Israel’s top drummer is on a worldwide roll

In Israel's stratified music industry, Chen Zimbalista is truly a rare bird.

There are only about 30 solo percussionists worldwide and Zimbalista is Israel's one and only, the result of an almost primordial thirst for creative freedom and not a little ambition and talent.

In February, in celebration of Israel's 50th anniversary, Zimbalista will take his music to the United States for the Mid East/West Fest. Zimbalista will perform in nine states, reaching up to 30,000 listeners. He will also be giving master classes and special workshops for children and youth.

The energy Zimbalista exudes onstage is enough to propel a packed theater into galactic orbit. A virtual one-man band, Zimbalista uses his hands, his feet and sometimes his voice -- he lets out a spontaneous "whoopee" every so often -- as he waltzes around the stage with his marimba, vibraphone, drums and some 30 other percussion instruments.

With the intensity of a snake-charmer, he cajoles an enchanting array of rhythmic sounds from instruments usually relegated to the rear of the orchestra pit.

Zimbalista insists he derives much of his energy from his listeners. "The more receptive the crowd, the better the music," says the charismatic 30-year-old performer, who likes to open his show by chatting with the audience, telling them a little about himself and a bit more about the music they are about to hear.

And what is this euphonious and idiosyncratic blend of pulses and beats they're hearing?

"It defies classification," Zimbalista insists. Pressed, he says his music is international, a smorgasbord of classical, blues, jazz and soft rock.

Although not identifiably Israeli, his music, Zimbalista says, is "a reflection of the cultural and political landscape of this country."

At this past summer's Kfar Blum Music Festival, Zimbalista performed (together with a string quartet) a piece written by Israeli singer-songwriter Shlomo Gro-nich in memory of Yitzhak Rabin. Titled "The Age of Innocence Has Passed," it was played the same day as the Mahane Yehuda terrorist attack and received a one-hour standing ovation.

Zimbalista was a prodigious youngster. Like many a young boy, he wanted to play the drums. First the flute, his parents insisted when Zimbalista was 8. Two years later, his parents finally acquiesced, after adding piano lessons to the deal.

Zimbalista stuck to his mallets and by the time he was 14, he was studying percussion with the Israel Philharmonic's Allon Bon. At 16, he was invited to sign on as a reserve percussionist with the philharmonic. It was around this time that he won the Young Artist Performing Israeli Music award.

After completing his army duty in the Israel Defense Forces Orchestra, Zimbalista spent three years in New York under the tutelage of Morris Lang of the New York Philharmonic. Zimbalista returned to Israel in 1991 and competed for the prestigious Francois Shapira Prize, which he won.

"It was then," Zimbalista recalls, "that things started rolling."

Deciding to go solo, Zimbalista had to open his own doors and prove himself to a public not accustomed to a percussionist taking centerstage. Today, he gives three or four concerts a week all over Israel. He especially enjoys performing on kibbutzim, "where I can reach the youngest and oldest of listeners."

His first CD came out last year. Israel's first percussion recording was titled simply "Percussion." A second CD, "Desert Beat," will be released this fall and distributed worldwide.

Mysticism or happenstance, Zimbalista traces his name to an eastern European ancestor who played the cymbals. Add to this fairytale combination, Zimbalista's first name -- chen in Hebrew means charm and this pony-tailed, brown-eyed musician has lots of it -- and, voila, a star is in the making.