Ofra Haza
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Ofra Haza
Ofra Haza (1959 - 2000) was Israel's leading pop music recording artist. Rising from poverty to stardom, Haza left the slums of Tel Aviv to win World Music Awards and to sing at the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
An icon in her country, the mezzo-soprano received international attention for her songs that blended ancient Yemenite-Jewish poetry with western music. After releasing 16 gold and platinum albums in Israel and winning the Israeli equivalent of the Grammy Award for best female singer in 1980, she broke into the European and North American markets. She died at the age of 41 due to complications from AIDS.
Started in Theater Group
Ofra Haza was born in Tel Aviv, the youngest of nine children in a Jewish family that had escaped religious persecution in Yemen. Growing up in the poor Hatikva district, Haza came from a musical background. Her mother, Shoshana, sang old Yemenite songs around the house and played the tambour drum. Israeli folk songs and songs from the Beatles and Elvis Presley were also among her musical influences during the 1960s.
At age 12, Haza joined the local Hatikva Theater, a protest theater group established by Bezalel Aloni. Aloni, who would manage her career for the next 20 years, made her the star of the show. She participated in the troupe for seven years, singing and gaining a following and appearing on four albums with the members of the Hatikva Theater.
Israel's Top Singer
During her teenage years, Haza performed in a variety of venues. She hit the Israeli charts with songs about poverty and the discrimination faced by Jews who moved to Israel from Arab countries. She won a national singing contest, appeared on television variety shows, and worked in movies with film directors Zalman King and Goran Bregovich. As is mandatory for all Israeli citizens, she joined the army at age 18 for a two-year stint, working as a secretary assigned to the tank corps. After her military service, she released her first solo album in Israel, signing with local label Hed Azri.
Haza's pop albums became best-sellers in Israel. Her 1979 "The Tart's Song" spoke of independent young women defying tradition and social convention. "At that early stage of her career, all Ofra wanted was to forget her ethnic roots and be an Israeli," commented Yoram Rotem, music chief at Israeli broadcaster Galei Zahal, for Billboard magazine. "She sang simple songs for the ordinary Israeli. They were largely ignored by radio, but fans bought them."
The mezzo-soprano, who sang in Hebrew and Arabic, easily crossed cultural boundaries and garnered numerous awards. Haza was named Israel's Singer of the Year for five consecutive years and went on to record more than 16 gold and platinum albums in her homeland. In 1983, she was chosen to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest, where she placed second. The experience offered her exposure to the European audience.
Recorded Yemenite Songs
By the mid-1980s, Haza had changed her subject matter, returning to songs learned from her parents. She attracted new audiences with the release of three albums of old Israeli songs that soon earned the attention of radio stations. Record producers who had begun to take notice asked her to make an album for international distribution. She decided to honor her Yemenite Jewish heritage by covering the songs her mother used to sing with a pop beat and modern arrangements.
Haza's first international release came in 1985 with the album, Fifty Gates of Wisdom: Yemenite Songs. For the album, Haza created a modern interpretation of a collection of prayers written by 17th-century Rabbi Shalom Shabazi by adding a dance beat that used electronic percussion. She told the New York Times, "I wanted to do an album to make my parents happy."
At a time when the World Beat sound was gaining popularity, Fifty Gates of Wisdom was an enormous success, hitting the club scenes in Europe, and topping the international pop charts. Haza soon became Israel's most popular international recording artist. Rotem said in Billboard, "Ironically, her international success came with the very material from which she wanted to escape. She caught the ethnic wave, and she also had talent, looks, and professionalism."
The album's singles, "Galbi" and "Im Nin'Alu" ("If the Gates of Heaven Closed"), played in dance clubs throughout Europe. "Im Nin'Alu" placed at the top of the singles chart in Germany for nine weeks and ranked number one on the European chart for two weeks. Worldwide, the album sold more than a million copies. In Germany, Haza won the Tigra Award for Singer of the Year in 1989. In 1987, Fifty Gates of Heaven reached the United States. Not long after, Haza became the first Israeli singer to be a guest on MTV.
In a circuitous route to fame, the British group Cold Cut heard Haza's voice on a pirated copy of "Im Nin'Alu" and included it on the group's remix of Erik B. and Rakim's rap song, "Paid in Full." M.A.R.R.S.S. also added her voice to their dance hit, "Pump Up the Volume." Haza commented about her unconventional connection to hip-hop, "That gave my song a big push. People that didn't know me heard my voice on a rap song."
Observed Jewish Tradition
When Haza performed songs from Fifty Gates of Wisdom, she added elements of tradition to her style as well as to her music. She proudly wore traditional Yemenite clothing, elaborately beaded and with ornate Yemenite rings and silver bracelets. Devoted to her religion, Haza observed Jewish tradition when she toured and performed. She avoided holding concerts on Friday night to observe Sabbath and requested only kosher meat.
She was living a very different life from the one her parents expected. "I see in front of my eyes my parents who educated me to appreciate what God gave me. I came from a poor neighborhood. Then suddenly I'm staying in first-class hotels, driving in limousines, flying first-class. Every day I say 'Shema Yisrael' and thank God for giving me this opportunity."
Success in English
A German company asked Haza to record an album in English so it could be released in the United States. Few thought a record with Yemenite songs would sell in America. Haza floundered with English and with the conventional subject matter. "He gave me American songs," she said. "You know, 'Love me, love you, need me.' I didn't like the lyrics but I had no choice." The album was abandoned but the idea of an English release was only postponed.
In 1988, Haza signed on with Sire Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. A new producer helped her to assemble songs such as "Im Nin'Alu" and Haza's earlier Hebrew songs, translated into English, to create the album, Shaday. Released in the United States, Canada, and Japan, it sold a million copies worldwide, and "Im Nin'Alu" won top honors at the Tokyo Music Festival. In New York City, Haza won the New Music Award for the International Album of the Year in 1989.
Two years later, Haza succeeded again with the release of her English album, Desert Wind. Haza co-produced four of the songs on the album, which featured her mother chanting Arabic songs. She conducted a U.S. concert tour to promote the album that included 42 cities. Accepted by an audience no longer wary of foreign musicians, Haza commented about her material, "I think people are a little bit tired of the songs they used to hear. They want to listen to something strange and new."
Sang at Nobel Ceremony
Desert Wind brought increased recognition for Haza. She produced a video for MTV and appeared on American talk shows. In 1991, she participated in the Artists of the World for Peace in the World video of John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance." She was also invited to work with the Sisters of Mercy, Paul Anka, Iggy Pop, and Paula Abdul. Her follow-up album, Kirya, featured guest Lou Reed and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the World Beat category.
Her biggest honor came in 1994 when Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin called her Israel's "goodwill ambassador" and invited her to sing at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Yasser Arafat. She performed again a year later at Rabin's memorial service following his assassination.
After marrying businessman Doron Ashkenazi in 1997, Haza spent the rest of the 1990s on two movie projects. In 1998, she sang for Steven Spielberg's animated movie The Prince of Egypt, voicing Moses' mother Yocheved. For the movie's international release, she sang in 17 languages, including German, Greek, Polish, and Hungarian, from phonetic transcriptions written in Hebrew.
The same year, Haza sang on the Columbia/TriStar film, "The Governess," which portrayed Jewish life in England in the late 19th Century. The soundtrack was released on the Sony Classical label. Also in 1998, Haza joined the late Pakistani virtuoso Ali Akba Khan for The Prayer Cycle, inspired by music from Judaic and Muslim traditions.
Succumbed to AIDS
On February 10, 2000, Haza admitted herself to Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv. Despite her fame, she guarded her privacy and refused to inform the media about her medical condition. She and her family forbade the hospital to leak information about her illness to the press. Some reports claimed she was suffering from influenza and that she was receiving treatment for liver and kidney failure. Fans and well wishers, as well as television crews, gathered daily outside the hospital keeping vigil, praying, and hoping to learn about her condition. On February 23, 2000, 13 days after entering the hospital, Haza was pronounced dead from multiple organ failure.
Her funeral, held on February 27, attracted thousands of mourners. Working-class people and the elite, including Shimon Peres, gathered to eulogize Israel's leading recording artist. Bibi Netanyahu paid public tribute, and Prime Minister Ehud Barak issued a statement, "I was impressed by her shining personality and her great talent. Her voice made its way into the hearts of many in Israel and throughout the world. Her contribution to Israeli culture was great, and the honor she brought this country will never be forgotten."
The daily newspaper Ha'aretz had been reporting that Haza was infected with the HIV virus and that AIDS was the cause of her organ failure. The paper was criticized for violating the singer's privacy, yet it defended its decision to report the news, which had existed as a rumor on the Internet and television. In a country where having AIDS was still considered taboo, Ha'aretz's editors believed that secrecy only demonized the disease. Haza's death prompted more discussion in Israel about AIDS and the shame that stills surrounds it.
Some AIDS activists suggested that Ofra Haza could have been her country's Magic Johnson, a celebrity who could have broken down stereotypes and promoted education on AIDS prevention and awareness. Bentwich said in the New York Times, "In this unfortunate case … it appears that Ofra Haza almost died of the embarrassment, from the terrible fear to reveal her illness."
Books
Contemporary Musicians, Volume 29, Gale, 2000.
Periodicals
Billboard, March 11, 2000.
Jerusalem Post, February 24, 2000.
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, March 3, 2000.
New York Times, February 24, 2000; February 29, 2000.
Wall Street Journal, February 15, 1990.
Online
"Exclusive Interview with Ofra Haza," Shalom, KakAfonia!http://kakafonia.hypermart.net/news/ofra.htm (December 23, 2003).
"Secrecy surrounding popular Israeli singer Ofra Haza's death," National Public Radio: All Things Consideredhttp://www.npr.org/programs/atc/radioshow (December 23, 2003).
Sony Classical,www.sonyclassical.com/artists/haza (December 23, 2003).
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1957 - 2000
Israeli singer who revitalized and popularized traditional Yemeni songs for a world audience.
Ofra Haza's singing style was characterized by powerful, artistically rendered emotionality, whether she was interpreting traditional or popular songs. She personified Israeli popular music from the early 1980s until the late 1990s. A nominee for a Grammy Award, she took second place in the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest with "Chai," launching a singing career that would earn her sixteen gold and platinum records.
The ninth and final child born to Yemenite immigrants in the impoverished ha-Tikva neighborhood of south Tel Aviv, Haza joined the ha-Tikva Theater group at the age of twelve and began a rags-to-riches ascent in the Israeli popular imagination. With the encouragement of ha-Tikva Theater founder Bezalel Aloni, who later became her manager, Haza took leading roles within the ha-Tikva group, and by the time she was nineteen, her solo career was launched.
In 1985, Haza released her first internationally acclaimed album, Yemenite Songs, a collection of interpretations of devotional poetry written by Shalom Shabazi, a seventeenth-century rabbi. Haza's music appealed to Ashkenazic as well as Mizrahi audiences, and her performances bridged ethnic, class, and generational dividing lines in Israeli society. She was chosen to sing in Oslo when Yitzhak Rabin, Yasir Arafat, and Shimon Peres received the Nobel Prize, and was chosen again to sing at the memorial concert following Rabin's assassination.
Shaday (1988) was Haza's second international album. It contained "Im Nin'alu," Haza's signature song, which was featured on MTV, a first for an Israeli singer. A striking beauty, she attempted, unsuccessfully, to pursue a film career in California before returning to Israel in the mid-1990s. Religiously devout and noted for remaining humble despite her fame, Haza married in 1998. She died in 2000 from complications resulting from AIDS, possibly contracted from her husband, who committed suicide a year later. The medical panel investigating Haza's death said in a published report that, had Haza admitted herself to hospital earlier, her life could have been saved. Fearful of the negative publicity that could result if her condition were to become known, Haza refused to seek proper medical care until it was too late. Former Prime Minister Shimon Peres delivered a eulogy at her graveside, and Israeli attitudes about AIDS came under critical discussion following her death.
Bibliography
Jerusalem Post Staff. "Ofra Haza: An Appreciation." Available from http://info.jpost.com/2000/Supplements/OfraHaza/.
Silver, Eric. "Remembering Ofra Haza." The Jewish Journal ofGreater Los Angeles. Available from www.jewishjournal.com/old/silver.3.3.0.htm.
— LAURIE KING-IRANI
Gale Musician Profiles:
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Ofra Haza
| For The Record... |
| Born c. 1959; died of internal organ failure related to AIDS, February 23, 2000, in Tel Aviv, Israel; married Doron Ashkenazi, 1997. Began career in the theater in Tel Aviv, c. 1971; appeared on four LPs with members of theater troupe Hatikva, early 1970s; released first solo LP in Israel, c. 1978. Awards: Named best female singer in Israel in 1980, 1981, 1986. |
Singer
The first Israeli recording artist to achieve international renown, Ofra Haza was also a phenomenon in the Middle East with the wide crossover appeal of her music. Haza sang in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, and her songs bridged a cultural gap in this striferidden part of the world between its Jewish, Muslim, and Christian music-lovers. In 1988, she scored a massive hit with "Im Nin’alu," a Yemeni prayer set to a catchy disco beat; it sold more than a million copies and remained a dance-floor staple for months across Europe and North America. Her music, a People reviewer once wrote, merges "the coiling quarter-tone melodies of traditional Yemenite folk music to the crisp electronics of modern dance-pop in a remarkably satisfying fusion." Over her 20-year career, Haza became one of the most successful recording artists Israel had ever produced, and when she entered a Tel Aviv hospital in February of 2000 for an undisclosed illness, fans gathered outside to hold vigil.
Born in the late 1950s in Tel Aviv, Israel, Haza was one of nine children born to parents who had emigrated from Yemen some years before. An impoverished and for many years unstable nation at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, at one point Yemen once banished its Jewish population to the desert; Haza’s parents were then rescued by military airlift and granted entry visas into Israel. But Jews from Yemen are generally among Israel’s poorest citizens; Haza and her family lived the slum area of Tel Aviv, a neighborhood known as Hatikva. Back in Yemen, however, her mother had been a professional singer, and Haza remembered her singing to her children from an early age. Haza herself began to exhibit the same musical inclination, and at the age of 12, joined a local protest theater group recently founded by a neighbor of hers, Bezalel Azoni.
Protest Lyrics
Azoni would become an integral part of Haza’s singing career as a songwriting partner and manager over the years, recognizing in the teenaged Haza a unique talent. She soon emerged as one of the most gifted performers in the company—also called Hatikva—and recorded four albums with other members. She even won a national singing contest in Israel. Many of these early songs of hers were characterized by lyrics that protested the discrimination Yemeni Jews and other immigrants from Arab countries faced when in Israel.
Like all young people in Israel, male and female alike, Haza entered the Israeli army at the age of 18 for two years of compulsory service, which she spent as a secretary. Afterward, she was signed to a record label as a solo artist. Her first album featured tracks like "The Tart’s Song," a musical rant in which a young woman rejects the conservative values of her society. Initially, Haza’s albums achieved only nominal success, and received little or no airplay on the radio, but her defiant
lyrics caught on with young people, and her records began selling well. She was named Israel’s best female singer in 1980, 1981, and 1986. In 1983, she was chosen to represent her country in the well-publicized Eurovision song contest. Producers there liked her voice, and invited her to record an album for European distribution.
This period of Haza’s career coincided with her desire to return to the music of her particular heritage. As she later told a New York Times journalist, Peter Watrous, "Yemenite music has a good, special dance rhythm. Nobody can hear it and stand, without dancing." She began adapting traditional songs, adding modern percussion and electronic instrumentation, and 50 Gates of Wisdom: Yemenite Songs was the result. Its lyrics were borrowed from a famous liturgical poem dating back to the sixteenth century. She and Azoni had simply wanted to make a record that their older, tradition-minded parents would like, and were taken by surprise when the record became an underground hit in European dance clubs. The English group Coldcut heard one of the songs, and sampled it into a remix they did for rappers Erik B. and Rakim. "That gave my song a big push," Haza told the Wall Street Journal’s Amy Dockser Marcus. "People that didn’t know me heard my voice on a rap song." Watrous wrote of the catchy, intriguing sample in this particular song, "Paid in Full," in his New York Times article. "Out of left field comes a woman’s wailing voice, obviously Middle Eastern in its gentle, hilly melismas," he observed. "But her voice fits in perfectly, suggesting different cultures colliding and yet having fun." Some of Haza’s vocals were also remixed into another notable track from this era, "Pump Up the Volume," from M/A/R/R/S. That particular track from 50 Gates of Wisdom, "Im Nin’alu, (If the Gates of Heaven Closed)" was remixed and released as a single in the United States in 1987. It went on to sell a million copies worldwide.
Success Abroad
Haza’s emergence onto a more global stage coincided with the rise of a new genre, which quickly came to be tagged "world beat." Signed to Sire Records, Haza recorded Shaday, released in 1988. Many of its tracks were based on another famous liturgical poem, the Song of Solomon. It would become her most successful album to date, selling a million copies globally with its mix of songs in Hebrew and English. A review by Michael Small in People, however, faulted the work for the overly sentimental balladry in its English tracks. "It’s too bad Haza doesn’t rise above musical cliches more often because her sparkly clear voice, sometimes resembling Barbra Streisand’s, seems able to handle something more challenging," opined Small.
Haza toured the United States in 1988, and for a time, lived in Los Angeles. In 1990, she released Desert Wind, her first full English-language album. Yet as she told the Wall Street Journal’s Marcus, "it may be in English, but it’s still my message." One track, "Fatamorgana," was a homage to her parents’ tragic experiences in Yemen years before. The song contains a chant in Arabic, courtesy of her mother, who sang it into the telephone for Haza from Israel while the album was being made. The song won particular praise from Marcus. "Haza’s lilting contralto evokes the rhythm of her people’s march into desert exile, the heat, the mirages, the sadness," observed the Wall Street Journal writer.
Grammy Nomination
Around this time, Haza also made a video that aired on the music-video network MTV, making her the first Israeli artist on the channel. Her 1992 album, Kirya, again featured songs in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, and was produced by acclaimed studio genius Don Was; rock stalwarts Lou Reed and Iggy Pop made guest appearances for Haza. The album took its title from the ancient nickname for the holy city of Jerusalem, and Haza had hoped to make a record that could serve as a reminder that peace in the Middle East was long overdue. "So many of our sons have to die every day because of you," she sang in the title track. The album was nominated for a Grammy award in the World Music category.
By the mid-1990s, Haza was a bona-fide celebrity in the Middle East. Both Israeli and Palestinian teens bought her records, and she was hailed as a positive role model. After a 1993 peace accord between Palestine and Israel—who had fought bitterly for decades over territory that both considered their ancient homelands—the signers of the pact were awarded the Nobel Prize for peace. One of the three recipients, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, invited Haza to perform at the ceremony in Oslo, Norway. A year later, in 1995, Haza also sang at the memorial service for Rabin after he was assassinated.
In 1998, Haza recorded the theme song, "Deliver Us," to the 1998 Disney animated film, the Prince of Egypt, as the voice of Moses’s mother. The following year, she appeared on a multilingual compilation of holy songs, The Prayer Cycle: Music for the Century by Jonathan Elias, that also featured Alanis Morissette and Perry Farrell. She sang a duet on it with Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Tragic Death
Haza was a beloved public figure in Israel, so when she checked in to Tel Aviv’s Tel Hashomer hospital on February 10, 2000, there was much speculation about the cause. Fans stood outside the hospital in a round-the-clock vigil, and it was suspected that the 41-year-old singer was suffering from cancer. She died on February 23 of internal organ failure. As testament to her importance, even the current Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, made an official announcement. "I had the honor of knowing Ofra and was impressed by her shining personality and her great talent," Barak said, according to Billboard magazine, on the night that Haza died. "Her contribution to Israeli culture was great, and the honor she brought this country will never be forgotten."
A few days later, however, a Tel Aviv newspaper revealed that Haza had been suffering from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Ha’aretz, the paper, wrote about the anger of some hospital workers because Haza had tried to keep the nature of her illness a secret; they worried that they had been exposed to HIV-positive blood. Haza had been adamant about preserving the confidentiality of her medical records, even after her death. The Ha’aretz story ignited a minor controversy over patients’ rights in Israel, and many felt that the privacy of the singer— who likely wished to spare her conservative Yemenite family the reason behind her fatal illness—had been needlessly violated. As the British medical journal Lancet explained, complaints that hospital employees may have been at risk of infection were dubious, since Tel Hashomer "follows orders from the [Israeli] Health Ministry to treat all patients as if they are carriers of an infectious disease unless proven otherwise." The newspaper, however, defended itself against charges of sensationalism. "Ofra Haza was a public figure and to a certain extent public property in her life," Ha’arez’s managing editor, Yoel Esteron, told New York Times writer Deborah Sontag. "In her death it is impossible to leave this chapter in darkness. We are talking about a human disease like any other, and there is no reason to demonize it."
Selected discography
50 Gates of Wisdom: Yemenite Songs, Shanachie, 1988.
Shaday, Sire, 1988.
Desert Wind, Sire, 1989.
Kirya, Shanachie, 1992.
Yemenite Songs, Cleopatra, 1998.
(With others) The Prince of Egypt (soundtrack), DreamWorks, 1998.
(With others) The Prayer Cycle: Music for the Century by Jonathan Elias, Sony Classical, 1999.
Sources
Billboard, March 11, 2000, p. 4.
Ha’aretz (Tel Aviv), February 28, 2000.
Lancet, March 18, 2000, p. 998.
New York Times, March 18, 1988, pp. C1, C25; February 24, 2000, p. A22; February 29, 2000.
People, February 6, 1989, p. 25; October 19, 1992, p. 21.
Rolling Stone, March 22, 1990; April 1, 1999.
Wall Street Journal, February 15, 1990, p. A12.
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:
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Ofra Haza
- Genres: World
Biography
Long one of Israel's most popular singers, Ofra Haza broke through to international recognition during the mid-'80s when her traditional music found favor on the U.K. club circuit, its success leading to a series of unlikely pop projects. Born in Tel Aviv on November 19, 1959, Haza was the daughter of Yemenite parents forced to flee from their native country's Muslim regime; at the age of 12 she joined the renowned Hatikva theatrical troupe, and with that group, cut a number of award-winning records before serving a compulsory two-year tour of duty in the Israeli army. Upon her discharge, in 1979 she mounted a solo career, becoming a star not only at home but also in neighboring Arab nations; in 1983, her recording of "Chai!" placed second in the annual Eurovision Song Contest.Inspired by the ancient melodies taught to her by her mother, Haza recorded Yemenite Songs in 1985, which featured traditional instruments as well as lyrics drawn from the 16th century poetry of Shalom Shabazi; not only a major hit at home, the album was a worldbeat smash in England, as well. With 1988's Shaday, she turned away from traditional sounds to pursue more dance-flavored material, and the single "Im Nin'Al" even reached the Top 20 on the U.K. pop charts, additionally becoming a club favorite in the U.S. Haza's music was also sampled on the Eric B. & Rakim rap classic "Paid in Full," and her vocals later found their way into M/A/R/R/S' seminal "Pump Up the Volume" as well.
Released in 1989, Desert Wind was sung largely in English, and its release corresponded with Haza's first American tour. For 1992's Grammy-nominated Kirya, she teamed with producer Don Was and welcomed guests Iggy Pop and Lou Reed; that same year, Haza also recorded the single "Temple of Love" with British goth rockers the Sisters of Mercy. Despite her success, however, she was silent throughout the middle of the decade, finally resurfacing in 1997 with a self-titled LP issued on her new label, BMG Ariola. Haza died unexpectedly of AIDS-related complications on February 23, 2000. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Ofra Haza
| Ofra Haza | |
|---|---|
 Haza in 1997 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Bat-Sheva Ofrah Hazah |
| Also known as | Ofra Haza |
| Born | 19 November 1957 |
| Origin | Hatikva, Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Died | 23 February 2000 (aged 42) Ramat Gan, Israel |
| Genres | World music, pop, Ethnic electronica, Middle Eastern music |
| Occupations | Singer, songwriter, actress |
| Instruments | Vocals, piano |
| Years active | 1969–2000 |
| Labels | Hed Arzi EastWest Records Shanachie Records BMG Ariola Ausfahrt Sire/Warner Bros. Records |
| Website | Ofra.Haza.Co.IL |
Ofra Haza (Hebrew: עפרה חזה, Arabic: عفرة حزة; born Bat-Sheva Ofrah Hazah 19 November 1957 –– 23 February 2000) was an Israeli singer of Yemenite Jewish origin, an actress and international recording artist.
Her voice has been described as mezzo-soprano,[1] of near-flawless tonal quality, capable of lending itself to a variety of musical styles with apparent ease.[citation needed]
Inspired by a love of her Yemenite Jewish culture, the appeal of her musical art quickly spread to a wider Middle Eastern audience, somehow bridging the divide between Israel and the Arab countries. As her career progressed, Haza was able to switch between traditional and more commercial singing styles without jeopardizing her credibility. Her music fused elements of Eastern and Western instrumentation, orchestration and dance-beat. She became successful in Europe and the Americas; during her singing career, she earned many platinum and gold discs.
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Contents
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Early life
Haza was born the youngest of nine children, to a Yemenite Jewish family, in the poor Tel Aviv neighborhood of Hatikvah. Her first home was at 39 Boaz Street.
At the age of 12, Haza joined a local theater troupe, and manager Bezalel Aloni spotted her singing talent. He staged many of his productions around Haza, and later became her manager and mentor. At the age of 19, she was Israel's first pop star and retrospectively, music journalists described her as "The Madonna of the East".
By the time she had completed her military service in 1979, Haza had matured as a singer and was ready to launch a solo career.
Career
Her first album, entitled Al Ahavot Shelanu (Our Love), was released in 1980 and yielded a string of popular radio hits, including Hageshem (The Rain), Shir Ahava La'chayal (Love Song For The Soldier), Kmo Tzipor (Like A Bird) and what ultimately became her signature song in Israel, Shir Ha'frecha (The Bimbo Song). The latter was written for the film Schlager (1979) in which Haza played a leading role. At first, radio stations across the country refused to play the song due to its lyrics, which at the time were unaccepted, but it quickly climbed the charts and reached No. 1, where it stayed for five consecutive weeks. Later in the year, the album reached gold status.
A second album soon followed, Bo Nedaber (Let's Talk), eventually going gold, which included the hugely popular hits Tfila (Prayer) and Simanim Shel Ohavim (Lovers Signs).
Her third album, Pituyim (Temptations) came out in 1982 and enjoyed equal success, reaching gold status as well, with such hits as Gabriel and Kol Yom Matchila Shana (A New Year Starts Everyday). With this album, more well-known writers agreed to write her songs, including Tzvika Pick and Nurit Hirsh.
In 1983, Haza's career jumped to a new level of success and popularity. At the Eurovision Song Contest, she came in a close second to the Luxembourg entry with the song "Chai" (Alive). Her popularity in Israel reached enormous heights. Her first platinum album, "Chai", released in 1983, became her biggest-selling album to date, and the title track was voted the No. 1 song of the year. Author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor notes in The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History that Haza's performance of this song was highly symbolic as it contains the lyric "Israel Is Alive". As the contest was held in Munich, Germany, the scene of the 1972 Olympic's massacre, there was considerable patriotism involved with the Israeli entry.[2] Additional hits from the album included Amen Lamilim (Amen For Words) and Sof Hakayitz (End Of Summer). Haza was voted "Female Vocalist Of The Year" four years in a row, from 1980 through 1983. Later that year, Haza released Shirey Moledet which consisted of her renditions of well-known Israeli folk songs, eventually going platinum as well. Public response was so overwhelming, she went on to release two more volumes (in 1985 and 1987).
Bait Ham (Warm House) was released in 1984 and included such hits as Yad Beyad (Hand In Hand), Itcha Halayla (With You Tonight) and the title track. The album quickly went gold. In December that year, Haza released what was to become the turning-point of her career, a collection of Yemenite songs, simply titled Yemenite Songs. Despite lukewarm radio airplay, the album went on to become a best-seller, quickly reaching platinum status. This LP was reissued in the United States by Shanachie Records under the title Fifty Gates of Wisdom.
The album Adama (Earth) followed in 1985 and saw the top writers in the country contribute to the album: Sasha Argov, Naomi Shemer, Ya'akov Orland and Ehud Manor, among others. The album produced the enormously popular hits, Adama, Goral Echad (One Destiny) and Mishehu Holech Tamid Iti (Someone Always Walks With Me), and reached gold status. Later that year, Ofra released "Shirey Moledet B", a continuation of her renditions of well known Israeli folk songs. The album went gold.
In 1986, Haza tried to update her sound and gathered with acclaimed producer Izhar Ashdot to create Yamim Nishbarim (Broken Days). The album had an edgy rock sound and the lyrics were deep and personal and written by Haza herself. The album went gold and produced the hits Kol Haklafim (Open Your Cards), Bo Ve-Nagen Oti (Come and Play Me) and Hake'ev Haze (This Pain).
When asked about her musical roots in an interview on KCRW-FM radio (1993, Santa Monica), Haza spoke of her Yemenite Jewish parents, a childhood filled with music and singing and a passion for traditional Yemenite songs, picked up from her mother. Questioned about the theatre troupe, she spoke of poverty and the total neglect of successive governments for the Hatikvah neighborhood; and how, by way of protest, the community had rallied to create something positive and dramatic, which would make others sit up and take notice of the forgotten neighbourhood.
International artist
Her major international breakthrough came in the wake of the album Shirei Teiman (Yemenite songs), which she recorded in 1984. The album consisted of songs that Haza had heard in childhood, using arrangements that combined authentic Middle Eastern percussion with classical instruments.[3] Further recognition came with the single "Im Nin'Alu", taken from the album Shaday (1988), which won the New Music Award for Best International Album of the Year.[4] The song topped the Eurochart for two weeks in June that year and was on heavy rotation on MTV channels across the continent. In the annals of classical hip-hop this song would be extensively re-released, re-mixed and sampled, for example on Coldcut's remix of Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full,". The single made only a brief appearance in the UK top 40 singles chart, but became a dance floor favorite across Europe and the USA, topping the German charts for nine weeks. Subsequent singles were also given the dance-beat / MTV-style video treatment, most notably, Galbi, Daw Da Hiya and Mata Hari, but none quite matched the runaway success of her first hit. Im Nin'alu would go on to be featured on an in-game radio playlist of the video game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, released in 2005 and featured on Panjabi MC's album "Indian Timing" in 2009.
Haza also received critical acclaim for the albums Fifty Gates of Wisdom (1988), Desert Wind (1989), Kirya (1992), Ofra Haza (1997) and for her collection of children's songs, L'Yeladim (1982).
In 1992, Kirya (co-produced by Don Was) received a Grammy nomination.[4]
In 1994, Haza released her first Hebrew album in seven years, Kol Haneshama (The Whole Soul). Though not an initial chart success, the album produced one of her biggest hits to date, Le'orech Hayam (Along The Sea). The song did not have any substantial chart success upon its release to radio but became an anthem after Haza performed it on the assembly in memorial to deceased Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a week after he was assassinated. Radio stations around the country started playing it and people took notice. Its lyrics became even more symbolic following Haza's own death in 2000.
Collaborations and performances
Her collaborative work with internationally established acts included the single "Temple of Love (Touched by the Hand of Ofra Haza)", recorded with The Sisters of Mercy in 1992. Thomas Dolby co-produced Yemenite Songs and Desert Wind, where he was also a guest musician. Haza guested on Dolby's album Astronauts And Heretics (1992), singing on the track "That's Why People Fall In Love". She recorded "My Love Is for Real" with Paula Abdul in 1995 and on Sarah Brightman's album Harem, Haza's vocals were included on "Mysterious Days", thanks to an idea by Brightman's partner Frank Peterson (ex-Enigma), who produced both Harem (2003) and the album Ofra Haza (1997).
For the Kirya album, Iggy Pop, a friend of Don Was, performed the narration on "Daw Da Hiya" and Haza joined him and a host of other stars for the video and single release "Give Peace A Chance" in 1991. She also sang on the soundtracks of Colors (1988), Dick Tracy (1990), Wild Orchid (1990), Queen Margot (1994) and The Prince of Egypt (1998). In The Prince of Egypt, she voiced the small role of Yocheved, as well as singing "Deliver Us". When Hans Zimmer, who was working with Haza on the music for The Prince of Egypt, introduced her to the artists, they thought that she was so beautiful that they drew Yocheved, whom Haza voiced, to look like the singer. For The Prince of Egypt's soundtracks, Haza sang the song "Deliver Us" in 18 languages (including Czech — "Tak vyveď nás", Dutch — "Verlos ons, Heer", English — "Deliver Us", Finnish — "Johdata", French — "Délivre nous", German — "Erlöse uns", Greek — "Eleftheri", Hebrew — "Hoshia Na", Hungarian — "Szabadíts", Italian — "Ascoltaci", Norwegian — "Befri Oss", Polish — "Uwolnij Nas", Portuguese — "Liberte Nos", Spanish — "Libéranos", Swedish — "Befria Oss"; Turkish – "Mýsýr Prensi"; about half of these were sung phonetically). On the soundtrack of The Governess (1998), Haza is the featured singer on seven of the twelve tracks and worked closely with film music composer Edward Shearmur. In 1999, she performed (together with late Pakistani artist Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan) the track "Forgiveness", on the contemporary symphony album The Prayer Cycle by Jonathan Elias. As a featured background vocalist, Haza's voice has been recorded, re-mixed or sampled for Black Dog's "Babylon" single, Eric B and Rakim's "Paid In Full (Coldcut Remix)" and for the M/A/R/R/S hit "Pump Up The Volume". The single "Love Song" has been re-mixed by DJs many times, its powerful vocal performance and comparatively sparse musical arrangement making it the perfect vehicle for a dance-rhythm accompaniment.
Covers of songs by other artists included the Carole King / James Taylor classic "You've Got a Friend", Madonna's "Open Your Heart", Gary Moore's "Separate Ways", and Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir".
There were many distinguished live performances and Haza spoke with fond memories of her visits to Japan and Turkey. Notable too, was her performance at the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, where she appeared alongside Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. "Paint Box" was written specially for the event. Her 1990 live recording, Ofra Haza At Montreux Jazz Festival was released in 1998.
Haza shared duets and concert performances with Glykeria, Yehudit Ravitz, Paul Anka, Paula Abdul, Michael Jackson, Iggy Pop, Hoite, Buddha Bar, Ishtar, Gidi Gov, Whitney Houston, Tzvika Pick, Khaled, Prachim Yerushalaim, The Sisters of Mercy, Thomas Dolby, Stefan Waggershausen, Eric B and Rakim, Gila Miniha, Hans Zimmer, Hagashash Hachiver, Yaffa Yarkoni, Shoshana Damari and posthumously with Sarah Brightman.
At the fall of 1999, Haza recorded new material for a new album that she worked on with Ron Aviv, a music producer from Petah Tikva. At the time, she also worked with the Finnish violinist Linda Brava, who released a previously unreleased track called Tarab on her MySpace page on 14 May 2010. On the track, Haza sings in English, Arabic and Hebrew, while Brava plays the electric violin. The track might be the last recording of Haza, before she died.[5]
Marriage
On 15 July 1997, Haza married businessman Doron Ashkenazi. They had no children together. Ashkenazi died of a suspected drug overdose after Haza's death, on 7 April 2001,[6] leaving a daughter from his previous marriage and a 14-year-old adopted son Shai Ashkenazi.[7]
Death
Ofra Haza died on 23 February 2000 at the age of 42, of AIDS-related pneumonia. While the fact of her HIV infection is now generally acknowledged, the decision by the major Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz to report about it shortly after her death caused controversy in Israel.[8]
After Haza's death was announced, Israeli radio stations played non-stop retrospectives of her music and then Prime Minister Ehud Barak praised her work as a cultural emissary, commenting that she also represented the Israeli success story — "Ofra emerged from the Hatikvah slums to reach the peak of Israeli culture. She has left a mark on us all".
The disclosure that Haza had likely died as a result of AIDS added another layer to the public mourning. The fact that a star with a reputation for clean living could be stricken caused shock among fans, debate about the media's potential invasion of her privacy, and speculation about how she had become infected. Immediately after her death, the media placed blame on her husband for giving her the disease.[9] As reported indirectly some years later, her husband, who died in 2001, had said that she became infected as a result of a blood transfusion in a hospital following a miscarriage.[10]
She is buried in the Artists section of Yarkon Cemetery in Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv.
Legacy
Bezalel Aloni, Haza's manager and producer of 28 years, published a book Michtavim L'Ofra (Letters to Ofra) in 2007. The book is partly Aloni's autobiography and partly a biography of Haza, and includes letters written by Aloni.[11]
In 2005, she was voted the 32nd-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.[12]
On 22 March 2007, on the seventh anniversary of her death, the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality and the Tel Aviv Development Fund renamed part of the public park in the Hatikva Quarter Gan Ofra (Ofra's Park) in her honor. The park is placed at the end of Bo'az street where Haza's childhood home was. The park features a children's playground, symbolizing her love for children and the old quarter where she grew up and always came back to.
Tributes
- Touched By The Hand of Ofra Haza Fanzine (2008–09) was a tribute fanzine.
- Sharim Ofra (Singing Ofra) 2002 – A tribute concert to commemorate the life of Ofra Haza where Israeli singers sang Haza's songs.
Documentaries
- Life & Death of Ofra Haza 2002 – Aired on the Israeli channel 2, 29 January 2002. This documentary in Hebrew focuses on Haza's entire life and career until her sad death.
- Sodot (Secrets) 2005 – Aired on Israeli channel YES, this documentary in Hebrew and partly English is about Haza's life and attempts to answer questions surrounding her death.
- Dokoceleb Ofra Haza 2007 – Aired on the Israeli entertainment station HOT, 22 February 2007. This documentary in Hebrew focuses on Haza's career, achievements and marriage.
- Lost Treasure of Ofra Haza 2010 – Aired on the Israeli channel 10, 22 February 2010. This documentary in Hebrew and partly English focuses on Haza's inheritance.
Albums with Shechunat Hatikvah Workshop Theatre
- 1974 — Ahava Rishona (First Love)
- 1976 — Vehutz Mizeh Hakol Beseder (Aside From That All Is Ok)
- 1977 — Atik Noshan (Ancient Old)
Solo albums
- 1979 — Shir HaShirim Besha'ashu'im (Song Of Songs with Fun)
- 1980 — Al Ahavot Shelanu (About Our Loves)
- 1981 — Bo Nedaber (Let's Talk)
- 1982 — Pituyim (Temptations)
- 1982 — Li-yeladim (Songs For Children)
- 1983 — Hai (Alive)
- 1983 — Greatest Hits
- 1983 — Shirei Moledet A (a.k.a. Shirei Moledet 1) (Homeland Songs A)
- 1984 — Bayt Ham (A Place for Me)
- 1984 — Shirei Teyman (a.k.a. Yemenite Songs or Fifty Gates of Wisdom)
- 1985 — Adamah (Earth)
- 1985 — Shirei Moledet B (a.k.a. Shirei Moledet 2) (Homeland Songs B)
- 1986 — Yamim Nishbarim (Broken Days)
- 1987 — Album HaZahav (Golden Album)
- 1987 — Shirei Moledet C (a.k.a. Shirei Moledet 3) (Homeland Songs C)
- 1988 — Shaday
- 1989 — Desert Wind
- 1992 — Kirya
- 1993 — Oriental Nights
- 1994 — Kol Haneshama (My Soul)
- 1995 — Star Gala
- 1997 — Ofra Haza
- 1998 — Ofra Haza At Montreux Jazz Festival
- 2000 — Manginat Halev vol. 1 (Melody Of The Heart vol. 1)
- 2004 — Manginat Halev vol. 2 (Melody Of The Heart vol. 2)
- 2007 — The Remixes
- 2008 — Forever Ofra Haza - Her Greatest Songs Remixed
Soundtracks
- 1988 — Colors
- 1990 — Dick Tracy
- 1990 — Wild Orchid
- 1994 — soundtrack for La Reine Margot (Queen Margot)
- 1998 — The Prince of Egypt
- 1998 — The Governess
- 1999 — The King And I (Hebrew version)
- 2000 — American Psycho: Music from the Controversial Motion Picture
See also
References
- ^ Pareles, Jon (24 February 2000). "Ofra Haza, 41, Israeli Pop Singer Who Crossed Cultural Bounds". The New York Times (New York, USA). http://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/24/arts/ofra-haza-41-israeli-pop-singer-who-crossed-cultural-bounds.html. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ John Kennedy O'Connor (2007). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History. Carlton Books, Limited. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
- ^ Ofra Haza in the "Jewish Women's Archive"
- ^ a b "Ofra Haza: From Hatikva to Hollywood". Jerusalem Post online. 24 February 2000. http://info.jpost.com/2000/Supplements/OfraHaza/article2.html.
- ^ Linda Lampenius Official Homepage
- ^ Amit Ben-Aroya. "Ofra Haza's husband found dead, police suspect drug overdose", Haaretz, 7 April 2001
- ^ Greer Fay Cashman. "Jerusalem Post Article about Shai Ashkenazi", The Jerusalem Post, 21 October 2007
- ^ Sontag, Deborah (29 February 2000). "A Pop Diva, a Case of AIDS and an Israeli Storm". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/29/world/a-pop-diva-a-case-of-aids-and-an-israeli-storm.html?pagewanted=1. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ "Singer's death prompts Aids debate". BBC News (London). 5 March 2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/666770.stm. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
- ^ "Ofra Haza: Madonna of the dark soul". The Guardian (London). 9 December 2010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/dec/09/ofra-haza-madonna-of-the-dark-soul. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
- ^ "'Letters to Ofra' – The double life of Ofra Haza". http://www.haaretz.com/news/the-double-life-of-ofra-haza-1.225279. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
- ^ גיא בניוביץ' (20 June 1995). "הישראלי מספר 1: יצחק רבין – תרבות ובידור". Ynet. http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3083171,00.html. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ofra Haza |
- Ofra Haza Official Website (Hebrew)
- Ofra Haza at Internet Movie Database
- Ofra Haza memorial page at Find a Grave
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Avi Toledano with Hora |
Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 1983 |
Succeeded by Izhar Cohen with Olé, Olé |
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Gale Encyclopedia of Biography
Gale Encyclopedia of Biography. © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Mentioned in
Bait Hiam/Chai
(2002 Album by Ofra Haza)
Exotica: World Music Divas
(1998 Album by Various Artists)
A Jewish Odyssey
(2000 Album by Various Artists)
Binouta
(Album by Hannan)
Israel on Parade: A Variety Show
(1990 Music Film)
» More