Idan Raichel
Idan Raichel |
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Idan Raichel (Template:Lang-he, born September 12, 1977 in Kfar Saba, Israel), is an Israeli singer and musician widely acclaimed in Israel for his Idan Raichel Project (Hebrew: הפרוייקט של עידן רייכל), distinctive for its fusion of electronics, traditional Hebrew texts and Ethiopian music. Prior to the Project, Raichel was a keyboardist, collaborating with such artists as Ivri Lider.
Biography
Early Life
Idan Raichel was born to an Ashkenazi family in Kfar Saba, Israel.[1] Raichel began to play the accordion at the age of nine.[1] He was attracted to gypsy music and tango, and studied jazz piano in high school, which improved his improvisational skills and ability to collaborate with other musicians.[1]
Military Service
At 18, Idan went into the Israeli army, as is compulsory for all Israelis of that age. (It was in this military setting that Raichel developed musical skills that later proved vital.) For his service, Idan joined the Army rock band, touring military bases performing covers of Israeli and European pop hits. (As the musical director of the group, he became adept at arrangements and producing live shows).[1]
Counselling Career
Following his military service, Raichel became a counselor at a boarding school for immigrants and troubled youth. The school was attended by many young Ethiopian Jews, who introduced him to Ethiopian folk and pop music. Whilst many of people in the school rejected their own cultural traditions in an effort to assimilate into mainstream Israeli society, a small core of teenagers remained fans of Ethiopian music, passing around cassettes of songs by Mahmoud Ahmed, Aster Aweke and Gigi. After hearing them, Raichel began to frequent Ethiopian bars and clubs in Tel Aviv.[1]
Musical Career
At the same time, Raichel had become a successful backup musician and recording session player for some of Israel’s most popular singers. After a few years of this he decided it was time to pursue a project that reflected his musical ideals, and began working on a demo recording in a small studio he set up in the basement of his parent’s home in Kfar Saba. He thought it would be a good idea to invite a number of different singers and musicians to participate, in order to better demonstrate his different styles and the ways in which he worked with a variety of artists. [1]
Raichel had long been fascinated with the diversity of Israel and sought to celebrate his appreciation and respect for different cultures through his music. Because of its open door to immigrants from Jewish communities around the globe, Israel is home to a mix of cultures and traditions.[1]
Idan invited over seventy of his friends and colleagues from Israel’s diverse music scene to participate in his recordings. While most of the Israeli labels considered his work too “ethnic” and too outside of the norms of the formulaic Israeli pop scene to have any hope of success, one A&R man, Gadi Gidor at Helicon Records, instantly heard the potential in Idan’s work and quickly signed him on to the roster. The subsequent album was an immediate hit.[1]
Idan Raichel’s Project (2002)
Helicon Records released Idan Raichel's first, eponymous album in 2002. Raichel composed and arranged many of the tracks, performs vocals and plays the keyboard, while collaborating with other vocalists and musicians. Hit singles include Boi (בואי / "Come"), Im Telech (אם תלך / "If you go") and M'dab'rim B'sheket (מדברים בשקט / "Speaking Quietly").
While the majority of Raichel's songs are in Hebrew, a few are entirely in Amharic, while others include small passages in Amharic, by male and female voices, setting traditional-sounding tunes to modern music. Love-songs predominate in his Hebrew lyrics, including Hinech Yafah (הינך יפה / "Thou art Fair") based on the Song of Songs, while the opening track also reaches into the depths of Jewish liturgy, with B'rachot L'shanah Chadashah (ברכות לשנה חדשה / "Blessings for a new year") sampling voices reciting traditional Jewish blessings.
Following the popularity of the Project, demand for live shows increased. Raichel was asked to perform at the Opera House of Tel Aviv. Given the number of musicians who participated in the recordings, it would have been impossible to have them all appear on stage, so Raichel selected seven members who were versatile and strong individual artists in their own right. This live show became symbolic of the album, as it brought together a group of people of different backgrounds but of equal standing.
Participants in the Project
In its recordings and on stage, the Idan Raichel Project has involved a wide variety of singers and musicians.
- Kabra Kasai is a singer of Ethiopian origin who was born in a refugee camp in Sudan during her parent’s journey to Israel. She grew up in an immigrant community in southern Israel, and met Idan when they were serving in the Israeli Army.
- Mira Anwar Awad who sings on the dramatic Arabic-language track “Azini,” is an Palestinian and a Arab-Israeli who grew up in the northern city of Haifa. Awad is a well-known singer and actress who has participated in numerous musicals and theatrical productions in Israel.
- Sergio Braams sings on the dancehall inflected track “Brong Faya” (Burn Fire), immigrated to Israel from Suriname on the Caribbean coast of South America. Braams has been one of the key-infusers of the spirit of Caribbean music into the Tel Aviv scene, and was the leader of a reggae band for which Idan played keyboards. Braams is a cofounder of and performer in Mayumana, the Israeli equivalent of the percussion show Stomp.
- Shoshana Damari was an iconic Israeli singer of Yemenite origin. Damari passed away in 2006 at the age of 83, after making her last recordings as part of the Idan Raichel Project and participating in a number of live concerts with the group.
- Yihia Tsubara, 76, a Yemenite Jew with strong ties to Yemenite tradition, sings together with his son (Shalom Tsuberion) in “Im Tachpetza” (If Thou Wisheth), blending traditional music with modern electronic beats and mixes, and performing Westernized versions of lyrics from the Diwan, the traditional Yemenite prayer book.
- Bongani Xulu is a South African singer who performs on the last track of the project. Xulu attended a performance of the Project during a trip to Israel and came up to Idan after the show to compliment him. Idan invited him to participate in “Siyaishaya Ingoma” (Sing Out For Love), a song that symbolizes global cooperation and the Project's underlying message.
- Din Din Aviv, an Israeli singer who performed on the song Im Telech.
Impact of the Project
The Idan Raichel Project album has sold over 120,000 copies (triple platinum). In November 2005, the Idan Raichel Project headlined at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles and gave two well-received shows at the Apollo Theater in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood. While in New York, Idan and members of the Project visited a number of schools and churches in Harlem.
In January, 2006, the Idan Raichel Project traveled to Ethiopia, the land that inspired so much of its music. Two of the lead singers came to Israel as children during the wave of Ethiopian Jewish immigration to Israel in the 1980s. This was their first return to the land of their birth, and also the first time Israeli artists had performed in Ethiopia. The story of the Project’s emotional trip was filmed for a forthcoming documentary, scheduled for release in 2007.
Mimaamakim (2005)
Idan Raichel released his second album, Mi'ma'amakim (ממעמקים / "From the Depths") in 2005, having released the title track at the end of the preceding year. This first track, reminiscent of the opening of Psalm 130 (traditionally recited by Jews in times of distress), attracted similar airplay to that of his previous singles.
The first and last tracks on the album feature the popular Israeli singer Shoshana Damari.
In addition to more catchy tunes in Hebrew and Amharic, Raichel adds Arabic (in Azini), Tigrinya (in Siyaishaya Ingoma), Hindi (in Milim Yafot Me'ele), and Yemenite Hebrew to his linguistic repertoire.
International Release (2006)
In November 2006, a compilation of hits from the previous two albums was launched to target an international audience. The Idan Raichel Project is single CD album published by the new record label Cumbancha and shipped outside Israel to an international audience for the first time. The liner notes contain English translations of some of the songs while the enhanced CD contains the band's music videos.The release was coordinated with a special Putumayo World Music collection featuring Idan Raichel entitled One World, Many Cultures. A portion of the proceeds for One World, Many Cultures will go to support the nonprofit organization Search For Common Ground (www.sfcg.org), which works to transform the way the world deals with conflict - away from adversarial approaches and towards collaborative problem solving..
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | Israel Certificate | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Idan Raichel’s Project | 3x Platinum | 120,000+ |
| 2005 | Mimaamakim | 2x Platinum | 80,000+ |
| 2006 | The Idan Raichel Project (International) | N/A | N/A |
References
External links
- The Idan Raichel Project Official Website (in English) contains audio and video clips from the two albums, and other information
- The Project at MOOMA (Hebrew)
- MP3Music.co.il has Hebrew lyrics for many of Idan Raichel's songs
- Curriculum based on several of Idan Raichel's songs