Regga Records
Started by sonic guru and producer Tal Trivish and musician Iggy Dayan, Regga Records is an Israeli label built to house their joint projects. Trivish is a veteran of the Israeli music industry and has manufactured quite a few sizable hits. He is known for his uncompromising recordings and for his attention to every detail in the process.
Dayan is a member of Mashina, Israel’s legendary rock band. He writes poetry and prose and is a composer and a multi-instrument musician. He too is known for seeking depths and for pursuing minute details.
When they met, the two realized that they share similar tastes and matching ideas. They were also both interested in distancing themselves from contemporary popular music, and in exploring new frontiers.
Music reflects a consciousness and a time. It also reflects a place, of which culture has a direct link to its geography and to its history. As was dictated by the circumstances, the state of Israel was founded hastily by Jews that gravitated to it from a plethora of nations. Many immigrants came from cultures that were completely alien to this part of the world. Obviously, the need to rapidly build a country, together with the various world-views, played a part in the formation of Israeli culture, that is characterized amongst the rest by directness, kinship, and solidarity.
At “Regga Records” cultural diversity is viewed as a beautiful, colorful, and inevitable component of Israeli being. This implies that Israeli music cannot and should not sound like western music - neither American nor European - just as it is not Arab music. To this day, crystalizing an authentic experience from the multitude of colors and contrasts, which comprise the Israeli cultural fabric, is a real challenge that calls for a creative approach.
“Regga” in Hebrew means “moment”. As part of their work processes, “Regga Records” take their time in capturing the moment. This is done in an attempt to demonstrate an authentic, Israeli sound-stamp of superior quality; One that does not deprecate itself in trying to imitate western models or eastern ones, yet contains the good and the pertinent they both have to offer.
While holding the stick from both ends may sound pretentious, it is more of an aspiration to find an equilibrium amongst attributes, a point that does not diminish one at the expense of the other, but rather accentuates and illuminates each in its full. The same holds in the space that lies between the love of music and audiophilia: why listen to a quality recording of boring music? Why listen to wonderful music that is badly recorded? To achieve the best of both worlds, intense rigor is required on the artistic aspect, as well as on the technical one (Isn’t it artistic too?) and on many other important decisions – such as selecting the right venue for the recording. All of these together comprise the foundation and the conditions for the creation of the magical element we all love, one that presents the listener with a forceful and an emotional experience.
Ultimately, the artist is tasked with delivering a performance in which everything comes together, and the magic happens. And what if it takes more than a moment to capture the moment? On this matter, we identify with the many fishermen that are dispersed along Israel’s beaches, rather than with the edgy drivers that congest its roads: Patience… all we have in life is time
Latest Releases
Hemdat-Avot
Nothing about Iggy Dayan – singer, drummer, guitarist, novelist, and a member of Mashina, Israel’s legendary rock group – would hint at the turn he took in his latest solo projects. His new album, Hemdat Avot, is a masterpiece comprised of details, minute and grand. It is an almost monastic creation, that presents much-loved Israeli classics, arranged for solely voice and guitar.
In Hebrew, “Hemdat Avot” stands for appreciation of an individual’s ancestors and of one’s former generations. In addition, “Eretz Hemdat Avot” is a synonym for the Land (Eretz) of Israel. In this album, Dayan evaluates and tightens his relationship with Israeli music. Like an adopted child, who, when grown up, embarks on a journey to find his parents, he ventures deep into the Classic-Israeli song portfolio, looking for the gems that may have given birth to his own music. While his early creations were characterized by a distinct distancing from Israeli culture and from the Hebrew language – attempting to resemble the western music that he loved – his current work must match his lifestyle and his habitation, and, thus, be free, while tightly coupled to true roots.
While folk and rock music always “sounded right” when performed in English, Dayan’s romance with the Hebrew language strengthened over the years. In addition to the songs he had written and recorded since adolescence, his first acclaimed novel, “Chava”, was recently published. Amongst its many facets, the novel deals with various Israeli archetypes, as well as with personal identity. Like in the case of that imaginary, adopted child, typical questions started to surface: Who am I? What created me? What are the similarities between my forebearers and myself?
Dayan and his collaborator, the producer and sonic guru Tal Trivish, jointly decided to experiment with treating mythological, classical Israeli songs in the same manner they treat the original music they produce, a methodology based on voice and guitar that are performed and recorded simultaneously, as a monolithic whole. They strived to strip these timeless creations of the arrangements that engulfed them – that are true to the time they were conceived – so as to expose and accentuate their lyrics and their melody. For this reason, they decided that this album will not contain any additional instruments.
Hemdat-Avot was recorded in Stereo DSD 256 using the Anubis Premium Analog to Digital Converter and Preamp from Merging Technologies with Nordic Audio Lab NU100K microphones, AccuSound MX4 and IX3 cables, Amphion One 18 & OS Acoustics DBS8 monitor loudspeakers, Grace Design M905 monitor controller, Sendy Audio Aiva headphones and Triad Orbit microphone stands.
Iggy Dayan – Acoustic Guitar & Vocals
Press Reviews
When preparing to listen to voice and guitar, one expects personal, intimate music. But when listening to the music in Iggy Dayan’s project, magic happens. The guitar transforms into shiny ripples of sounds that invite you to enter, and entice you to dip inside. As if born from the strings, the singing voice silently screams, and recites the words – gently and with sensitivity – while transforming the listener into a part of the occurrence.
Such a thing can happen only when all is true and clean of shticks. The selected songs are a purified truth of the Song of Israel. Iggy Dayan’s ability to provide them with a new, personal layer – while staying true to their essence – is magnificent.
One needs quiet to listen to this music. With environmental rustles, or bird chirps and drops of rain. Something new will surface is every listening, that, allegedly, was not there before. The songs form and touch anew, every time. (Shlomo Israeli)
(Shlomo Israeli is a musicologist, a lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at the Israel Museum and the head of the Music Department at Kol Israel, an artistic advisor to the Israel Festival, an editor and producer of concert series and international festivals.)
Listeners Reviews
This is an absolute masterpiece! The album took me back to warm sweet childhood memories of Israel.
In terms of sound quality, Tal’s production is a major embellishment to Iggy’s music as he manages to penetrate Iggy’s personality and adds great depth and richness to the sound. I definitely recommend this.
Tomer Salman
Sit back, relax and get transformed. Simply fantastic!
Barak Pridor
An absolute pleasure! A combination of lyrics written by the most illustrious Israeli poets, a sensitive, loving vocal performance by Iggy Dayan, and a crystal-clear guitar sound!
Limor Dolev
“Hemdat Avot” is a phenomenal album that left me in awe. Dayan’s talent and understanding of Israeli music shines through in every song, and the stripped-down approach to the production only adds to the emotional impact of the album. It also sounds fantastic.
Noam Gingold