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Ellen M. Wilson - News & Reviews

Feature Article in the EP Times

El Pasoan reimagines Hebrew music
Doug Pullen / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 10/11/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

Wilson EL PASO -- Ellen M. Wilson is Jewish, and most of her new CD, "Songs of Ascent," is sung in Hebrew.
But don't for a minute think its familiar, Psalm-based songs and messages of healing and spiritual transcendence are just preaching to the converted.

"I didn't want it to be just about religion," Wilson said. "I wanted it to be very transcendent."

"Songs" may take its text from biblical Hebrew phrases and Jewish liturgy, but musically, it has an ethereal quality to it, with lush, layered harmonies contrasted by Wilson's soaring coloratura soprano.

It's a warm sound that recalls Enya's soothing Celtic incantations and Loreena McKennitt's haunting medieval resurrections. There's a little Tori Amos thrown in, plus touches of jazz,
contemporary folk-pop and traditional Middle Eastern strains.
The CD came at a time of transition for Wilson, a voice lecturer at UTEP who grew up in Illinois and lived in North Carolina before moving to El Paso with husband Steve in 2001. Their son, Zach, was born a year later.

Wilson, who has a bachelor's in music from the University of Illinois and a master's from Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C., has sung in classical and musical theater settings in the past.

She's also a classically trained singer who has been a cantorial soloist at Temple Mount Sinai and in Across the Ages, a duo specializing in Baroque and Renaissance music.

But she longed to do something different musically. A variety of elements fell into place, some good, some heartbreaking.
Pivotal was her meeting with Scott Leader, a young up-and-comer in the Jewish rock music community who helped Temple Mount Sinai produce a CD.

"I loved what he did and ... you know how it is when you kind of click creatively with someone who is like-minded," she said. "All of the sudden, the potential for a really exciting project was there."

Leader said the Enya approach was by design. "Our original thought was to make something to show that she can take her classically trained opera voice and bring it down to a more folk level," Leader said by e-mail. "As we decided on which songs to do, I realized that they were all very well-known melodies. This brought up the thoughts on how to make this CD different than the 9,000 other versions of some of these songs out there."

While kicking around those ideas with her Phoenix-based producer, Wilson was moved by the movie "The Secret," TV veteran Rhonda Byrnes' inspirational message about how to tap into one's spirituality for self-improvement. Wilson had studied with the film's featured speaker, Bob Proctor.

"He encouraged the participants to ... create a really big goal," she said. "Just having met Scott, I began realizing that the next big project for me musically was to make this CD."

Wilson was also mourning the death of her father, Alex Pollak, a Holocaust survivor who died last year, soon after the recording of Wilson's five-song, Leader-produced CD, "T'filat Ha-Adam: Prayers of the Heart."

"That further spurred me on just to make something really special in this year of mourning," she said. "In Judaism, you mourn for a year for a parent, and a friend said I should distinguish this year in some way."

Rabbi Larry Bach of Temple Mount Sinai had encouraged her to branch out musically.

"He had me singing repertoire I hadn't sung before. I usually do a more classical repertoire. This was more poppy, contemporary stuff," she explained. "It made me feel as if I was coming full circle because in my high-school days and when I first went to college, I was in rock bands doing all kinds of naughty things sopranos aren't supposed to do."

She's referring to her voice.

For the Beatles-loving woman with the classically trained voice, it was the right time to make this record.

"I really felt -- and I know it sounds crazy -- that everything came together in my project, using the lyric approach, training in the classical lyric technique, in service of this music that felt really spiritual to me."

The CD is being promoted nationally. Wilson has a publicist in Boston. She's starting to get some airplay, including "The Jewish Show of Houston," which aired her version of the folk song "Lo Yisa Goy," prompting host Shawn Daniel to rave about her "amazing voice."

Reviews are starting to roll in as well, mostly from various music Web sites.

"Where there seems to be a division made with current artists between the vocal and the instrumental, Wilson's blending of the two distinct segments creates something that is fresh and exciting," wrote neufutur.com. "There may not be a driving drum beat or guitars shredding their way through the tracks on 'Songs of Ascent,' but the intricate vocal arrangements that are par for the course on 'Songs of Ascent' will get listeners excited and eagerly anticipating the next track."

A reviewer for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange (acousticmusic.com/fame) wasn't very enthusiastic about the religious and spiritual themes, but praised the songs as "very tuneful, keeping away from New Age-ry by virtue of a folkish and lightly classical resonance, and Wilson has a soothing, beautiful and uplifting voice well-backed by a number of accomplished instrumentalists."

Wilson is happy to get good reviews, but seems more inspired by the reactions she's getting from people of all faiths.

"I've had such great feedback from friends who are Catholic, New Agey and not religious at all, all across the spectrum," she said, obviously pleased.

"I think the melodies and performance at face value are very good and can be enjoyed even without thinking about the Hebrew texts involved," Leader added.

"That's very much who I am and what I wanted to express -- something very spiritual," Wilson said. "It's the same idea as Enya singing Celtic songs. It's not meant to be religion music."

Doug Pullen may be reached at dpullen@elpasotimes.com; 546-6397.

For the record

Who: Singer Ellen M. Wilson released her CD, "Songs of Ascent."

To buy: Temple Mount Sinai, B'nai Zion, the Rose & Crown Art Gallery, cdbaby.com, oysongs.com, amazon.com, itunes.com and next week at the Hal Marcus Gallery.

Information: ellenmwilson.com; myspace.com/ellenmwilson.

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