Category: Israel

A-WA: Bayti Fi Rasi

October 23, 2019

In Genesis, Rachel leaves Haran with her large family and reaches the Promised Land before dying in childbirth. In modern times, the Rachel who often declared Bayti Fi Rasi (My Home Is in My Head) was a single mother who left the land of her birth—transported in an airlift that took 50,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel in 1949-50—trading oppression in one country for hardship in another. Multitudes remember the biblical matriarch, but if a family is a … More A-WA: Bayti Fi Rasi

Noa: Letters to Bach

July 17, 2019

No composer has motivated more artists to adapt his work than Johann Sebastian Bach. Remixing began when eighteenth-century orchestras deployed pianos in pieces JBS composed for clavichord and harpsichord; it continues today with jazz, folk and blues iterations, among others. But arguably no one has channeled Bach so audaciously—or lyrically—as the Israeli singer-songwriter Noa (Achinoam Nini). She describes Letters to Bach, her eleventh … More Noa: Letters to Bach

Idan Raichel: And If You Will Come to Me

April 2, 2019

Idan Raichel reshaped Israel’s music landscape, integrating Middle Eastern, Ethiopian and Latin sounds and taking his band, the Idan Raichel Project, onto the world stage. He has notably performed at a Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington and with Palestinian singer-qanun player Ali Amr in New York. Raichel has written more than … More Idan Raichel: And If You Will Come to Me

Rotem Cohen: Kol Kach Yafeh Lach

August 13, 2018

When it comes to synergistic contrasts, to matching moods and cultural elements that don’t typically appear together and then making them crackle, Rotem Cohen has few equals. He began his career writing for some of Israel’s leading singers (Rita, Boaz Sharabi) and ultimately decided to face the audience himself. His first two albums established him as a virtuoso of Hebrew song immersed in … More Rotem Cohen: Kol Kach Yafeh Lach

Maureen Nehedar: Gole Gandom

March 19, 2018

Her voice has an exquisite purity that commands without overwhelming. The facets of her life and music—liturgical poems and love songs—add to the aptness her name: Nehedar means “splendid” in Hebrew. Maureen Nehedar was two years old when her family left Isfahan, Iran, in the wake of the Islamic Revolution. They arrived in Israel with few tangible belongings but, as she describes it … More Maureen Nehedar: Gole Gandom

Idan Raichel: Piano • Songs

November 20, 2017

Though recognizable by his dreadlocks and turban, Idan Raichel often seemed to hide in plain sight. Concerts of his Idan Raichel Project feature up to 15 artists at a time on stage, no one commanding the spotlight and the self-effacing maestro—as pianist, composer, lyricist, singer and producer—always at stage right. To date, he’s made six albums with the Project, a rotating assembly representing Israel’s diversity, with artists singing in Amharic and Arabic alongside Hebrew, plus guest performers from Africa … More Idan Raichel: Piano • Songs

Mor Karbasi: Ojos de Novia

January 25, 2017

The Sephardic saga includes chapters of persecution and expulsion, but on her forth album the Israeli singer-songwriter Mor Karbasi (who has also lived in London and Seville) looks at her Jewish heritage from Spain and Morocco mostly through the prism of love. Ojos de Novia (Eyes of a Bride) embraces songs of romantic love (though sometimes involving disapproving or even warring parents), love of family, of God, of singing and of nature. This is an … More Mor Karbasi: Ojos de Novia

Kobi Aflalo: Marot

September 25, 2016

A doomsday joke: Hearing that the earth will be submerged by rising seas in 72 hours, clergymen counsel prayer and repentance. But a lone scientist goes on global TV and issues a challenge: “We have three days to learn how to breathe underwater.” There’s a kernel of this story in Kobi Aflalo’s fourth album, Marot (Mirrors). The title song reflects on some of the stark realities of Israeli life: existential threat, military service … More Kobi Aflalo: Marot

Rotem Cohen: Lo Dimyanti

July 17, 2016

Reviews of his live shows describe Rotem Cohen as charming, engaging, funny—and with a soulful voice—but he took a crooked route to the stage. He tried acting school, but skipped classes to compose music. He wrote for some of Israel’s top singers before releasing his own first album—which went gold. If his second album, Lo Dimyanti (I Never Imagined), is any indication, he’ll be a fixture of the Israeli cultural scene … More Rotem Cohen: Lo Dimyanti

Rami Kleinstein: Matanot K’tanot

August 4, 2015

In the Presence of Presents Listening Post 6. From universal themes of love, life and parenthood to the particulars of Israeli life, always wrapped in pitch perfect arrangements, Rami Kleinstein’s musical gift is anything but small. The 12 tracks on Matanot K’tanot (Small Gifts) deliver consistently great melodies in a diverse collection of folk, pop … More Rami Kleinstein: Matanot K’tanot