A-WA

A-WA
A-WA in concert at Barby in Tel Aviv, September 2015.
Background information
Origin Shaharut, Israel
Genres
Years active 2015-
Labels
Associated acts
Website a-wamusic.com
Members Liron 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

Born in the communal settlement of Shaharut, a community of about 30 families in the desertic Arava Valley of southern Israel, the Haim sisters were born 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 the Levinsky College, 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 Habib Galbi album.[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 them as actual singers from Yemen.[2] The video of their first song, Habib Galbi went viral even in the Muslim World,[5] and especially in their grandparents' Yemenite motherland[6][7] while also became the first ever song in Arabic to hit No. 1 on the Israeli pop charts.[8]

After touring Europe and the USA, the Haim sisters began work on their second album, which might include tracks mixing Arabic and English.[9]

Music style

During their childhood, they listened to many different kinds of music, like Greek music, 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.[10] Their music follows the same trend as did Ofra Haza, their main inspiration,[11] 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"[12]

The trio also cites psychedelic rock, including Deep Purple and Pink Floyd, as influential in their music.[11]

Discography

  • Habib Galbi (2016)

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Israeli Sisters Whose Music Video is Sweeping Across the Arab World
  2. 1 2 3 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.. Washington Post
  7. ↑ Sister Act: Shopping With A-Wa. New York Times
  8. ↑ Meet A-WA, the Israeli Sister Trio Merging Yemenite Folk Songs and Electronic Beats. Vice
  9. ↑ After taking Israel by storm, A Wa sisters set their sights on Europe: We don't hide our identity. Jerusalem Post
  10. ↑ A-WA’s desert groove goes down a storm at South by Southwest festival
  11. 1 2 Gehr, Richard A-Wa: The Israeli Trio Turning Yemenite Tradition Into a Global Groove Rolling Stone. July 13, 2016
  12. ↑ A-Wa : trois soeurs entre folk yéménite et rythmes électroniques (in French)
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