Ofra Haza: Ofra Haza "Shaday"

It was two weeks ago that I impulsively started a magazine with the rather cliché name "Divas of the World," intending to post about the female singers I love once a week, but I've already started to feel like it's going to be nothing but elderly women and the deceased. Well, I think I'll just go with it. For me, they are all eternal older sisters(*1) whose time stopped 35 years ago.

So, the third week of this series features the late Israeli diva, Ofra Haza. I first encountered her 36 years ago with "Im Nin Alu," a song that became a pioneer of the world music boom at the time after a DJ mixed it somewhere.

And this song is included on "Yeminite Songs."

I was knocked out in one go by her powerful, vibrato-rich singing voice. Just around that time, there was a 15-minute program on NHK radio called "Ethnic Music of the World" that introduced the music of Yemenite Jews, and I remembered hearing those unique rhythms and melodies.

There is a 1978 TV performance of "Im Nin' Alu" on YouTube. It has a nice feel, retaining more of the ethnic music flavor.

At the time, I searched through used record stores and bought several LPs and CDs. They were imports from Israel, and the Hebrew script, which is written from right to left, was exotic and cool. The plastic CD cases also opened in the opposite direction from the usual ones.

Broken Days is pop and enjoyable.

Golden Hits. I don't know Hebrew, but I can sort of tell that you read "Golden Hits" from right to left.

The LP is a two-disc set, and the gatefold jacket is beautiful. It might be a copyright issue, though...

A poster was also included, so I stuck it to the ceiling of my room in the student apartment where I lived at the time.

Now, as someone who wishes for peace in the Middle East, my heart aches over the conflict between Israel and its neighboring Arab countries, and I sometimes feel anger at Israel's actions as a nation.

However, I imagine that the wish of many people living there is to coexist peacefully with their Palestinian neighbors.

I love the song Shaday. It seems there is no prospect of getting the CD, and used LPs were listed at exorbitant prices on Amazon. It can't be found on Spotify either. It is not found officially on YouTube.

It is a heavy song, but the sorrowful ensemble is good, and Ofra Haza's emotionally charged singing is also wonderful. It is a song I cannot listen to without tears.

One of my relatives, who just graduated from university, will be studying abroad at the Hebrew University this autumn. I hope they study religion and history thoroughly, experience the problems of that land firsthand, and in the future, contribute even a little toward world peace.

May conflicts around the world be resolved soon.

■Note

(*1) Even now, all women over 20 still look like older sisters to me. There are exceptions, of course—my relatives, that is, my wife, daughter, granddaughter, mother, and sister, for whom I properly maintain the age relationship, but...

■Related note magazine