16:30 - 17:30
Sean Rafferty presents a selection of music and guests from the arts world.
   IDAN RAICHEL PROJECT (Israel)  The Idan Raichel Project are huge stars in Israel and claim to have changed their nation’s popular music, bursting through a complacent pop scene with a sound that reflects the Zionist state’s multi-ethnic makeup. Project leader Idan Raichel learned to play music as a child and while serving in the Israeli army played in the military band so developing his skills as an arranger. Once again a civilian he began encountering musicians from Israel’s Ethiopian diaspora (brought about by a huge airlift of Ethiopian Jews in the early 1980s) and became fascinated by the music they played. Indeed, upon hearing tapes of Mahmoud Ahmed – the legendary Ethiopian singer who won a Radio 3 Award in 2007 – he decided to build a musical project that incorporated Ethiopian musicians. As the Project developed he began bringing in other Israeli musicians. These included a veteran Yemeni singer, a reggae keyboardist from Suriname and a young Palestinean singer. Idan decided to call the group effort The Idan Raichel Project: while he wrote, arranged and produced the music it was much more than a solo effort. The Project’s debut album was initially rejected by Israeli record labels as “too ethnic” but when one adventurous label took a chance it proved an immediate hit. The haunting Ethiopian chorus of the first single, Bo’ee (Come With Me), sounded completely unlike anything most Israelis had heard before. Yet, coupled with Idan’s Hebrew lyrics and contemporary pop production, the single struck a chord with a wide swath of the public. The Project’s eponymous debut album went on to sell more than 150,000 copies in Israel – triple platinum. Since then the Idan Raichel Project has toured the world, becoming the first Israeli band to play in Ethiopia (allowing two of the Project’s Ethiopian singers to return “home” for the first time since leaving Ethiopia as children). Raichel’s sparkling global pop has won international admirers and in 2006 the Project’s debut album secured European distribution. Garth Cartwright www.idanraichelproject.com Read other people's comments then  Tell us what you think:Ahava - England, UK Lauren USA Veronica, London Shaun Dunphy, West Sussex June, Scotland | | |
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Listen to 'Bo'ee'
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