In The Arms Of A True Believer

In The Arms Of A True Believer is Oded Tzur’s greatest adventure yet, featuring a 6-piece band and unique orchestrations that present a tour de force of musical storytelling.

Brazilian Candomble percussion, Euphonium and Piccolo duets, and ceremonial raga music come together to present the final chapter in a trilogy of albums about his wife Isabela.

“I’ve always thought that faith is a very interesting human phenomenon” says Tzur. “In Hebrew, the word Faith shares a common root with the word Art, as well as the words Practice and Believe (Amen). It's as if the language suggests that faith can be learned through art.”

In The Arms Of A True Believer was written right after the birth of Tzur’s son. Using the roughly 2 hours a night he could sleep, the saxophonist composed the music and wrote down the orchestrations for the larger band featured in the record. Each song in the suite corresponds to a specific moment, such as their first ultrasound (Heartbeats), or singing a lullaby to their son before and after his birth to let him know he arrived in the right world (Lullaby In 9 Movements).

Encompassing more than the religious connotation, the album examines how faith shapes our lives in inexplicable ways, regardless of what it is we may believe in. “I can't speak to what it's like to believe”, Tzur continues, “but I know what it's like to be in the presence of someone who does, and how they change you. On my son's first night in the hospital, when I held him in my arms so my wife could sleep, I felt like for a moment I was the true believer. Perhaps that was because he was in my arms.”