JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel’s hottest musical export these days is a dreadlocked composer who pioneered a unique blend of Israeli, Ethiopian, Yemenite and Latin music from a makeshift recording studio in his parents’ basement. Idan Raichel’s musical fusion — catchy melodies mixed with Hebrew and Amharic lyrics sung by artists from Israel’s community of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants — has conquered … Read More
TEL AVIV — In Zohan Dvir, Israelis have a Hollywood hero — no matter that the soldier-turned-hairstylist played by Adam Sandler represents some of their country’s worst stereotypes. “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” looks to be a big hit in the Holy Land. Billboards bearing the leading man’s split-legged, blow-dryer-wielding image are plastered across city walls, and numerous stories … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) _ Late on a Friday night, inside a dark, trendy club, a crowd of young men and women gaze at Ivri Lider and sing along as he performs his hit love song, “Zachiti Le’ehov – I Was Blessed To Have Loved,” an ode to the end of his romance with a longtime boyfriend. Outside, Jerusalem stands still, as … Read More
JERUSALEM — Like moviegoing masses around the world, Israelis have crowded theaters to watch the hit spoof Borat. But they are laughing for another reason: They actually understand what the anti-Semitic, misogynist Kazakh journalist is saying. Few realize that comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s wacky comedic creation, Borat Sagdiyev, is not speaking Kazakh or even gibberish, but rather Hebrew, the biblical … Read More
RAMAT GAN, Israel (AP) _ Some 20,000 frenzied fans sang along with Sting as he yelped out the familiar lyrics to one of his most famous songs. “Whoa, I’m an alien; I’m a legal alien,” reverberated throughout Israel’s largest stadium, in this suburb of Tel Aviv. Sting, of course, was referring to being an “Englishman in New York.” But he … Read More
JERUSALEM — Shoshana Damari, whose voice came to embody the emerging nation of Israel and comforted its people during their most trying times, died Tuesday after suffering from pneumonia. She was 83. Damari, known as “the queen of Hebrew music” and a recipient of the nation’s most prestigious cultural prize, entertained Israeli civilians and soldiers for nearly seven decades with … Read More
JERUSALEM (AP) — Steven Spielberg’s controversial new movie, “Munich,” about the 1972 Olympic massacre and its aftermath, got an unlikely endorsement Wednesday – the widows of two of the 11 slain Israeli athletes said the film neither dishonored their husbands’ memories nor tarnished their country’s image. “The movie respects the athletes,” said Ilana Romano, widow of weightlifter Yosef Romano. She … Read More