Shlomo Bar
Encyclopedia
Shlomo Bar is an Israeli musician
, composer, and social activist. He is a pioneer of ethnic music
in Israel.
, Morocco
, in 1943, Bar emigrated to Israel
a few years later. He learnt how to play the darbuka and other ethnic percussion instruments, performing in various small lineups and as a backing musician for artists such as Matti Caspi
on tours. In 1976 he played in Yehoshua Sobol
and Noa Chelton's Kriza (Nerves), a fierce play about social injustices and discrimination in Israel. Bar set to music and performed several of Sobol's songs, including "Yeladim Ze Simcha" (Children are joy), which protested a then-prevalent policy of economic discrimination. The song, as recorded a bit later by his band, "Habrera Hativit", received airplay because of the catchy tune, and was accepted at face-value by much of the Mizrachi community. Rita
's cover is well-known, and lacks the acidity of the original. Bar has stated on numerous occasions that if the people chose to interpret it as a joyous song, he has no business to tell them otherwise.
As a result of the play, Bar decided it was time to form his own group, "Habrera Hativit" (The natural selection, but also known in English as the Gathering). The original lineup was Samson Kehimkar
, an India
n violin and sitar
virtuoso, Miguel Herstein, an American guitarist, the bassist Israel Borochov, and Bar on percussion and vocals. From the start the intention was not to conform to the musical mould, neither of Israeli pop, nor of 'musikat kassetot', the common style of mizrachi music at the time.
The first album, "Elei Shorashim" (Origins, or a return to roots), combined traditional Moroccan and Yiddish music, with Indian elements and motifs, as well as new renditions of songs by Israeli poets
. The songs were long, some of them running for eight minutes, and the subject matter was unusual for the time.
The lineup went through several changes in the 1980s and 90s.
Bar's musical influences are broad, including Bob Dylan
and Miles Davis
on the one hand, and classical Indian music and Jewish liturgy
on the other.
1979 - "Elei Shorashim" (Origins)
1. Tfila - A Prayer
2. Children Are Happiness - Yeladim Ze Simcha
3. In The Village Of Todra - Ezleinu Bikfar Todra
4. Dror Yikra
5. Kotzim - Thorns
6. A Moroccan Wedding - Hatuna Marokait
1980 - "Mechakim LeSamson" (Waiting for Samson)
1. Hassidic Dialogue - Du siah Hassidi
2. Spring - Aviv (Bhairavi)
3. The Love Of Theresa Dimon - Ahavata Shel Theresa Dimon
4. Walking to Caesarea
- Halicha LeKeisaria
5. The Dark Girl - Shecharhoret
6. Be True - Heye Davek
7. Alone - Levad
1982 - "Chut Shazur" (Woven Thread)
1. The Market Song - Shir Hashuk
2. Sultanas Lament - Kinat Sultana
3. To God I Shall Hearken - El El Ashacher
4. Who Knew - Mi Yada
5. Bread and Garment - Lehem Beged
6. Haji Baba
7. My Field - Shdemati
1985 - "Mitoch Kelim Shvurim" (Out of Broken Vessels)
1. Thou Art Land - At Adama
2. Danino the Immigrant's Run - Ritzato Shel Haole Danino
3. Or Haganuz
4. Hama
5. My Love Shall Come to His Garden - Yavo Dodi Legano
6. A Song of Degrees - Shir Lamaalot
1988 - "Michutz LaChomot" (Outside the Walls)
1. Who's There - Mi Shama
2. When Shall Zion be Established - Matai Techonan Ir Tzion
3. E'eroch Mahalal Nivi
4. The Flute - Hehalil
5. An Air - Neima
6. Your Fingers - Et Etsbeoteicha
1991 - "Nedudim" (Wandering)
1. A Seed Sleeps - Yashen Lo Garin
2. Naked and Bare - Erom VeEria
3. Walking to Caesarea - Halicha LeKeisaria
4. I Am an Innocent Girl - Ani Tama
5. Seven Sections - Shiv'a Medorim
6. Wandering - Nedudim
7. Three Were Founded - Shlosha Nosdu
8. Honi The Circle Drawer - Honi Hameagel
9. Reaching an Understanding - Hidavrut
1993 - "Peimot Shchorot" (Black Beats)
1. Yafa Ahuvati - Beautiful is My Beloved
2. My Land to The Redeemer - Artzi Lagoel
3. The Desert Speaks - Hamidbar Medaber
4. 10/14 (a percussion piece)
5. And Then As Stream Waters - Veaz Kemei Nahal
6. Hamsa
7. A Song For Peace - Shir Lashalom
8. For Thou Art a Man - Ki Ata Adam
9. Black Beats - Peimot Shhorot (a percussion piece)
1994 - "David U Shlomo" (David and Solomon) - with David D'Or
1. Halleluijah - Haleluya
2. A Voice From the Heavens - Kol Mehashamayim
3. In the Village of Todra - Etzlenu Bikfar Todra
4. In Your Heart - Belibech
5. My Field - Shdemati
6. Don't Cast Me Off - Al Tashlicheni
7. Protect the World - Shmor Al Haolam
8. The Mercy Gate - Shaar Harachamim
9. A Song For Peace - Shir Lashalom
10. The Sailor's Love - Ahuvat Hasapan
11. Instrumental
12. A Prayer - Tfila
13. Comes From Love - Baa Me'ahava
14. Tfila
15. He Will Come - Hu Yavo
1996 - "Yachef" (Barefoot)
1. My Heart - Libi
2. The hope of God - Tikvat Hael
3. Walking to the Palace (Instrumental) - Halicha Laarmon
4. Neglected - Mezulzelet
5. He is Great - Adir Hu
6. The Immigrant Danino's Run - Ritsato Shel Haole Danino
7. A close friend - Haver Karov
8. Batash (Lit. meaning: A meeting between two elements)
9. Reveal The Story - Saper Saper
10. Lover of My Soul - Yedid Nefesh
11. Barefoot - Yahef
2003 - "Maim Ne'emanim" (Faithful Waters) - A Collection
CD1
1. Tfila
2. Yeladim Ze Simcha
3. Etzleinu Bikfar Todra
4. Kinat Sultana
5. Dror Ikra
6. Hatuna Marokait
7. Sheharhoret
8. Ahavata Shel Teresa Dimon
9. Shir Hashuk
10. Hagi Baba
11. Mi Yada
12. Ritzato Shel Haole Danino
13. At Adama
14. El El Ashacher
CD2
1. A Song of Yearning - Shir Kmiha
2. A Japanese Legend - Agada Yapanit
3. Et Etsbeoteicha
4. Hahalil
5. Halicha Lekeisaria
6. Erom Veeria
7. Hamidbar Medaber
8. Shdemati
9. Honi Hameagel
10. Ani Tama
11. Saper Saper
12. Yedid Nefesh
13. Mezulzelet
14. Haver karov
15. Zemer Nouge
2006 - "Ananim Nemuhim" (Low Clouds)
1. Low Clouds - Ananim Nemuchim
2. Genesis (Light) - Or (Bereshit)
3. The Seagulls - HaSchafim
4. And again - Veshuv
5. Da-re
6. Woman's poem - Shirat Isha
7. The Noon-Land's song - Shir Admat Hatzehoraim
8. Circles - Maagalim
9. Formless and Void - Tohu Vavohu
2010 - "Besod Tfilat Arar" (In a Secret of Solitary Prayer)
Music of Israel
The music of Israel is a combination of Jewish and non-Jewish music traditions that have come together over the course of a century to create a distinctive musical culture. For more than 100 years, musicians have sought original stylistic elements that would define the emerging national spirit...
, composer, and social activist. He is a pioneer of ethnic music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
in Israel.
Biography
Born in RabatRabat
Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...
, Morocco
History of the Jews in Morocco
Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community. Before the founding of Israel in 1948, there were about 250,000 to 350,000 Jews in the country, but fewer than 7,000 or so remain.-Under the Romans:...
, in 1943, Bar emigrated to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
a few years later. He learnt how to play the darbuka and other ethnic percussion instruments, performing in various small lineups and as a backing musician for artists such as Matti Caspi
Matti Caspi
Matti Caspi is an Israeli composer, musician, singer, and lyricist. Born in 1949, he is regarded as one of Israel’s top musicians.His music style is difficult to classify. He is influenced by classical music, Brazilian and Latin music, Jazz, Rock and other genres. It is possible to hear all these...
on tours. In 1976 he played in Yehoshua Sobol
Yehoshua Sobol
Joshua Sobol, also known as Yehoshua Sobol , is an Israeli playwright, writer, and director at theatres in Israel and abroad.He is married to Edna, set and costume designer...
and Noa Chelton's Kriza (Nerves), a fierce play about social injustices and discrimination in Israel. Bar set to music and performed several of Sobol's songs, including "Yeladim Ze Simcha" (Children are joy), which protested a then-prevalent policy of economic discrimination. The song, as recorded a bit later by his band, "Habrera Hativit", received airplay because of the catchy tune, and was accepted at face-value by much of the Mizrachi community. Rita
Rita Kleinstein
Rita Yahan-Farouz is an Iranian-born Israeli pop singer and actress.-Early life:Rita Yahan-Farouz was born in Tehran, Iran. Her family emigrated to Israel in 1970.-Musical and acting career:-1980s:...
's cover is well-known, and lacks the acidity of the original. Bar has stated on numerous occasions that if the people chose to interpret it as a joyous song, he has no business to tell them otherwise.
As a result of the play, Bar decided it was time to form his own group, "Habrera Hativit" (The natural selection, but also known in English as the Gathering). The original lineup was Samson Kehimkar
Samson Kehimkar
Samson Kehimkar was a Jewish violinist and sitar player from India. One of the pioneers of ethnic and world music in Israel. Before emigrating in 1976, he played in Indian classical orchestras, film and pop bands. One of the founding members of "Habrera Hativit"...
, an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n violin and sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
virtuoso, Miguel Herstein, an American guitarist, the bassist Israel Borochov, and Bar on percussion and vocals. From the start the intention was not to conform to the musical mould, neither of Israeli pop, nor of 'musikat kassetot', the common style of mizrachi music at the time.
The first album, "Elei Shorashim" (Origins, or a return to roots), combined traditional Moroccan and Yiddish music, with Indian elements and motifs, as well as new renditions of songs by Israeli poets
Hebrew poetry
Hebrew poetry is poetry written in the Hebrew language. It encompasses such things as:* Biblical poetry, the poetry found in the poetic books of the Hebrew Bible* Piyyut, religious Jewish liturgical poetry in Hebrew or Aramaic...
. The songs were long, some of them running for eight minutes, and the subject matter was unusual for the time.
The lineup went through several changes in the 1980s and 90s.
Bar's musical influences are broad, including Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
on the one hand, and classical Indian music and Jewish liturgy
Jewish liturgy
Jewish liturgy refers specifically to following the Torah in all of its rites and ceremonies, whether in the home or in the Synagogue. The main purposes of following the carefully laid out observances is to maintain uniformity, and to avoid improper and unacceptable practices at variance with those...
on the other.
Discography
With Habrera Hativit:1979 - "Elei Shorashim" (Origins)
1. Tfila - A Prayer
2. Children Are Happiness - Yeladim Ze Simcha
3. In The Village Of Todra - Ezleinu Bikfar Todra
4. Dror Yikra
5. Kotzim - Thorns
6. A Moroccan Wedding - Hatuna Marokait
1980 - "Mechakim LeSamson" (Waiting for Samson)
1. Hassidic Dialogue - Du siah Hassidi
2. Spring - Aviv (Bhairavi)
3. The Love Of Theresa Dimon - Ahavata Shel Theresa Dimon
4. Walking to Caesarea
Hannah Szenes
Hannah Szenes , often anglicized as Hannah Senesh was a Hungarian Jew, one of 37 Jews from the British Mandate for Palestine that were trained by the British army to parachute into Yugoslavia during the Second World War in order to help save the Jews of Hungary, who were about to be deported to...
- Halicha LeKeisaria
5. The Dark Girl - Shecharhoret
6. Be True - Heye Davek
7. Alone - Levad
1982 - "Chut Shazur" (Woven Thread)
1. The Market Song - Shir Hashuk
2. Sultanas Lament - Kinat Sultana
3. To God I Shall Hearken - El El Ashacher
4. Who Knew - Mi Yada
5. Bread and Garment - Lehem Beged
6. Haji Baba
7. My Field - Shdemati
1985 - "Mitoch Kelim Shvurim" (Out of Broken Vessels)
1. Thou Art Land - At Adama
2. Danino the Immigrant's Run - Ritzato Shel Haole Danino
3. Or Haganuz
4. Hama
5. My Love Shall Come to His Garden - Yavo Dodi Legano
6. A Song of Degrees - Shir Lamaalot
1988 - "Michutz LaChomot" (Outside the Walls)
1. Who's There - Mi Shama
2. When Shall Zion be Established - Matai Techonan Ir Tzion
3. E'eroch Mahalal Nivi
4. The Flute - Hehalil
5. An Air - Neima
6. Your Fingers - Et Etsbeoteicha
1991 - "Nedudim" (Wandering)
1. A Seed Sleeps - Yashen Lo Garin
2. Naked and Bare - Erom VeEria
3. Walking to Caesarea - Halicha LeKeisaria
4. I Am an Innocent Girl - Ani Tama
5. Seven Sections - Shiv'a Medorim
6. Wandering - Nedudim
7. Three Were Founded - Shlosha Nosdu
8. Honi The Circle Drawer - Honi Hameagel
9. Reaching an Understanding - Hidavrut
1993 - "Peimot Shchorot" (Black Beats)
1. Yafa Ahuvati - Beautiful is My Beloved
2. My Land to The Redeemer - Artzi Lagoel
3. The Desert Speaks - Hamidbar Medaber
4. 10/14 (a percussion piece)
5. And Then As Stream Waters - Veaz Kemei Nahal
6. Hamsa
7. A Song For Peace - Shir Lashalom
8. For Thou Art a Man - Ki Ata Adam
9. Black Beats - Peimot Shhorot (a percussion piece)
1994 - "David U Shlomo" (David and Solomon) - with David D'Or
David D'Or
David D'Or is an Israeli singer, composer, and songwriter. A countertenor with a vocal range of more than four octaves, he is a three-time winner of the Israeli "Singer of the Year" and "Best Vocal Performer" awards. He was also chosen to represent Israel in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, at...
1. Halleluijah - Haleluya
2. A Voice From the Heavens - Kol Mehashamayim
3. In the Village of Todra - Etzlenu Bikfar Todra
4. In Your Heart - Belibech
5. My Field - Shdemati
6. Don't Cast Me Off - Al Tashlicheni
7. Protect the World - Shmor Al Haolam
8. The Mercy Gate - Shaar Harachamim
9. A Song For Peace - Shir Lashalom
10. The Sailor's Love - Ahuvat Hasapan
11. Instrumental
12. A Prayer - Tfila
13. Comes From Love - Baa Me'ahava
14. Tfila
15. He Will Come - Hu Yavo
1996 - "Yachef" (Barefoot)
1. My Heart - Libi
2. The hope of God - Tikvat Hael
3. Walking to the Palace (Instrumental) - Halicha Laarmon
4. Neglected - Mezulzelet
5. He is Great - Adir Hu
6. The Immigrant Danino's Run - Ritsato Shel Haole Danino
7. A close friend - Haver Karov
8. Batash (Lit. meaning: A meeting between two elements)
9. Reveal The Story - Saper Saper
10. Lover of My Soul - Yedid Nefesh
Yedid Nefesh
Yedid Nefesh is the title of a piyyut. It is usually sung on the Jewish Sabbath.-Traditions and origin:...
11. Barefoot - Yahef
2003 - "Maim Ne'emanim" (Faithful Waters) - A Collection
CD1
1. Tfila
2. Yeladim Ze Simcha
3. Etzleinu Bikfar Todra
4. Kinat Sultana
5. Dror Ikra
6. Hatuna Marokait
7. Sheharhoret
8. Ahavata Shel Teresa Dimon
9. Shir Hashuk
10. Hagi Baba
11. Mi Yada
12. Ritzato Shel Haole Danino
13. At Adama
14. El El Ashacher
CD2
1. A Song of Yearning - Shir Kmiha
2. A Japanese Legend - Agada Yapanit
3. Et Etsbeoteicha
4. Hahalil
5. Halicha Lekeisaria
6. Erom Veeria
7. Hamidbar Medaber
8. Shdemati
9. Honi Hameagel
10. Ani Tama
11. Saper Saper
12. Yedid Nefesh
13. Mezulzelet
14. Haver karov
15. Zemer Nouge
The High Windows
The High Windows was a 1960s Israeli pop group founded by Arik Einstein, Shmulik Kraus and Josie Katz.-History:Hahalonot HaGvohim trio was formed at the end of 1966. As composer and vocal arranger, Kraus was the group's moving spirit...
2006 - "Ananim Nemuhim" (Low Clouds)
1. Low Clouds - Ananim Nemuchim
2. Genesis (Light) - Or (Bereshit)
3. The Seagulls - HaSchafim
4. And again - Veshuv
5. Da-re
6. Woman's poem - Shirat Isha
7. The Noon-Land's song - Shir Admat Hatzehoraim
8. Circles - Maagalim
9. Formless and Void - Tohu Vavohu
2010 - "Besod Tfilat Arar" (In a Secret of Solitary Prayer)