Neshamah, (or simply Neshamah) is the title of the first solo recording by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 guitarist Tim Sparks

Tim Sparks

Tim Sparks is an American acoustic guitar player, singer, arranger and composer.- Biography:Raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he was given his first guitar when a bout of encephalitis kept him out of school for a year...

 on the Tzadik Records

Tzadik Records

Tzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...

 label. "Neshamah" means "soul." The arrangements adapt Ashkenazic

Ashkenazi Jews

Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...

 klezmer

Klezmer

Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...

, Sephardic

Sephardi Jews

Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...

 and Middle Eastern Jewish music for the solo guitar.

Reception

In his Allmusic review, music critic Steven Lowey praised Neshamah writing "Sometimes the guitar transforms a piece into something different than it was originally... [Sparks] squeezes every ounce of melodic sophistication from a song's essence, resulting in a delightful and authentic display that while impressive is never overdone." In his review for Dirty Linen magazine, Jim Lee wrote "A truly groundbreaking project and one that also makes for refreshing listening. I'd recommend both to any fan of good music, be it guitar or otherwise." Critic Aaron Howard also praised the album, "The result is brilliant on many levels. Musically, Sparks is one of the better guitarists in the country, a musician's musician even if he remains largely unknown to a large audience. Think of Bill Frisell

Bill Frisell

William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...

, Leo Kottke

Leo Kottke

Leo Kottke is an acoustic guitarist. He is widely known for his innovative fingerpicking style, which draws on influences from blues, jazz, and folk music, and his syncopated, polyphonic melodies...

 or Adrian Legg

Adrian Legg

Adrian Legg is an English guitar player who has been called "impossible to categorize". He plays custom guitars that are a hybrid of electric and acoustic, and his fingerstyle picking technique has been acknowledged by the readers of Guitar Player who voted Legg the "best acoustic fingerstyle"...

 and that's the level that Sparks plays on."

Track listing

1. "The Baal Shem Tov's Melody" – 3:21
2. "Hamisha Asar" (Flory Jagoda
   Flory Jagoda
   Flory Jagoda is a Jewish American and Bosnian guitarist, composer and singer. She is known for her interpretation of Ladino songs.-Biography:...
   
   ) – 4:54
3. "Odessa Mama (Odesa Mame)" – 3:09
4. "Skrip, Klezmerl Skripe" – 3:48
5. "Los Caminos de Sirkeci" – 2:59
6. "Kad Jawajuni" – 4:42
7. "A Hora Mit Tzibeles" (Naftule Brandwein
   Naftule Brandwein
   Naftule Brandwein, or Naftuli Brandwine, was a Jewish clarinetist and influential klezmer musician.- Early life :Brandwein was born in Przemyslany, Poland-Galicia , into a family of klezmer musicians, part of the Stretiner Hasidic dynasty founded by Rabbi Yehuda Hirsch Brandwein of Stratin...
   
   ) – 3:34
8. "Viva Orduena" – 2:57
9. "Quando el Rey Nimrod" – 3:49
10. "A Leybedike Honga" – 2:13
11. "The Shoemaker's Melody" – 2:50
12. "Freylich" – 3:53
13. "Sholem Aleichem" – 2:08
14. "Naftule Spielt Far Dem Rebin" (Naftule Brandwein) – 2:40
15. "Addio Querida" – 2:49

Production notes

• Produced by Tim Sparks
• Executive producer: John Zorn
  John Zorn
  John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
  
  
• Associate producer: Kazunori Sugiyama
• Recorded by Rod Volker
• Mastered by Alan Tucker
• Design by Hueng-Hueng Chin