israeli music
אהוד בנאי - עגל הזהב בהופעה
From Ehud Banai, this chilling warning about what waits in ambush after the crossing of the sea: Egel Hazahav (Golden Calf).
אנסמבל הפיוט של מכון בן צבי - אל חי ומהולל בתשבחות
From the Piyut Ensemble of the Ben-Zvi Institute, a prayer for redemption.
ישראל במצריים- Israel in Egypt from slavery to freedom
Handel meets Sephardic piyut in an ecstatic rendition of "Israel in Egypt."
Yetziat Mitzrayim - Eti Ankri (subtitles)
My favorite Passover song: Etti Ankri, Yetziyat Mitzrayim (Exodus from Egypt), with English subtitles.
אגאדיר - התזמורת האנדלוסית החדשה - אשקלון ומארק אליהו
Mark Eliyahu playing with the Andalusian Orchestra of Ashkelon
Shuli Rand
Shuly Rand joining Ehud Banai in Ehud's eulogy for Meir Ariel, Blues Canaani (Canaanite Blues).
Yaron Pe'er - Orion
Yaron Pe'er's beautiful, neglected album, Orian, putting the Song of Songs and Psalms to music and recorded in Sinai (when it was still possible for Israelis to go there). Here is the indispensible Mark Eliyahu's contribution to the album
יעלה יעלה - ברי סחרוף עם דניאל זמיר
Berry Sakharoff and Daniel Zamir singing Yaalah -- "Come into my garden," a prayer to the Shechina, the Divine Presence, to dwell with us.
עידן עמדי ושולי רנד - אייכה
Shuly Rand, singing his classic song, Ayeka, with Idan Amedi. Ayeka: Where are You? But Shuly is also asking the question of himself: Where am I?
כרמי זיסאפל ושי צברי - כמה זה שוקל // אבות ישורון
"How long can a cloud hold the water?", they sing, echoing the anxiety of Israelis through this long, dry winter. Now, finally, there is rain.
עיר מקלט - אתי אנקרי ואהוד בנאי
Etti Akn with Ehud Banai, singing Ehud's song, Ir Miklat (City of Refuge): "Until the storm passes...be my city of refuge." Shabbat is our city of refuge in time.
Etti Ankri - Avdei Zman - BaShirei Rabby Yehuda HaLevy
Etti Ankri, from her seminal ablum of the prayers of the medieval Spanish Jewish poet, Yehudah Halevi (album of the same name)..
The song is called Avdei Zman, slaves of time: On Shabbat we try to free ourselves.
ברי סחרוף - חיית הברזל
Berry Sakharoff's version of Hayat Habarzel, which opens with Meir singing a verse from the Book of Daniel in Aramaic.These are our treasures.
מאיר אריאל - חיית הברזל
Hayat Habarzel -- Iron Beast -- Meir's take-off on the apocalyptic vision of the Prophet Daniel, applied to our time: "Metal beast, iron beast, reminds me of a beast from the vision of Daniel."
דניאל זמיר עם ברי סחרוף ומתיסיהו - יעלה
Yaala, by the 17th century composer Rabbi Yisrael Najara, a song of longing for the Shechina, the Divine Female Presence: "Return to my garden...return to me, beloved daughter, return to me, and I will return."
מאיר בנאי - שער הרחמים
Live version of Meir Banai's Shaar Harachamim from Israel's 2011 Oud Festival
מאיר בנאי - לך אלי
Meir singing his great version of the piyut (prayer poem) Lecha Eli Teshukati, To You, My God, My Longing: "To You I will cling until the day I return to my piece of earth." Words by Ibn Ezra.
מאיר בנאי-רואים רחוק רואים שקוף
Meir singing the late Shmulik Kraus' classic song, Ro'im Rachok, Ro'im Shakuf (Seeing Far, Seeing Transparent), which evokes Moses looking at the Promised Land from Mount Nebo: "A human being is like a tree planted on water, seeing root/a human being is like a a bush against the sky. fire burning within him."