Once we listened to the music of our own cultures, because that was all there was to hear. Music from other cultures was strange and exotic, something a friend brought home on a hissy cassette from a foreign trip to remind themselves what Other sounded like. Then our musicians started travelling, and mixing in the sounds of other cultures: South Africa in Paul Simon’s Graceland; Cuba in Ry Cooder’s Buena Vista Social Club; South America in David Byrne. Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD, Putumayo’s albums, and Rough Guide opened up World Music to all of us. Small independent companies such as Calabash or Rock, Paper, Scissors made it possible to become familiar with the range of global music. The world became our aural environment, our playlist was McLuhan’s global village.

And that changed everything. World music was no longer something that they did out there. Now it’s something we do, because we have grown up exposed to the sounds of the world. A wonderful example is the band Isra-Alien. Oren Neiman was born in Toronto (some have argued the most multicultural city in the world) and met his Israeli bandmate Gilad Ben-Zvi during their required military service in Israel (to which Oren had moved). Both were guitarists, and while Oren’s background was in jazz and Gilad’s in rock, borders are always the most fertile zones. They played together, separated, and came together a second time eight years later in New York, where they were then living. As this history implies, they don’t play world music; they are world music. World music was once music from somewhere else, but as Isra-Alien’s new album is titled: Somewhere is Here!

The album is simple in one way: there are just two acoustic guitarists on it. Oren plays nylon string; Gilad plays steel. There are no vocals. But the music has hints of Balkan beats, flamenco flourishes, Klezmer ebullience, Russian harmonies, rock percussiveness. It creates a sinuous changing tapestry that draws on a full range of different traditions to create a new and beguiling synthesis. And whatever tradition is being reinvented or rewoven in the moment, there is always an exciting energy to pulls one into the process. Israel, Toronto, New York are all diasporic environments. Their cultures are a melange, and the richer for it. And Isra-Alien offers the new soundtrack that such worlds require.

The cover of Somewhere is Here! shows them on a motorcycle with sidecar, clutching guitars and luggage, and barrelling through a desert past a dilapidated wooden signpost with twenty different destinations. It’s not clear where they’re going, but it’s very clear that both they and we will have an exciting ride getting there. The music is a joy, and reviews of their live performances are raves. They’re coming to Toronto on November 18th, and Boston and Connecticut in early December. Catch up to that motorcycle if you can!