Re: Israeli music

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

Excellent mentions, Jack! Especially, I am aware of Zehava Ben, but hadn't 
heard of Sarit Hadad. Will have to make a visit to the local emporium soonest! 
I'm also looking forward to hearing what "tippex" sound like.

I'm not sure I agree w/regard to Esta--After hearing them a couple of times at 
Ashkenaz (and I think I reviewed one of their albums on the KlezmerShack years 
ago), I came to feel that they were using nifty and exotic instruments to 
produce generically loud rock. But, that's still more than can be said of 
generically loud rock with traditional Rock 'n' Roll instrumentation, eh?

ari

Is there a specific Argov album that you might recommend?

>Has anyone mentioned Zohar Argov?  He was the king of
>'em all, the ultimate Mizrahi soul singer, dead far
>too young.  (Locked up for drugs, hanged himself in
>prison.)  Some of Zohar's stuff is overproduced
>shlock, really ugly arrangements, but he did some
>excellent work with a small Mediterranean ensemble -
>guitar, keyboard, bouzouki, bass, drums.  The guy
>could sing.
>
>I'm also partial to Tea Packs (also spelled Tippex).
>The leader, Kobi Oz, writes some very intelligent pop
>that does a great job of blending Western and Mizrahi
>influences.  They're an ethnically mixed (Ashk./Seph.)
>group from a pretty poor development town in southern
>Israel.  My favorite album:  Neshika L'Dod.
>
>Another favorite:  the quartet Esta, who spent a
>number of years in NY before moving back to Israel a
>year or two ago.  First-rate musicianship, with a
>great variety of instrumental settings.  Who else has
>used cumbus/jumbush in Jewish music?
>
>Also worth a listen:  the young Mizrahi singers Sarit
>Hadad and Zahava Ben.  As with other Mizrahi pop
>favorites, their recordings alternate between Hebrew
>and Arabic lyrics.  Zahava Ben was quite popular in
>neighboring countries before things turned ugly last
>year.
>
>Yankl
>


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