Notes from Cantor Avima

.     Idan Raichel, born in 1977 in Kfar Saba: producer, keyboardist, lyricist, composer and performer. What really stands out about Idan Raichel is all of the collaboration he has done. The list of his collaborations is so vast, that I would not know where to begin to list them. According to the "about" page of the idanraichelproject website,  "Idan  has entered into exciting collaborations with many great artists, including American pop stars India.Arie and Alicia Keys, and artists who are household names in their own countries, such as Portugal’s Ana Moura, Celentano, the Iranian singer Golazin, and Mali’s Vieux Farka Touré." He has played and collaborated with musicians all over the world. 

     His first instrument was the accordion which he called the "uncoolest instrument ever". He moved on to keyboards, studied jazz and became a successful studio musician. He set up a studio in his parents' home and invited a variety of musicians and started to develop his own style. Several of the 30 musicians he worked with were from Ethiopia. These recordings became the album "The Idan Raichel Project". The song Bo'ee, sung by Yair Ziv and Shiran Cohen is sung in Hebrew and Amharic and features "an entrancing blend of  Ethiopian voices." Idan Raichel Project Boee .The words: “Come, give me your hand and we will go. Don’t ask me where, don’t ask me about happiness. Maybe it will come too. When it will come, it’ll fall upon us like rain. Come.

     Here is a description of the song I found in a blog by Sofia Friedman "Jewish Women of Words":

     "The first sounds that fill my ears are incomprehensible, speaking to an audience I have yet to find. Succinct and sharp syllabus reminiscent of bongos layer perfectly with the steady and modest background beats. An electronic-sounding instrument, touched by modernity, throbs rhythmically. The old Middle Eastern melodies blend faultlessly with the new digital sounds; a perfect musical harmony between what was and what will be. A collection of musical strata: layers of sounds, tones, languages, and instruments."

    In 2004 Idan released an album called "Mima'amakim" (From the Depths). His website says: "For this ‎album Raichel got his inspiration from various ethnic sources, creating an album that ‎embodies the essence of Israeliness – a diverse Israeli-Arab grouping of exiles". Included in this .album are two songs recorded by the legendary Yemenite Israeli singer Shoshana Damari. These are the last songs she recorded before her death in 2006. When Idan was awarded the Landau prize for his achievements in Israeli music, he donated half the prize money to Ichilov hospital in gratitude for the care they gave Damari in her last days. Here is one of the the two Shoshana Damari songs. Shoshana Damari/Idan Raichel "Aleh Nisah Ba'Ruach"    

    One of his more recent songs was written in celebration of  Israel's 71 years of Independence. The words were written by Doron Medali, Idan Raichel composed the melody. It was sung by many of Israel's most popular recording artists and was choreographed as a dance. The chorus says: Here is the home, here is the heart and I will never leave you - We are a tribe (shevet) of brothers and sisters.   Shevet Achim V'Achayot/A Tribe of Brothers and Sisters.  Here is the same song, performed by Idan Raichel himself: Shevet Achim V'Achayot/A Tribe of Brothers and Sisters sung by Idan Raichel. 

      Since we are creeping closer to Rosh Hashanah, I will end with his "B'rachot L'Rosh Hashanah/Blessings for the New Year: "B'rachot L'Rosh Hashanah/Blessngs for the New Year" :