Recommend me some Israeli music/music in hebrew

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Even my Israeli girlfriend says there isn't much worth listening to (though she hasn't lived there for three or four years).

The point is, I want to practice my Hebrew with something listenable. I have an Arik Einstein "Best of" CD, but I can't get past the late 80s/early 90s sounding b-level production. It all sounds like "This producer is really good ... for Israel."

Hurting (Hurting), Saturday, 7 May 2005 18:46 (eighteen years ago) link

What's the name of that Israeli goth-metal band?

Jordan (Jordan), Saturday, 7 May 2005 19:38 (eighteen years ago) link

I remember, it's Orphaned Land!

Jordan (Jordan), Saturday, 7 May 2005 19:39 (eighteen years ago) link

there's a bunch of hebrew language hiphop - a friend of mine has at least some of the hits, i'll ask him for some names.

jermaine (jnoble), Saturday, 7 May 2005 19:59 (eighteen years ago) link

Orphaned Land isn't particularly gothic anymore. Pretty balls to the wall and flashy nowadays.

James Slone (Freon Trotsky), Saturday, 7 May 2005 20:05 (eighteen years ago) link

Well, Ofra Haza's also got that late-'80s production values on Shaday, but it's quite good pop stuff if you like that kind of thing. Actually, I haven't listened to it for so long I suspect I'd hate it these days...

Other than that, I don't really know. Most klezmer or post-klezmer, if it has vocals, would be in Yiddish.

Peter Hollo (raven), Sunday, 8 May 2005 01:14 (eighteen years ago) link

Tonight at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, they screened a film called "Jericho's Echo: Punk Rock in the Holy Land Israel". I didn't see it, but it got a five-star review in one of the entertainment weeklies. You might be interested in seeing it, or at least looking into some of the bands it covers.

(note: I am assuming that the bands in the film are singing in Hebrew (or perhaps Arabic), although I'm not 100% certain of this)

MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 8 May 2005 01:36 (eighteen years ago) link

Margalit!!

tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Sunday, 8 May 2005 02:49 (eighteen years ago) link

Also, I like some of the Israeli 60s/70s folky and Eurovisiony stuff.

tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Sunday, 8 May 2005 02:50 (eighteen years ago) link

you might try delving back through the sound samples and/or reviews transcribed and archived on (NPR/BBC co-produced)theworld.org's Global Hit Page. They end every broadcast reviewing and sampling bands from all over, a different one every day.

don, Sunday, 8 May 2005 04:20 (eighteen years ago) link

self-promotion warning:

run quick to the little mp3blog thingy i set up. just a few days ago, i put up a track by a band called kavaret that put out a pretty album in the early 70's. it's all in hebrew. i'll see if i can't rip the whole thing from vinyl and make a ysi of it sometime this week (if you're interested, that is.)

http://www.livejournal.com/~instantmovement

mason r butler, Sunday, 8 May 2005 04:49 (eighteen years ago) link

Shalom Chanoch & Arik Einstein made two classic albums of Israeli folkpop with hints of psych and prog. '60s/'70s, so fear not the production. plenty of simple, catchy Hebrew to sing along with - "Kach l'cha isha u'bne la bayit..." Shablool is the standout, imho, though Plastelina is also good. i'm not as hot on Einstein's solo Poozy, but it's another key record of its time. the three albums were issued together as a 3CD set titled Shablool B'Kufsa ("snail in a box"). shouldn't be hard to find.

Sheshet, K'tzat Acheret, Zingale - classic Israeli prog/pop.

Lord Flimnap, Hot Fur, Ashqelon Quilt - newer bands in this vein. and, unlike the fine RockFour and the magnificent Churchills, they usually sing in Hebrew.

echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Sunday, 8 May 2005 06:14 (eighteen years ago) link

you also can't go wrong with a nice Naomi Shemer best-of. Israel's own Joan Baez. not the strongest voice, but the songs are immortal.

echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Sunday, 8 May 2005 06:19 (eighteen years ago) link

yeah theworld.org featured RockFour; sounded good, should still be in their archive. Didn't the Churchills later move to the UK and record as Judas Jump? How was that?

don, Monday, 9 May 2005 01:54 (eighteen years ago) link

RockFour is all in English now, no? I heard some of their earlier all-Hebrew stuff, and it sounded pretty different.

Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 9 May 2005 01:56 (eighteen years ago) link

you also can't go wrong with a nice Naomi Shemer best-of. Israel's own Joan Baez. not the strongest voice, but the songs are immortal.

-- echoinggrove (echoinggrov...), May 8th, 2005.

I just came across this:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=572533&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0

Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 9 May 2005 01:58 (eighteen years ago) link

Minimal Compact!

Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Monday, 9 May 2005 02:26 (eighteen years ago) link

Churchills became Jerico Jones.

the last three RockFour albums have been sung in (flawless, virtually accent-less) English, but the band's earlier albums do feature songs in Hebrew. in a similar retro-psych style, maybe a little less of the penchant for stadium-sized riffs and choruses. i think they're a pretty sweet band in either phase. comparable to Soundtrack of Our Lives, but with better songs.

forgot about Danny Ben Israel. his Bullshit 3 1/4 is sorta overhyped, like a lot of "exotic" vintage psych, but still worthwhile. the disparity betwen the conservatism of Hebrew (a language without profanity) and the freakout/fuck the system attitude of the '60s makes for an interesting listen.

i mentioned K'tzat Acheret (who also went as "The No-Names"), effectively a supergroup of Shlomo Gronich, Shem Tov Levy, and Shlomo Ydov. but Gronich is also responsible for three of the most bizarre items in the Israeli rock canon: the solo Why Didn't You Tell Me? and Cotton Candy and, with Matti Caspi, Behind the Sounds. pop with operatic and symphonic detours; WDYTM is as close as Israeli music gets to RIO, and it's damn good.

did Minimal Compact ever sing in Hebrew? Malka Spigel's first solo album, Rosh Ballata, had songs in both Hebrew and English. another great one, esp. if you like the lush sound of Crammed-era MC and Colin Newman's post-Wire solo outings. through Swim~, Malka and Colin's also gave some exposure to Plastic Venus, a noisy Israeli dreampop group - sound something like Loop meets the Mary Chain; but i think the vocals buried under all the fuzz are usually in English.

echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Monday, 9 May 2005 03:19 (eighteen years ago) link

I found this radio station on the web -- seems to play a mix of "classic" Israeli music from various decades and news and talk.

http://bet.iba.org.il/

Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 20:22 (eighteen years ago) link

two years pass...

Picked up Gelbart - My Favorite Vacation today in a good Tel Aviv record store. Not in Hebrew, but good Israeli electronic music somewhat in the IDM vein, although not as humorless as most IDM.

Hurting 2, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 16:28 (fifteen years ago) link

try to get Plastic Venus - s.t. - one of the best israeli reords ever.

Zeno, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 17:27 (fifteen years ago) link

i see a few Poozy records around in shops and am almost always tempted to buy them, but never sound good enough to spend money on them

jaxon, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 19:01 (fifteen years ago) link

eleven months pass...

This is the best Israeli record ever recorded imo. you can check it out here:
http://tastes-like-rocknroll.blogspot.com/2008/11/plastic-venus-plastic-venus-1994.html

sort of like Live Skull, but darker and heavier.
a master piece.

Zeno, Sunday, 22 March 2009 18:04 (fifteen years ago) link

Does Hurting like klezmer?

ian, Sunday, 22 March 2009 18:16 (fifteen years ago) link

another great band:Zikney Zefat: Butthole Surfers meets Jesus Lizard or something
here's a video clip:

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/-1993/30280421

Zeno, Sunday, 22 March 2009 18:17 (fifteen years ago) link

another Zikney Zefat:

Zeno, Sunday, 22 March 2009 18:19 (fifteen years ago) link

Rir:

Zeno, Sunday, 22 March 2009 18:29 (fifteen years ago) link

all songs 1990-1993

Zeno, Sunday, 22 March 2009 18:33 (fifteen years ago) link

Does Hurting like klezmer?

― ian, Sunday, 22 March 2009 18:16 (1 hour ago)

Not so much. But I tend to like out-of-tune shtetly sounding klezmir much more than avant/nuklezmir

Bonobos in Paneradise (Hurting 2), Sunday, 22 March 2009 19:20 (fifteen years ago) link

HaNeshamot HaTehorot (The Pure Souls) - s/t (1974). radio-ready pop, with strong Spanish and Laurel Canyon Sound influences, like an Israeli Fleetwood Mac. great M/F harmonies. love this album. try "Lo Holech Im Kol HaLev" or "Shelo Yigamer Li HaLaila."

Kruzenshtern & Parohod make pretty crazy, punky, RIO-y neo-klezmer that still sounds shtetly.

Mr. Hal Jam, Sunday, 22 March 2009 22:30 (fifteen years ago) link

Does the world really need two simultaneous Israeli music threads??

Anyway, Aviv Geffen's Cloudy Now is classic. And I'm really loving Emily Karpel's Nemashim album from last year. Very poppy.

Mordy, Sunday, 22 March 2009 22:41 (fifteen years ago) link

it's nice that there's even one! ken yirbu! (:

Mr. Hal Jam, Sunday, 22 March 2009 22:44 (fifteen years ago) link

Algiers:

Ophir Zemer, Monday, 23 March 2009 06:54 (fifteen years ago) link

A classic from the 80's:

Ophir Zemer, Monday, 23 March 2009 07:07 (fifteen years ago) link

nine months pass...

Saw Shablool - pretty terrible film imo but the music is good. Hippieism doesn't make much sense to me in Israel in the post-67-war, pre-Yom Kippur War years but maybe I'm missing something.

pithfork (Hurting 2), Thursday, 21 January 2010 04:47 (fourteen years ago) link

Huh? Hippie-ism makes perfect sense in that time period, where the Yom Kippur War = Altamont x 100000000000

I haven't seen the film "Shablool", but the music is awesome (nice thread revive -- I listened to it over the weekend!)

NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 21 January 2010 11:44 (fourteen years ago) link

if you are in the mood for folk songs, martha schlamme is awesome.

gpady80 (tehresa), Thursday, 21 January 2010 12:16 (fourteen years ago) link

search: raisins and almonds

gpady80 (tehresa), Thursday, 21 January 2010 12:17 (fourteen years ago) link

Hippie-ism makes perfect sense in that time period, where the Yom Kippur War = Altamont x 100000000000

Maybe what I mean is that '67 for Israel is the antithesis of what Vietnam was for the States -- quick, euphoric, leading to an invincible feeling, etc. And also the country was still very new and hadn't really progressed to the point of a mass feeling of rebellion against the old conformist culture - the film kind of tries to set up the religious authority as the thing to rebel against, but Israel had such a strong secular socialist tendency from the beginning that this feels a little forced to me.

pithfork (Hurting 2), Thursday, 21 January 2010 12:31 (fourteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...

This thread (or at least the Israeli-related portion of it) is the equivalent of casually discussing the enjoyment of white South African music would have been back in the late 80s. Personally, I would be ashamed, especially if I were part of the group in whose name Israel was created.

_Rudipherous_, Saturday, 13 February 2010 11:14 (fourteen years ago) link

SB'd

Mordy, Saturday, 13 February 2010 16:24 (fourteen years ago) link

This thread (or at least the Israeli-related portion of it) is the equivalent of casually discussing the enjoyment of white South African music would have been back in the late 80s.

fixed that for you

Lee Dorrian Gray (J0hn D.), Saturday, 13 February 2010 16:41 (fourteen years ago) link

holy crap, dude!

xp to Rudipherous

the not-glo-fi one (Ioannis), Saturday, 13 February 2010 18:02 (fourteen years ago) link

awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk7V3gZGl2w&feature=related

Zeno, Saturday, 27 February 2010 17:53 (fourteen years ago) link

two months pass...

Someone asked for some artist recommendations for an Israeli music for mixtape for mideasttunes.com, so here's what I came up with (with recommended songs);

Infected Mushroom - Bombat
Orphaned Land - Birth of the Three
Amaseffer - Slaves for Life
Distorted - Voices from Within
Melechesh - A Summoning of Ifrit and Genii
Useless ID - State of Fear
Aviv Geffen - It's Cloudy
Kaveret - Yo Ya
Dana International - Diva
Danny Ben-Israel - The Hippies of Today are the Assholes of Tomorrow
Ofra Haza - Chai
Adi Ran - Ata Kadosh
Hadag Nahash - Sticker Song
Subliminal - Tikva

Thought someone here might dig the list. If I can actually mixtape it at some point, I'll put it together. For the time being tho, here's the Adi Ran song (epic Chassidic Breslov folk-rock):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYIXkdKjE7M

Mordy, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 15:32 (thirteen years ago) link

lebanon, zaka, midnight peacocks,monotonix,karusela,tv budhas,the astroglides,inga dingo,danny hadar,algire,barbara
all good to great israely indie acts.

nakamura, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:25 (thirteen years ago) link

was tinot the ak duck stuff a few years ago, nico-teen who put out something recently is a bit proto-chillwave (was copping moves from ariel pink back in the pre-hro era), gelbart and i wanna say mule-driver. all electronicky indie, all pretty good iirc.

plax (ico), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:51 (thirteen years ago) link

Ushpizin is a really good film, btw.

hills like white people (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:57 (thirteen years ago) link

Agreed!

Mordy, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 17:58 (thirteen years ago) link

I realize psytrance is probably more indicative of what people in Israel listen to, but if you're going for a dance music angle there's a lot that's, well, better than Infected Mushroom. Though a lot of it I don't think is particularly good, but not at all bad, the stuff that the Be As One guys, or Guy Gerber are doing is a lot more interesting, and is probably more palatable than psytrance anyhow... Also from what I know, Badawi is supposed to be interesting, but I haven't heard all that much (but what I have has been quite good].

Tonight I Dine on Turtle Soup (EDB), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:37 (thirteen years ago) link

Hamas security forces break up Gaza Strip`s first major hip-hop concert
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1165205.html

Just from a couple days ago. I wonder whether they have any music available anyway. I covered a Gaza group a couple years ago, but their stuff only got a broader audience because they collaborated with an Israeli band on some tracks.

Mordy, Thursday, 29 April 2010 06:14 (thirteen years ago) link

Apparently Time wrote about them late last year:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1931360,00.html

Mordy, Thursday, 29 April 2010 06:15 (thirteen years ago) link

anyway=anywhere

Mordy, Thursday, 29 April 2010 06:17 (thirteen years ago) link

one month passes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yCShCpJGbM

Zeno, Tuesday, 22 June 2010 16:42 (thirteen years ago) link

five months pass...

http://bandcamp.com/files/28/29/2829881540-1.jpg

One of the most gorgeous albums of the year.

http://ronialter.bandcamp.com/

Mordy, Friday, 10 December 2010 23:32 (thirteen years ago) link

five months pass...

הבילויים (Ha'Biluim) are pretty great:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/lZdTwvsQKfs

mirauncorzo, Sunday, 29 May 2011 12:22 (twelve years ago) link

Friend's bad:

http://hashlishi.bandcamp.com/

when use becomes abuse (S-), Sunday, 29 May 2011 12:33 (twelve years ago) link

*band*

when use becomes abuse (S-), Sunday, 29 May 2011 12:33 (twelve years ago) link

one year passes...

i kinda love this Hatikvah 6 album - Kol Israel. on spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/0VLoKihOLBBFxkQJ9W8Whc

Mordy, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 19:13 (eleven years ago) link

five months pass...

Well, okay. I didn't think I'd ever post to this thread again, but this is quite interesting, so resisting the temptation to editorialize. . .

http://972mag.com/revivos-project-brings-mizrahi-pop-back-to-its-arab-roots/67422/

(I do like this music quite a bit.)

_Rudipherous_, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:07 (eleven years ago) link

one month passes...

really dig this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_311596&feature=iv&src_vid=5mxh9Ai4-mM&v=dyz5iC3-mgU

but it's instrumental. Haven't found much hebrew-language music that really holds up for me. I guess you can only expect so much good music out of such a small country.

charlie 4chan, internet detective (Hurting 2), Thursday, 18 April 2013 01:54 (eleven years ago) link

also he's berlin-based now and has been for some time

charlie 4chan, internet detective (Hurting 2), Thursday, 18 April 2013 01:54 (eleven years ago) link

bizarrely large number of good israeli jazz musicians though

charlie 4chan, internet detective (Hurting 2), Thursday, 18 April 2013 01:56 (eleven years ago) link

two weeks pass...

https://soundcloud.com/hayelala

Mordy, Wednesday, 8 May 2013 20:21 (ten years ago) link

one month passes...
one month passes...

This is an amazing kids album, just a great album in general really

http://www.judaicawebstore.com/-the-sixteenth-lamb-ha-keves-ha-shisha-asar-1978-P4934.aspx

HOOS next aka won't get steened again (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 6 August 2013 18:53 (ten years ago) link

that's beautiful- thx for the recommendation

Mordy , Wednesday, 7 August 2013 02:56 (ten years ago) link

The first Fool's Gold record is sung in Hebrew. http://www.discogs.com/Fools-Gold-Fools-Gold/master/261598

neilasimpson, Wednesday, 7 August 2013 11:04 (ten years ago) link

three months pass...

Arik Einstein RIP - probably THE greatest Israeli singer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CWCIOMp0pQ

nostormo, Tuesday, 26 November 2013 21:25 (ten years ago) link

two months pass...

http://foreinlegion.bandcamp.com/album/-

Mordy , Sunday, 23 February 2014 00:30 (ten years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MNv3TI265o&feature=youtu.be

Mordy , Thursday, 27 February 2014 04:26 (ten years ago) link

one month passes...

http://sputnikhifi.bandcamp.com/album/alex-fishman

Mordy , Saturday, 12 April 2014 15:33 (ten years ago) link

l'cHAIM

Yarli Simon (rattled), Saturday, 12 April 2014 16:01 (ten years ago) link

ten months pass...

this is gorgeous:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl1epz3tSSA

Mordy, Wednesday, 11 March 2015 14:24 (nine years ago) link

one month passes...
one month passes...

https://mujahideen.bandcamp.com

Mordy, Monday, 18 May 2015 22:57 (eight years ago) link

two months pass...

Lola Marsh is an Tel Aviv band playing Americana/alt-country in English. Sirens, Waitress (live), Stranger To My Past (live), Wishing girl, You're Mine, Joga (Bjork cover) Debut album this year.

Pauper Management Improved (Sanpaku), Tuesday, 28 July 2015 03:53 (eight years ago) link

v cool Numero compilation from Dimona i have never heard before (discovered it today watching a short doc about Dimona hip-hop artist Ben Blackwell whose father was in Soul Messengers):

https://whatimg.com/i/rWcrto.jpg

Between 1975 and 1981, a group of American ex-pats brought the native sounds of their Detroit and Chicago homes across the Atlantic, combined them with the messages of the Black Hebrew culture, and declared Dimona, Israel, the center of the spiritual universe. What their caravan caught on tape was a deeply joyful, sometimes searing mix of jazz, spiritual soul, inspired funk, and Old Testament gospel psychedelia. Featuring the Soul Messengers, the Spirit Of Israel, Sons Of The Kingdom, and Hebrew Jackson 5 clones the Tonistics, Soul Messages From Dimona is yet another stop on our tour of the soul diaspora and the only living document of a thriving community as it teetered at both the center and edge of the world. The Exodus goes on, and from the South Side of Chicago to the bush in Liberia, from the tangled streets of Tel Aviv to the desert of Dimona, their message continues: salvation, peace, deliverance, love…and 100% parve soul.

Mordy, Thursday, 30 July 2015 19:07 (eight years ago) link

yeah that's a cool record

five six and (man alive), Thursday, 30 July 2015 19:38 (eight years ago) link

Lola Marsh is an Tel Aviv band playing Americana/alt-country in English. Sirens, Waitress (live), Stranger To My Past (live), Wishing girl, You're Mine, Joga (Bjork cover) Debut album this year.

― Pauper Management Improved (Sanpaku), Monday, July 27, 2015 10:53 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is kind of ridiculous

five six and (man alive), Thursday, 30 July 2015 19:41 (eight years ago) link

Especially her bizarre put-on country girl accent on some tracks

five six and (man alive), Thursday, 30 July 2015 19:42 (eight years ago) link

this is a cool little feature on some of Fortuna records favorite rare Israeli records

Mordy, Thursday, 30 July 2015 19:43 (eight years ago) link

two months pass...

hurting, idk if u still are checking out this thread for recommendations but WFMU did a great show recently w/ a ton of fantastic Israeli music i hadn't heard before:
http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/62812

Mordy, Thursday, 8 October 2015 21:20 (eight years ago) link

whoa, thx, definitely will listen

on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Thursday, 8 October 2015 21:32 (eight years ago) link

not israeli but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYcnhrADSXA

wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 9 October 2015 04:13 (eight years ago) link

one month passes...

super cool Gramophone recording of hatikvah in tunis in 1932:
http://jewishmorocco.blogspot.com/2015/12/hatikvah-in-tunis-rare-1930s-recording.html

Mordy, Monday, 7 December 2015 11:20 (eight years ago) link


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