Yehuda Poliker is an Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i singer, songwriter, musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

, and painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

.

Early life

Poliker was born in Kiryat Haim

Kiryat Haim

Kiryat Haim is one of the five Krayot suburbs located north of Haifa, Israel. In 2003, Kiryat Haim had a population of 40,000. Kiryat Haim is within the municipal borders of the city of Haifa, and lies on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.-History:...

, a suburb of Haifa

Haifa

Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...

, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 to a Greek Jewish

History of the Jews in Greece

There have been organized Jewish communities in Greece for more than two thousand years. The oldest and the most characteristic Jewish group that has inhabited Greece are the Romaniotes, also known as "Greek Jews"...

 family. Poliker is the son of Holocaust survivors deported to Auschwitz from Salonika

Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...

, Greece.

Music career

Poliker's music combines rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 with Greek and other Mediterranean musical styles. He plays guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

, bouzouki

Bouzouki

The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...

, and bağlama

Baglama

thumb|180px|Cura and bağlamaThe bağlama is a stringed musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia....

 and was a member of the 1980s Israeli rock band Benzeen. In 2002 he was nominated for the Tammuz Award of Israel's Best Male Artist, but lost out to 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...

. Poliker has composed songs for some of Israel's leading vocalists, among them Arik Einstein

Arik Einstein

Arik Einstein is an Israeli singer-songwriter.Einstein was a vocalist for Batzal Yarok , Shleeshiyat Gesher Hayarkon and Hahalonot Hagvohim . His collaboration with Shalom Hanoch and the Churchills planted the seeds for the first Israeli rock albums...

, Gidi Gov

Gidi Gov

Gidi Gov , is an Israeli singer, TV host, entertainer and actor.Gov is married to playwright Anat Gov, with whom he has three children.- Early life :...

, Rita, Chava Alberstein

Chava Alberstein

Chava Alberstein is an Israeli singer, lyricist, composer, and musical arranger.-Biography:Chava Alberstein, born in Szczecin, Poland, moved to Israel with her family in 1950. She grew up in Kiryat Haim....

, Dana International

Dana International

Sharon Cohen , professionally known as Dana International is an Israeli pop singer of Yemenite Jewish ancestry. She has released eight albums and three additional compilation albums, positioning herself as one of Israel's most successful musical acts ever...

 and more.

In 1988, Poliker recorded Efer Ve'avak (Ashes and Dust) together with Ya'akov Gilad. It was the first Israeli pop music album on the theme of the Holocaust, in this case, a blend of Greek music, pop, and rock.

Poliker reached the top of the album charts in Israel with his 1990 CD, Pachot Aval Koev (Hurts but Less). He has put out several successful albums since then, for example a 1995 2 CD set, Ha Yeled She b'Cha (The Child Inside of You), a 1997 2 CD live set recorded in Caesaria, 2001 CD Eich Korim l'Ahava Sheli (What is the Name of my Love), and 2010 CD Ahava Al Tnai (Conditional love).

In 2005, he was voted the 95th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet

Ynet

Ynet is the most popular Israeli news and general content website. It is owned by the same conglomerate that operates Yediot Ahronot, the country's secondleading daily newspaper...

to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.

Film

Poliker's father, Jacko, tells the story of his escape from Auschwitz in the 1988 film "Because of That War" (Biglal Hamilhamah Hahi), which features music by his son. The film includes interviews with Yehuda Poliker and Ya'akov Gilad, whose Polish Jewish parents also survived Auschwitz concentration camp

Auschwitz concentration camp

Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...

.

External links

• A Page about Yehuda Poliker
• Because of That War (1988). Directed by Orna Ben-Dor Niv
• Watch Yehuda Poliker singing with Haris Alexiou at a concert in Israel (1991)