Daphna Sadeh and The Voyagers

 A decade ago, when cross-cultural music was still a relative rarity, Daphna Sadeh was a member of the innovative “East/West Ensemble". The musicians came from diverse origins, with deep roots in the culture of Asia, Mediterranean and the Middle East. The Voyagers, Daphna’s current group, encapsulate the same spirit, and continue the quest of creating inter-cultural music as a reflection of the world we live in.

The Voyagers were formed by Daphna Sadeh in 2003 and are based in London. The band features a range of established world music and jazz recording artists in her line up. All of them with a back catalogue of their own work, these musicians are intensely active in the UK music scene.

The band lineup features a range of established world music and jazz artists. Active in the UK music scene, all Voyagers artists have a substantial discography and back catalogue of their own work. The music of The Voyagers is a meeting point, exploring rapport between Jewish, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean music. With the added influences of jazz, traditional Sephardic and Klezmer traditions, the result is a clear and expressive style.

The group regularly perform at UK venues and festivals. They have played the South Bank in London for the "dialogues" concert season, and have appeared on the BBC’s Charlie Gillett World Service radio show. Daphna and The Voyagers have played at The Brighton Jewish Music Festival and the Diaspora Festival in Kew Gardens. They also played to audiences at Cambridge University and most recently at The Junction in Cambridge to a large and varied, dancing audience. Further around the country, they have played at Warwick University, and at the Leeds Festival. This varied range of concerts and audiences reflects their cross-community accessibility.

"Telepathy that transforms a group of virtuosos into a genuine ensemble […] Here the bass took centre-stage, like a Levantine reincarnation of Charlie Mingus' bass-led jazz ensemble of the early 1960's […] The versatile Voyagers are clearly going places, and music lovers would do well to book a return ticket"
Lawrence Joffe, Jewish chronicle

"On the face of it, this is music of contrasts: Arabic with Jewish, Jazz with tradition, Mediterranean Sephardic Jewish with Eastern European Ashkenazi. And yet what is so striking is the sense of harmony"
Jamie Renton, Roots

"Daphna Sadeh and The Voyagers exemplified the creative potential of world music at the cutting edge"
Malcolm Miller, Musical Opinion

"This entire extraordinary performance of Daphna Sadeh & The Voyagers was a spiritual, even mystical experience in the truest kabalistic sense"
Rainlore.demon.co.uk November 2003

For more reviews, see the reviews page