bit about Indian culture from friends, and I love the

music I’ve heard, visual arts, literature, fashion and food. But I am sure that visiting India will be like nothing I can imagine.

How did this tour to India happen?

It has been in the works for some time. Initially, I was asked whether I would like to perform at the NCPA Piano Day celebrations. Of course, I was immediately thrilled. I am so happy and thankful to have this opportunity to share music and meet new people. Shout out to Mr. Shoshani and the Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore embassy teams who made this trip possible, as well as the NCPA and Louiz Banks, and my wonderful agent Judy Lomas.

Is there anyone in your family who is also into music?

My maternal grandmother was a wonderful pianist. In my mother’s family, everyone played instruments and everyone sang as well. When I was a child, it was a family tradition to gather at my grandparents place every Friday evening. After dinner, everyone would gather around the piano. My grandma and uncle would play together on the piano and everyone would join to sing Lieder by Schumann, Schubert, Mendelssohn and 19th century European music. How strange is that? But that was the family I grew up in. Much later, when I was diving into Moroccan music, I met families that had kept Moroccan traditions alive for many decades after having left Morocco. It was only then that I realized how exceptional it was that my family kept this 19th century Eastern European tradition alive for two, three, four generations after they had migrated

You were trained as a classical pianist from the age of five. How did you proceed from there and who would you say was a real mentor to what you are today?

My grandma was my first teacher. She didn’t teach me formally for very long, but her influence on me was immense. I heard her playing often and I saw her constantly searching to create music that goes very deep, very honest and precise in its emotions. I was lucky enough to study with many extraordinary musicians. In recent years, I mainly study independently but I am in touch with many fantastic musicians from Morocco from whom I learned a lot, and my constant mentors are North African musicians like Albert Suissa, Alice Fitoussi, Fadila Djiria, Maurice el Medioni, who are no longer among the living but their music lives on and provides endless inspiration.

Israel is famous for a variety of music forms, from electronica, rock, classical music to jazz. How did you decide to branch off to North African music?

The truth is, I just fell in love. My friends started studying Moroccan music, and I heard some recordings from their lessons and it was just the most beautiful thing I had heard. I immediately started studying, and soon discovered more and more of the culture behind the music. I really fell in love with that too, I think I found a lot of things that I had been looking for a long time. For instance, I found that in North African cultures, the audience is very much an active part of a performance, and there is a really beautiful feeling that we’re all in it together, living a moment in time, listening to each other, creating something together.

What music and composers influenced you in your growing up as a musician?

Bach and Chopin for sure, in the realm of piano music, I played a lot of their music growing up. I was listening to Thelonious Monk and Chick Corea a lot at the time, as well as Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, 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.

You play as a soloist, duo and a trio. Can you explain this collaboration?

I play regularly with two amazing musicians, Charlie Sabach (Oud) and Hillel Amsallem (percussion instruments), in duo or trio settings, both of which you can hear on our debut EP, ‘Darya’. Charlie and Hillel are incredible musicians and perfect partners in this ongoing search for dynamic and powerful musical expression in a small ensemble. I love working with a minimalistic ensemble, where each instrument is indispensable. This means we have to be very creative in order to create the rhythms and colors of a North African ensemble with a small number of instruments. Solo piano performances are the epitome of minimalism, of course. I love the freedom and inventiveness of a solo performance.

You released a 5 track EP album in March this year which includes four original compositions and a traditional piece. Could you tell us more about the album and what it is all about?

I designed the album to be like a taste of a live performance. It begins like a small echo of a thought and goes on to become many thoughts and feelings going in different directions. The music is obviously inspired by the North African traditions I play, but you can also hear influences of the music I grew up on like Classical, Jazz, Rock music. The traditional piece is called Bivhilu. It’s from the Al-Ala, the classical music repertoire of Morocco, and traditionally it’s sung with lyrics in Hebrew and Arabic. It’s one of the most beautiful tunes I know. I arranged it for a piano and percussion duo. It was important for me to tour extensively with the music before recording it, to get a lot of feedback from audiences, and I learned a lot from that. After about two years of performing the music, we began recording.

Do you think the current situation in your country will affect the music scene adversely?

I think it already has. Arts are in the first category to be considered as luxury in hard times, although I’m not sure that’s any more true than saying that living is a luxury. That’s not to say that they are not both a great privilege that too many people from all sides have lost. However, I think there is also an opportunity for music in difficult times. In many places in the world, there is currently a radicalization in politics, and a growing schism between people’s world views. In music, you have the opportunity to sit in the same room and have a joint experience with people who may be totally different from you. You enjoy something beautiful, exchange a few words, or just sit next to one another and laugh at the same joke. That’s not something that happens so often in the very fractured reality created by the algorithms that define a lot of what each of us experiences. Sitting in the same room with people that are different from you and enjoying a moment together is invaluable.

What are your plans for the future?

Firstly, to continue doing what I’ve begun doing, to continue creating new music and performing. I hope I can continue traveling and meeting new people, I love that. I would like to go back to Morocco for a period, to study and play music with musicians there, and I’d also like to get into electronic music and create some music for people to dance to.

What drew you to Moroccan and Algerian music?

The first reason I chose to pursue North African music is that it was just 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 performing pianist and to create music, but I didn’t feel at home in Classical European music, I felt alien, despite having grown up with it. I wanted a close connection with the audience, a close connection with the players, a feeling that we’re all in it together, the feeling of everyone just coming to make and hear music and have a great time. I found that in North African music. Somehow playing Moroccan music made me feel at home, I can’t explain why. I feel that in life in general, falling in love is the first step, and then hard work follows. It was important to me, not having grown up on this tradition, to study it deeply, to learn as much about it as I possibly can. This has become an integral part of my daily practice since then, and I hope to continue for many years to come.

What challenges did you face while you were learning music?

I would say there are two main types of challenges. One is everything related to the music itself. Creating and performing music at a high level requires thousands of hours of practice, and each hour is filled with problem solving. There are many technical and mental challenges that one has to face. These are challenges I’ve learned to love. Practicing is like a laboratory, it’s really a mind blowing creative process all in itself. The second type of challenge has to do with working with people: musicians, the sound people, venue managers, festival producers, PR people, press. When you find good people to work with, this is sometimes extremely rewarding in its own right. Other times, I’m sure everyone can relate, working with people can be very difficult. This is especially true as a female musician. I am very often the only woman in the room and treated differently for it. Sometimes the reality of how women are treated in my industry is very harsh.

But at the end of the day, when I finally sit at a piano and have the privilege of playing, having a conversation with people in the audience, meeting people I never would have met otherwise. That’s always a good reason to continue working through the challenges.

Besides the piano, do you play any other musical instrument? Do you also sing?

I often sing and use a Darbuka, Bandir drum or Karakab when I am learning music or composing. But the piano has always stayed my main instrument. The piano is a crazy instrument. You can play many melodies at once, you have such a huge expanse of sounds and possibilities.

How are you dealing with the problem in your country and at the same time making your career in music?

I try to just keep on working. I try to influence for better in what small ways I can, and mostly I concentrate on my work. I learn languages so I can listen to people explain their stories and world views in their mother tongue. I have been very lucky to have my agent Judy Lomas on my team as of this year. Judy is the founder and owner of Barcelona-based Mas De Lomas agency, with some exceptional artists on her roster. She has been an important part of making this tour a reality, and of continuing to expand my international career. We have a lot of plans and dreams for the future, which is something I value a lot, and especially at this point in time.