JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Popular Israel music artists Static and Ben-El have signed a recording contract with Capitol Records. The seven-album, 10-year contract with the duo, whose real names are Liraz Russo, 27, and Ben-El Tavori, 26, was facilitated by Israeli-American millionaire and media mogul Haim Saban. The deal reportedly is worth $5 million. Saban Capital…
Thom Yorke, frontman of the groundbreaking rock group Radiohead, slammed the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement on Tuesday in a tweet. Yorke’s statement came in response to a tweet from Ken Loach, a British journalist who has repeatedly called for a cultural boycott of Israel. “Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its…
Nissim Baruch Black’s religious path has been winding. He was raised a non-practicing Sunni Muslim, converted to Christianity at age 14, embraced Messianic Christianity as an adult — and ultimately converted to Orthodox Judaism between 2010 and 2012. Seattle-born, he immigrated to Israel last year. Black is also an accomplished rapper — and this week…
The fuzzy guitars, pulsating bass,and incomprehensible lyrics intrigued me. So I looked up the song that was streaming on KEXP, the Seattle indie-rock station I broadcast at home. The band’s name seemed Finnish or Icelandic, until I realized the words were actually phonetic Hebrew. Vaadat Chirigim, it turns out, is that rarest of musical animals…
Though they hail from Tel Aviv, punk outfit Monotonix sounds like 1970s New York punk by way of Los Angeles rockabilly garage heroes like X, The Germs and Alice Bag. On their new album, the speedy half hour long “Not Yet,” lead singer Ami Shalev expectorates, clears his throat and howls through 10 fast-paced tracks….
Crossposted from Haaretz On Friday morning, the ninth-grade students in the jazz program at the Thelma Yellin High School for Arts were learning about the history of jazz with their beloved teacher, Amit Golan. That same day there was a test. The questions were about Duke Ellington, Art Tatum and other early jazz giants, whom…
In the high-ceilinged atrium of the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden, Israeli bassist Avishai Cohen gave a free concert Saturday in a forest of palm trees. The show was part of Daniel Pearl World Music Days, an international network of concerts honoring the slain American journalist. For the project’s mission of reaffirming a commitment to…
Crossposted from Haaretz Talking to Ran Shabtay, lead singer of The Trees and the Bees, is a frenetic experience. He jumps from subject to subject. He starts with his love of folk music (“That’s how the real thing sounds; every time I hear Elliott Smith, my jaw drops”), continues with his attraction to art (“A…
