Israelis got a fun surprise today in the form of a Google Doodle dedicated to the one and only Ofra Haza — a Yemenite singer known as ‘the Madonna of the East.’
Ofra Haza was the Middle Eastern version of Celine Dion, Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey. Once you heard the opening notes of any song containing the sweet honey of Ofra Haza’s mezzo-soprano voice, it was unmistakable. Even now, a decade after her death from AIDS when any other Israeli singer tries to take on any of her signature numbers, they never manage to measure up.