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If you're an Israeli music fan, you'll want to be at the annual Arad Festival this July 14-16! Over 800 Israeli musicians and performers - a virtual "who's who" in Israeli music - will perform at Israel's annual answer to "Woodstock." What's it all about? Who will be there? Follow these links to find out:
1. Arad Festival '98 - the official web site of the Arad Festival, written entirely in Hebrew
2. "The Arad Festival 1998", from Israeli Culture, June 29, 1998 - an English explanation of who, what, when, and where
From Israeli Culture, June 15, 1998
After serving as the host of the popular television show, Laila Gov, for five years, Gidi Gov has announced that the show is coming off the air.
Gidi, a former member of the Kaveret rock group, and a singer in his own right, has plans to devote time to producing a new disc, after a long break in his musical career. Gov said that the television show had run out of new material.
Gidi has announced the end of the Laila Gov show in the past, only to recant at the last moment. Somehow, it seems that this time the announcement is final. Telad, the company that produced Gov's show for Israel's Channel Two television, hopes to continue to collaborate with the singer in the future.
From Israeli Culture, June 15, 1998
Ever since she won the Eurovision Song Contest in the beginning of May, Israeli singer, Dana International has been quite busy. Take a look at her schedule for the coming weeks:
June 15th - London. Her single "Diva" is released in England.
June 16th - Istanbul.
June 18th - London.
June 19th - Wales.
June 20th - London. Interviews.
June 21st - France. Television.
June 23rd - England.
June 25th - Germany.
Is Dana successfully starting an international career? Why is the single
"Diva" only now being released in England? Did Dana miss her chance?
Dana's song "Diva" was late in reaching the audiences thrilled by her Eurovision performance. Even so, the song hit the top of the charts in Greece, Poland, Sweden and Belguim. The song is a favorite on MTV, and a big seller in Israel as well.
What are Dana's future plans? After the singer finishes her hysterically busy schedule of hopping from one European capital to another, interviewing and appearing on television and radio, things will calm down a bit. Maybe then Dana will think about organizing a new concert tour. Dana's first international disc will be released in October, including in Japan and both North and South America. It looks like Dana's career is still quite International!
For additional information about Dana, make sure to check out the Israeli Culture feature - Dana International.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 9, 1998
From The Jerusalem Post, June 7, 1998
Submitted by Itzik Becher, Aviv Productions, June 5, 1998
On September 15, the long awaited collaboration album of the Klezmatics and Istraeli folk diva Chava Alberstein will be released on Green Linnet/Xenophile. 16 new songs produced by Ben Mink (K.D. Lang's producer). Get ready to be moved!!!
To celebrate, the band and Chava Alberstein will perform at Town Hall (in New York City) on October 10. More concerts are planned.
For the first time since 1990, the members of Kaveret will reunite this week for one special concert. Read all about this historic concert at the following web sites:
1. "Kaveret Reunites, Again" - from Israeli Culture, May 25, 1998
2. "Nonsense and Nostalgia" - from Ha'aretz Internet Edition, May 26, 1998
3. Kaveret's Unofficial Home Page
From Israeli Culture, May 4, 1998
From CNN Interactive, March 29, 1998
From Israeli Culture, March 30, 1998
Popular Israeli singer, Rita, announced this week that she won't sing the Israeli national anthem at the upcoming Independence Day program. The program, due to be staged as the 50th anniversary's major event in the Hebrew University National Stadium, as well as all activities for the birthday year, has been plagued by controversy since the very start, as reported [by Israeli Culture] in Israel's Jubilee Year Begins. Rita had been hired by the organizing committee to sing her version of Hatikva. What bothered many in the country was the exorbitant salary Rita was to be paid (70,000 shekels). Many performers reportedly volunteered their services for free. Another major Israeli star, Ofra Haza, has been hired to sing Yerushalayim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold). Haza will be paid 110,000 shekels for her performance. NEWS FLASH - AFTER THE ABOVE LINES WERE WRITTEN, RITA HAS AGREED TO SING THE ANTHEM, AND WILL DONATE HER SALARY TO A HOSPITAL FOR CANCER PATIENTS.
From The Jerusalem Post, March 17, 1998
From Israeli Culture, March 30, 1998
Remember Hakol Over, Habibi? The popular singing quartet hasn't been around for quite awhile, not since Shulamit Aharon left her male partners, Ami, Kiki and Yuval, years ago. But now there is a new partner to the group - meet Sharona Nastovitz. The reviews so far - Sharona is a worthy replacement and Habibi is back!
From Israeli Culture, March 30, 1998
Shanachie Records, one of the most important independent World Music US labels, will release a collection of Chava Alberstein's songs called "Crazy Flower". The album includes 17 songs from various periods of Chava's career, and will hit the stores in the US on April 21.
From Israeli Culture, March 30, 1998
Mati Kaspi feels that his new album, due to be released soon, is his best yet. Kaspi claims that he sings better, in a more mature way, and the technical level is much higher. This will be Kaspi's first release in five years.
From Israeli Culture, March 23, 1998
Dana International will represent Israel this year in the annual Eurovision Song Competition. Dana's song, Diva, will have its first airing on Israeli television this week. Meanwhile, Dana has been dazzling critics in Paris, where no one can believe that this beautiful singer was once a man. According to the French press, stories of Dana's sex change operation are considered a publicity stunt, and not based on a real happening. In a press conference, Dana was asked how she could represent the Israeli population with her story. Wouldn't the religious Israelis object? Dana answered that she represented democracy, and the modern democratic state of Israel. We wish Dana luck in the upcoming competition.
From Israeli Culture, March 9, 1998
The activities planned for celebrating Israel's 50th anniversary continue to stir up controversy. These problems were already reported [by Israeli Culture] in Israel's Jubilee Year Begins, and it seems that they just won't go away. Latest in a long line of publicized incidents is the extravagances of the main event of Independence Day - the program to be produced that night in Jerusalem's Hebrew University Stadium. The media has reported that a foreign producer was hired to put on this show at a high cost. Even the local artists constitute a major expense. Rita will be paid 70,000 shekels to sing Hatikva and Ofra Haza will receive 105,000 shekels to perform. This week a group of Israeli performers, including Chaim Moshe, Simi Tabori and Margalit Tzanani, began pressing to be included in the program, and reportedly at no cost. It's a bare two months before the show is to be aired, and doubts to its staging still exist.
From Israeli Culture, February 9, 1998
One of the most important composers and singers in Israel's rich music history is about to embark on a new concert tour. Singer Shalom Hanoch's first concert, on February 13th, will be called "Reunion, Shalom Hanoch in Concert". Shalom will perform songs from his most recent album, entitled Erev, Erev (Evening, Evening), and some of his all-time favorites. Ten concerts are scheduled, and you can find out when and where on the [Israeli Culture] Cultural Calendar.
From Israeli Culture, February 9, 1998
Ofra Haza will perform the theme song for Steven Spielberg's cartoon about the Exodus from Egypt. The song, "Let My People Go", will be recorded in London at the end of the month in 20 languages. Apparently Ofra also was the inspiration for the cartoon rendition of Yochebed, Moses's mother in the Exodus story. Other voices to be heard in the film will be those of Val Kilmer (Moses), Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny Glover, Sandra Bullock, Steve Martin, Jeff Goldblum and Patrick Stewart. The premiere screening in Israel is scheduled for December.
From Israeli Culture, October 13, 1997
From Israeli Culture, October 20, 1997
Legendary Israeli rock group, Kaveret, will reunite in honor of Israel's upcoming 50th anniversary celebrations. The band, which symbolized Israeli music in the 1970's, teamed up for one-time performances in 1984 and then again in 1990. Next year's performance has no definite date set. Kaveret's band members - Danny Sanderson, Gidi Gov, Ephraim Shamir, Alon Ouleartchik, Meir Feingold, Yoni Richter and Yitzhak Klapter, continue to be a part of the Israeli music scene even today.
From Israeli Culture, September 29, 1997
Rita, one of Israel's most popular singers, was performing last week before an audience of nearly 20,000 teachers in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park, when her show was repeatedly interrupted. The singer told the undisciplined audience that for safety reasons, police would not allow them to approach the outdoors stage, but the teachers refused to budge. The show was stopped, and one such intermission lasted an hour. The performances of Shlomo Artzi and stand-up comedian Eli Yatzpan were also shortened due to the unrowdy educators. The event had been organized by the Teacher's Union, and cost over a million shekels. Rita commented that she should be given a bonus for doing the police's work.
From Israeli Culture, September 29, 1997
Many Israeli singers have new releases in time for the Rosh Hashana holiday. Maybe the best new album of all is that of singer Gidi Gov. It is a collection called "Songs of Laila Gov - Second Part". Gidi, former member of the rock groups Kaveret and Gazoz, is now the host of a popular television show. The name of the show means Gov Night, but rhymes in Hebrew with Good Night. Gov is a pretty good singer, and his album shows that. But - the album also has plenty of tracks from the many guests on Gov's show - including Corin Elal, Aviv Gefen, Rita, Shlomo Artzi, Yermy Kaplan, Yoni Rechter, Ofira Yosefi and more.
From Israeli Culture, September 29, 1997
A "hot" news issue in Israel today is the subject of lost Yemenite children - children of families that immigrated to Israel in the early 1950's and then mysteriously disappeared. Apparently some of these children were hospitalized at the time, and their parents received reports that they had died. Now there is a growing belief that these children may have been rushed away to be adopted by other parents. Israeli singer Ofra Haza, who is of Yemenite descent, stars in the movie "Complete Justice", a suspense drama about an investigator and a lawyer. Haza's character is convinced that the investigator is actually her brother, who disappeared in the 50's. The film opens all over Israel after Rosh Hashana.
From Israeli Culture, October 20, 1997
...Now the singer-turned-actress is complaining that her part in the film was drastically reduced in the final version due to be released soon. Haza and her agent claim they were led to believe that she would be in the female lead of the film, but director Arnon Tzadok and producer Doron Eran state that this was never their intention. Whatever the result of this argument, publicity never hurts a film's release. We'll just have to judge it in person.
From Israeli Culture, September 22, 1997
Israeli singer and idol of Israeli youth, Aviv Gefen, made a successful debut with his new English language material in a small club in northern London. The audience included members of the press and representatives of record companies, and Gefen's performance got rave reviews.
From Israeli Culture, September 22, 1997
Singer David Broza will give eight concerts in October in Australia, including one at the prestigious Melbourne Festival. Five of the shows are already sold out.
From Israeli Culture, September 22, 1997
Favorite Israeli singer, Chava Alberstein's new collection is to be released soon. The album is called Adaber Itcha (I Will Talk To You). This will be Chava's 47th.
From Israeli Culture, August 25, 1997
From Israeli Culture, August 11, 1997
Major Israeli concerts will take place this coming week on the shores of the Kinneret, the Sea of Galilee. On August 15th Matti Kaspi and Yehudith Ravitz will perform - two for the price of one - at the Tzemach Beach. At the same time, Ehud Manor will host favorite Israeli songwriter, Naomi Shemer, in Yardenit. The next night, Miki Gavrielov will perform at Ein Gev, hosting singers Dafna Armoni, Corin Elal and Si Heman. But maybe the biggest concert of all will take place at Tzemach on August 18th, the traditional Tu B'Av Festival of Love. Hosted by Israel's MTV video star, Eden, the show will include Aviv Gefen, Gidi Gov, Tippex, Yermi Kaplan, Ayfo Hayeled and Iggy Vaxman. It will definitely be worthwhile this week to head for the Kinneret. Check out all the August happenings at Israeli Culture's Events Calendar.
From Israeli Culture, August 4, 1997
Favorite Israeli singer, Yehoram Gaon, has been nominated by Israeli Prime Minister, Bibi Netanyahu, to head a new body that will coordinate bringing Israelis together through culture. This new body will function under the supervision of the Prime Minister's Office. The idea is to create and encourage musical events, folklore and lectures - all before mixed audiences that will include the religious and the non-religious, Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Gaon is already in charge of the Culture portfolio of the Jerusalem Municipality. Recently he helped to create an academy for classical "eastern" music, and he currently hosts a personal radio show on Israeli Radio. Gaon has been a friend of Netanyahu's for many years, and also acted in a film based on the Entebbe mission, where Yoni Netanyahu, the Prime Minister's brother, lost his life.
From Panim: Faces of Art and Culture in Israel, July-August, 1997
More on Achinoam Nini...
From Israeli Culture, August 4, 1997
Ahinoam Nini will perform alongside Algerian singer, Chav Chalad, in a series of concerts in Arab countries. The two are due to perform before King Hussein of Jordan, King Hassan of Morocco and at an economic conference in Qatar. Cooperation between Nini and Chalad, the most successful Arab singer in Europe, began half a year ago when they performed a joint version of John Lennon's Imagine on a French television show. It is not yet known if the two will perform together in Israel, or in Algeria, Chalad's homeland.
From Israeli Culture, July 28, 1997
Yehuda Polikar, a popular Israeli singer, will complete a round of scheduled appearances this summer with a concert at Caesaria's open ampitheater on September 13th. After that, Polikar intends to concentrate on his new album. Polikar's previous two albums sold 75,000 copies each.
From Israeli Culture, July 28, 1997
Arad mayor, Bezalel Tabib, is considering cancelling the Arad Music Festival, Israel's "Festival for the Young at Heart." Reasons for the festival's possible cancellation were not made public, but Tabib promised to hold an open meeting with Arad residents to discuss the issue. Meanwhile, indictments are being prepared against the Arad festival's organizers in 1995, when three Israeli youth lost their lives in the badly organized crowd control. This year's festival was not attended by nearly as many youth as planned.
From Israeli Culture, July 28, 1997
The 1997 Nigunim Festival will take place at Merom Hagalil in Western Galilee from August 18th to 21st. As the theme of the festival is tolerance and coexistence, performers will be Moslems, Christians, Druse, Jews, Circassians and Turks. Israeli stars due to perform include Ahinoam Nini, Zehava Ben and Ethnix.
From Israeli Culture, July 21, 1997
Eighteen years after their last joint performance, two of the "fathers" of Israeli rock can be heard together again. "Shalom Haver" is one of the releases on Einstein's new album and is probably the most respectable song written in the wake of Yitzhak Rabin's assasination. A video clip of Einstien and Hanoch collaborating on "Shalom Haver" is due to be aired at the time of the album's release, scheduled for August 1st.
From Israeli Culture, July 21, 1997
In the wake of last week's Maccabiah tragedy, Israeli parents felt concern for their teenage youth, who headed south to Arad for this summer's major music festival. At the last Arad Festival, in 1995, three teenagers were killed, due to unruly crowds and bad preparations by the events' organizers. This year, though, everything went according to plan. Israel's youth camped out all over town, setting their sleeping bags down in the city streets. Concerts to Aviv Gefen and Rami Kleinstein were sold out, and this despite the fact that less youth arrived in Arad than planned.
From The Jerusalem Post, July 18,
1997
From Israeli Culture, July 14, 1997
Israeli singer, and international star Ofra Haza, age 38, is getting married this week. The never-married star will be preparing for the wedding with the traditional Yemenite henna ceremony, an event to which hundreds are invited. Her marriage to businessman Doron Ashkenazi will be a small ceremony for family members only.
From Israeli Culture, July 14, 1997
At a performance in Caesaria last week, popular Israeli singer Yehoram Gaon was forced to stop singing one of his most popular hits, "A Thousand Kisses", because religious audience members found the lyrics indecent. As the music for the well-known song began, a yeshiva student raced on stage and begged Gaon not to sing the song. The student was acting on his rabbi's instructions; the audience was made up entirely of yeshiva students. The song contains the lyrics "A thousand kisses to you my love, a thousand kisses and a kiss. A thousand kisses to you, my darling, my beauty, my young one, my sweet one". Gaon justified not singing the song, saying that his performance was intended to please the audience, and he didn't want to offend them if the lyrics were not acceptable. He also commented that he didn't come to preach to the yeshiva students, and that his battles against religious coercion were fought in other ways.
From Israeli Culture, July 14, 1997
The Israeli rock group, Avtipus announced that it was breaking up. After being an active part of the Israeli music scene for the past seven years, differences of opinion about the group's musical direction and a lack of success on their most recent CD have brought on the band's demise. The group will complete a scheduled round of appearances this summer before becoming a part of Israel's musical past.
From The Jerusalem Post, July 16,
1997
From The Jerusalem Post, July 8, 1997
From The Jerusalem Post, May 1, 1997
From The Jerusalem Post, April 15, 1997
From The Jerusalem Post, February 20,
1997