
Nir Mehlman
Born in Dimona, A small city in the south of Israel, Nir started playing the guitar at the age of 12. He learnt classical guitar at the local conservatorium, and contemporary music and blues with a local guitar teachers. At 23 Nir first heard ‘Running from Home’ and everything changed. He says “I was amazed by his playing style, the way melody and harmony blended together, I was hooked.”
Nir studied sound engineering and now teaches and performs fingerstyle guitar. “From kids to adults, through my teaching, I try to reveal them to the magic of guitar playing and the magic of acoustic and fingerstyle guitar. Many of my students buying acoustic guitars which for me is a great achievement.”
Rosemary Lane and Bird Song
Nir says “I chose to play ‘Rosemary Lane’ and ‘Bird Song’ because I love the album Rosemary Lane. I love that it is based solely on one guitar, and one voice yet there is such a diversity of tunes: original songs, arrangements of traditional songs, and instrumentals. I feel that there is mellowness in this album to which I really connect. I like the story of ‘Rosemary Lane’ and the guitar accompaniment that has special bass lines. For ‘Bird Song’, I love the different birds and that they symbolize different types of people. Another thing I love is the guitar accompaniment in DADGAD. Bert played and composed in a beautiful and very original way.”
“When I first heard ‘Running from Home’ I learnt that song on the spot. From then on, I wanted to play more and more of Bert’s songs. I remember playing and pausing the CD, in order to figure out the exact notes and chords positions until I got it into my fingers. His influence has helped me to find my own voice as a player as well as a composer. Bert has made me search for that certain enchanting sound that makes the wood sing.
I have uploaded many Bert covers onto my YouTube channel. I thought it would be nice to see Bert live, so I travelled to the UK in 2011, and luckily, I managed to get a ticket to the Pentangle reunion concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 1 August. I enjoyed it so much and was very excited seeing and hearing them live. I was so fortunate, as that was Bert’s very last public performance.”
Nir is working on his second album.
