The title of Ben Fisher‘s new album is not a rhetorical question. Does the Land Remember Me? is the existential question of anyone who is raised Jewish. A central tenet of the religion, after all, is that we are the chosen people of a promised land. Conservative billionaire Sheldon Adelstein foots the bill for a program that allows young Jewish people to travel to Israel free of charge to better understand their heritage. But is it truly possible to have a connection to a place that, statistically, your ancestors did not live in for generations upon generations? Especially if the country you grew up in feels most like home?
Musically, Fisher’s album is fairly minimal — it’s mostly his voice with some piano accompaniment, though a few songs have larger backing bands. With no disrespect to the musicians on the album, the music is not the main event here. Damian Jurado, who produced the album, lets the lyrics take center stage. Instead, Fisher focuses on the 60-odd year history of a country that asserts its legitimacy on the basis of ancient history. Fisher is no stranger to the region, having lived there as a journalist, seeking to tell the stories of Israelis and Palestinians alike. Does the Land Remember Me? is an extension of that work.
Fisher’s telling of Israel’s story is wide-ranging: he describes the initial distribution of land among Jewish settlers in Tel Aviv in 1906; the viewpoints of both Jewish and Palestinian children; the confusion of a bomber in the Israeli Defense Force; the blithe optimism of a Jewish settler crossing into what’s now the Gaza Strip.
That’s a song that’s worthy of some attention, especially on this site. “Yallah to Abdullah” opens with some gentle slide guitar and a verse about a train. Textbook country music. By using…..READ MORE