Hadag Nahash

Hadag Nahash (Hebrew: הדג נחש‎) is an Israeli hip hop-funk group, known for its leftist political statements in many of its songs.[citation needed] The group has released five albums to date. It has seven members; its lead singer and founder is Sha'anan Streett.

The group's name literally means the fish-snake, which means an eel in Hebrew ("Ha" meaning the, "dag"' meaning fish, and "nachash" meaning snake). It is also, however, a Hebrew spoonerism. In Israel, people who have only recently gotten their driver's licenses place a tag on their back window with the words "Nahag Chadash" Hebrew: נהג חדש (" A New Driver"). The anagram "Hadag Nachash" therefore indicates the group's ambitions: a voice for the youth in Israel[citation needed]. Band members have also claimed that signs that look similar to Nahag Chadash with the band's name would be placed in cars to confuse police officers.

One of its most famous hits is "Shirat Hasticker" ("שירת הסטיקר", "The Sticker Song" in English), written by Israeli novelist David Grossman. The lines of the song are all slogans seen on Israeli bumper stickers. The opposing political slogans are juxtaposed to create an angry and ironic portrait of political and religious life in Israel.

Hadag Nahash has a minor rivalry with the Israeli hip-hop star Subliminal, probably because Subliminal is politically right-wing while Hadag Nahash is left-wing. The rivalry is purportedly shown in the lyrics of the song "Gabi V'Debi" ("Gabby and Debby"), and in its more recent song "Teraga" ("Calm Down"), which speaks with great criticism of the manner in which hip-hop stars act, and the manner with which the music industry is run in general.

• Sticker Song: Israeli Novelist's Foray into Hip Hop
  
• Curriculum based on "The Sticker Song"


• A Conversation with Shannan Street


• Rolling Stone article


• Old Hadag Nahash Web site

Berry Sakharof

Berry Sakharof (Hebrew: ברי סחרוף‎) (born July 7, 1957) is an Israeli rock guitarist, songwriter and singer. His playing style incorporates techniques from electronic and dance music.

In 2001 his album "The Other" (האחר) was released. The album included the song "Lord of World" which was written by Barry Hazak, a soldier who died in the Yom Kippur War and a cover of Ehud Banai's song "City of Refuge". The album's name was taken from the perception of "The Other" (French: 'L'autre') of the French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas, who is also quoted in the album's booklet. "Monsoon" was the only song from the album broadcast on the radio as a single. In the same year Sakharof wrote soundtracks for two Israeli movies.

In 2002, Sakharof collaborated with Erez Aizen and Amit Duvedevani of Infected Mushroom to create the Birthday EP.

During 2005 his album 11 Alef (11א) was released. The album is the result of about two years of mutual work with Rea Mochiach (who moved to the United States after the release of the album 'Signs of Weakness') during Mochiach's occasional visits to Israel. The album was sold in the first week only on the Internet in the MP3 format and later released to the music stores; due to the release of the album Mochiach arrived in Israel and participated in a short concert tour with Sakharof. In 2006 Sakharof reunited with Fortis for a new album and a tour.

Keren Ann

Keren Ann Zeidel (Hebrew: קרן אן זיידל‎ born March 10, 1974) is a singer-songwriter based largely in Paris, New York City and Israel. She plays guitar, piano and clarinet, engineers and writes choir and musical arrangements. She is descended from Russian Jews on her father's side and is Indo (Javanese and Dutch) on her mother's. She lived in Israel and in the Netherlands until the age of 11, when her family moved to France. She retains her Dutch and Israeli citizenship.

In 2000 she began her solo career with La Biographie de Luka Philipsen—produced by Lionel Gaillardin and Benjamin Biolay, who also co-produced its follow-up, La Disparition (in return, she helped write his debut album, Rose Kennedy). The pair also wrote several songs for Henri Salvador's best-selling, prize-winning 2000 comeback album, Chambre avec Vue, including the hit "Jardin d'Hiver" she first composed for iconic performer Henri Salvador.

Her third album Not Going Anywhere was released worldwide in 2003, but her American breakthrough came with its follow-up, Nolita (2004). Recorded in Paris and New York—it is named for Nolita, her neighborhood in lower Manhattan—it is sung half in French and half in English.

During the war in Israel and Lebanon in 2006, she travelled Northern Israel, performing for the people who stayed in shelters because of the missile attacks on the North. She is currently dating an Israeli Air Force pilot.

• Official website


• Keren Ann at MySpace


• Official website (in German)


• Non official fan site (French)

Dana Berger

Dana Berger (Hebrew: דנה ברגר; born Nov 1, 1970) is an Israeli singer-songwriter and occasional actress, who is a graduate of the Rimon school of contemporary music. Berger came to fame in the 1990's, appearing on the popular TV show "Inyan Shel Zman". After getting well known, she released a number of albums, which among them is the widely popular album "Ad Ha'Katze" (to the edge), which was certified platinum and went on to sell over 60,000 copies in Israel.

Asaf Avidan

Asaf Avidan (Hebrew: אסף אבידן‎, born 1980) is an Israeli folk/rock musician known for his breakthrough debut album, "The Reckoning", which was created with a group of backup musicians under the name "Asaf Avidan and the Mojos". The album received positive critical reviews and earned Avidan a nomination for Best Israeli Artist at the upcoming MTV Europe Awards.

Avidan was born in 1980 in Jerusalem. His parents had met in Los Angeles. His father worked for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and when Asaf was seven, the family moved to Jamaica. They returned when Asaf was eleven, and he was sent to art school, where he studied cinema. He was drafted to the IDF and served for ten months, first in the Duchifat Unit and then as translator from Jamaican. He studied animation in Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and worked as a voice actor.

In 2006 he self-released the debut EP "Now That You're Leaving" and started playing solo acoustic gigs around Israel which earned a cult following. Avidan decided to expand his musical horizons and recruited a full band dubbed "The Mojos". With this band Avidan toured in Israel and abroad and in 2008 released the debut LP "The Reckoning".

The first single off Avidan's debut album is "Weak", with a video produced by one of Avidan's friends as a project for film school. Despite the fact that the album was self-released, it garnered a positive review from Israel's leading music critic Yoav Kutner and songs from it were picked for the Galgalatz playlist. Avidan was also the support act in the Morrissey and The Gutter Twins concerts in Israel.

In December 2008, Rolling Stone magazine announced that the single "The Reckoning" will be distributed with its next issue in Europe. Avidan said that "this is a great honor and certainly a positive beginning ahead of 2009, in which we expect many developments in the international front".

• Myspace

Ivri Lider

Ivri Lider (Hebrew: עברי לידר‎, born February 10, 1974) is an Israeli pop rock singer-songwriter. He is considered one of the biggest selling contemporary artists in Israeli music, who has won the "Male Singer of the Year" honor on major Israeli national and local radio stations since his breakthrough into the Israeli music scene in the late 90's. Many of his singles topped the Israeli Singles Chart and his sales stand at over 200,000 albums.

Born in 1974, Lider took his first musical steps whilst still in high school, when he joined a group called Kach Ossot Kullan ("Everyone Does It This Way"), whose gigs included a performance at the legendary "Roxanne" club in Tel Aviv.

A commission to compose music for "Kisses" and "October" for Anat Danieli's dance ensemble was followed by an invitation from Ohad Naharrin to compose the music for "Kaamos" which Naharrin choreographed for "NDT", the renowned Dutch dance company. Ivri subsequently composed the music for "Z\NA", for the Batsheva Dance Company, considered his greatest achievement in composing music for dance companies. In parallel, Ivri signed a recording contract with Helicon Records and began work on his first album.

In January 2002 Ivri Lider came to a major decision in his personal life, and decided to speak honestly and openly about his sexual orientation. He gave a cover-story interview to Gal Ochovsky, of the daily newspaper Ma'ariv, which attracted a lot of attention. While openly gay he still refuses to push for Israeli acceptance of the gay lifestyle and refuses to be drawn into the debate over the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade.

In 2008 Lider launched both a new Hebrew and English album. The music video for his English-language song Jesse has gotten a lot of airtime on LOGO TV and Out Magazine recognized him as a member of the "Out 100" for 2007.

• Official website


• Official MySpace page


• Official FaceBook fan page


• Official YouTube channel

Ninet Tayeb

Ninet Tayeb (also known just as Ninet or Nina) (born October 21, 1983, in Kiryat Gat, Israel) is an Israeli pop rock singer who came to fame as the first winner of Kochav Nolad (the Israeli version of Pop Idol). Additionally, Ninet acted for three seasons in the Israeli television drama HaShir Shelanu (Our Song). She is a Sephardi Jew, of Tunisian Jewish descent. From humble beginnings, Ninet has achieved recognition as one of the most popular and famous celebrities and entertainers in Israel. She recently surprised her fans by having her head shaved bald for a TV commercial, earning 1,000,000 New Sheqels.

Ninet was the first winner of the popular Israeli talent contest Kokhav Nolad (American Idon) beating Shiri Maimon into second place. Shai Gabso came third in the final. Her winning performance was an emotional rendition of Zohar Argov's classic Mizrahi song "Yam Shel Dma'ot" (A Sea of Tears). To date she is the only woman to have won the contest, and the contestant with the longest-lasting and largest popularity after the show. She gained popularity on the show as a sweet, young small town girl singing ballads and participated aged 19 whilst doing her compulsory military service (she had her first audition in IDF uniform). In 2003 Ninet was awarded the title of "Most Notable Singer", which was a huge spring board for her carrier. She also appeared again on the fourth series of the show to duet with eventual winner Jacko Eisenberg.

After winning Kochav Nolad, Ninet met, on the set of HaShir Shelanu, Israeli actor and singer Ran Danker. The two dated for almost 3 years, and eventually broke up, leaving hundreds of fans disappointed. After the break up, there were rumours talking about a new man in Ninet's life - Israeli model and actor Yehuda Levi. Ninet and Yehuda hid their relationship for a long time, but eventually came clean about being together. Since then, Ninet and Yehuda are Israel's biggest stars, and they appear in tabloids all of the time. Currently rumors insist that Ninet will get married on November with her boyfriend, Yehuda Levi.

As Ninet became famous, she was nicknamed "Israel's Sweetheart", and was always pictured as a sweet girl. After she had released her album, which includes some dark and sad songs, people said she was too affected by Aviv Geffen, and she had a more rebellious "rock-chick" image.

• Official site (Hebrew)
  
• Kikar-Israel.com - Bio & discography, latest news


• Ninet Tayeb MySpace