The song “As I C” is about how we experience our reality. I live in Israel, in the Middle East, which is a place where many cultures coexist, sometimes collide and sometimes compliment each other. Israel is a country of amalgamations and has seen a lot of conflict. The Jewish and Arab communities, the British occupation and the Ottoman Empire have all contributed to Israel’s complex multicultural character. My work is influenced by those cultures. In it you can find jazz and American music, Arab music, Greek and Turkish music, Jewish music and Latin music.
It seems to me that when two or more cultures meet, they either destroy one another or grow together, influencing and reorganising one another. The same thing is happening in the Middle East right now.
I hope that people here and all over the world will find a peaceful solution and come to understand that you can be equal but different.
Just like our music has a range of influences and an eclectic style, we believe people and cultures can live together in solidarity, collaborate and share knowledge. Each culture brings a unique contribution to human society.
When I was younger, I had the honour of playing with musicians from all over the world and they have always been an inspiration to me. In particular, when I was 24, I had the chance to study with W.T. Woodley aka “Woods”, a Trinidadian pianist and composer. At the moment however, we have to stay at home so my focus has shifted from the outside to the inside.
The pandemic has offered me time to look inside my soul and a chance for my inner life to grow and develop. Through this process, new ideas and new music emerges. As a composer, I feel that it’s very important to keep creating music and capture this moment in my compositions.
The name “George & The Good Vibes” originated when I was living in downtown Tel Aviv. I had been invited to play with my band at a science convention that was taking place in a power plant. I was sitting down in the neighborhood coffee place, telling the cafe’s owner about the gig. I told him that the organisers of the convention wanted to know the name of our band, but we didn’t have one yet. I asked him if he had any ideas. He had the idea that the band’s name should include something related to energy, like electricity, waves or vibrations. He suggested “Tomer and The Positive Energies”. After some thought we decided on “good vibes”, and instead of “Tomer” which is my first name, we took “George”, which is my middle name, after my grandfather. My grandfather was born in Baghdad, and was also a musician, specialising in Arab instruments, as was his father and grandfather.