Ofra Haza- A symbol of light
Ofra Haza was a prominent artist from Israel. I say “was” because we lost her to pneumonia/internal organ failure brought on by AIDS in 2000. Ofra was an Israeli of Yemeni Jewish descent. She sang her songs in Arabic, Hebrew and in English. Her music spanned 20 years and was widely embraced by all people of the Middle East, as well as in the UK and other parts of the world. As a teen during the late 70′s and early 80′s, I was first exposed to Ofra’s beautiful voice through alternative music. Back then, there weren’t too many genre of music. The term world music was unheard of. However, the alternative music scene and underground embraced her, as did I because her voice, even to this day is unmatched. Because of my interest in Ofra, I learned about the Yemeni Jews, and as one thing leads to another, one is exposed to other things. I owe Ofra a debt of gratitude, even though I never met her. My favorite song of hers is “Im Nin’Alu”, which is a traditional Yemeni Jewish song, but was recorded with a modern feel. We need more Ofra Hazas in this world. It is often through music that we can gain an understanding.
If you want to read more about her, here is a link that I found that isn’t clouded with political leanings.
This is a video of her singing “Im Nin’Alu”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSMl8SpT6p0[/youtube]
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Her voice is amazing! We have a remixed version of this song on our radio page. Look for “Moroccan Heaven,” it’s by the wonderful ‘Souk Criminals.’
Thanx for the tip! I was looking at the listings on the radio page last night and didn’t see her listed, so I thought I’d write something about her to share with the forum. Amazing voice, and truly missed…
That was pretty tight! I just listened to it. Music… just love it!
Music’s easily the best way to experience a real intercultural exchange. I don’t know where we’d be without it.
That’s something I’ve always believed and it is very true. It is the one form of expression that can take and borrow from many types of genre, be mixed and nobody is offended. Here’s some useless trivia, yet I find it amazing, but did you know that human DNA has a musical sequence? Somebody tried it. Somebody way smarter than most with a musical training background and translated the DNA sequence into musical notes. Kinda tells you something… (^_^)
Like Gibran Khalil Gibran once said, “Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.” And he’s pretty much right.
Music’s like love. It takes a great deal of prejudice, misinformation and so on to interrupt the attraction. And sometimes, even the greatest amount just gets washed under by the desire to be immersed in it. And this sort of cross-pollination (music and love both) is one of the few things that goes both ways, always. What’s closer to G-d, our frequently crippled and half-understood ideas or the eternal flow of music, love, desire? I trust the music.
It’s like the chicken and the egg. Which came first? The love or the music? It really doesn’t matter because both are essential to life and are equally important.