A-WA

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A-WA
A-WA in concert at Barby in Tel Aviv, September 2015.
A-WA in concert at Barby in Tel Aviv, September 2015.
Background information
OriginShaharut, Israel
Genres
Years active2015-
Labels
Associated acts
Websitea-wamusic.com
MembersLiron Haim
Tagel Haim
Tair Haim

A-WA (Arabic for Yes) is an Israeli band made up of the three sisters Tair, Liron, and Tagel Haim. Their single "Habib Galbi" (Love of My Heart) became a world hit, with its Yemenite traditional music mixed with hip-hop and electronic music.[1]

History[]

The Haim sisters grew up in the community settlement of Shaharut, a village of about 30 families in the Arava Valley desert of southern Israel, to a father of Yemenite Jewish origin and a mother of mixed Ukrainian and Moroccan Jewish heritage.[2] Their paternal grandparents are originally from Sana'a and were brought to Israel during Operation Magic Carpet. The Haim sisters spent most of their holidays with their paternal grandparents, singing piyyutim,[3] traditional liturgical poems in Hebrew and Aramaic, as well as traditional Yemenite songs in Arabic sung by women. Tair has a BA in music from in Tel Aviv, while Liron is an architect and Tagel is a graphic designer and illustrator. They also have two younger sisters, Shir and Tzlil, and a brother, Evyatar, who is a soundman and was involved in the production of the album Habib Galbi.[4]

A-WA, 2016

They were discovered by Tomer Yosef, the lead singer of Balkan Beat Box, to whom they sent a demo of "Habib Galbi", a traditional Yemenite melody sung in the Yemenite dialect of Judeo-Arabic. He showed the demo to a few elder Yemenite women, who mistook the sisters for actual singers from Yemen.[2] The music video went viral in the Muslim World,[5] especially in their grandparents' Yemenite motherland,[6][7] and became the first ever song in Arabic to hit No. 1 on the Israeli pop charts.[8]

A-WA have released two studio albums to date, Habib Galbi (2016) and Bayti Fi Rasi (2019).

Musical style[]

During their childhood, the three sisters listened to many different kinds of music, such as Greek and Yemenite music, Jazz, R&B, Hip Hop, Reggae, Progressive rock, and more, but their major source of inspiration has been the traditional Yemenite songs at their paternal grandparents' home.[9] Their music follows the same trend as did Ofra Haza, their main inspiration,[10] decades ago,[2] mixing in this case traditional Yemenite folk music with electronic tunes, reggae, and hip-hop, which they call "yemenite folk n' beat".[11]

The trio also cites psychedelic rock, including Deep Purple and Pink Floyd, as influential in their music.[10]

Discography[]

  • Habib Galbi (2016)
  • Bayti Fi Rasi (2019)

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ The Israeli Sisters Whose Music Video is Sweeping Across the Arab World
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c A-Wa's Unlikely Journey From Rural Israel to Global Fame. The Forward
  3. ^ The hip-hop groove of the Yemenite tune. The Times of Israel
  4. ^ The Other Haim Song-sisters Are Yemenite and Just as Viral. Haaretz
  5. ^ Israel says A-WA — "Yes!" — to singing Yemeni sisters. Public Radio International
  6. ^ These singing sisters are wildly popular in Yemen. And they’re Israeli Jews.. The Washington Post
  7. ^ Sister Act: Shopping With A-Wa. The New York Times
  8. ^ Meet A-WA, the Israeli Sister Trio Merging Yemenite Folk Songs and Electronic Beats. Vice
  9. ^ A-WA’s desert groove goes down a storm at South by Southwest festival
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Gehr, Richard A-Wa: The Israeli Trio Turning Yemenite Tradition Into a Global Groove Rolling Stone. July 13, 2016
  11. ^ A-Wa : trois soeurs entre folk yéménite et rythmes électroniques (in French)

External links[]

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