Yizhar Shabi, who has been a musician for many years, studied in ‘Rimon’ School of
Music and specialized in poetic music. During the years, he taught and raised many
generations guitarists for a living, established bands and played with the some of the
best Israeli artists (among others he has been the guitarist for the band Meir Ariel).
However, those who know him can divide his musical phases to the days before he
became a newly religious Jew and to the creative abundance after that. His friends in
the Israeli music industry say: "Shabi had a promising future. In his youth he was
the soloist, the guitarist and the producer of a very well known band in those days,
‘An Empty Group’. If he wouldn’t have become a newly religious Jew in the year
1996, an event that caused the band to disperse, today Yizhar would have broken
the ranks of popularity in the general media thanks to his talent." However, Shabi
has chosen to continue with playing personal Jewish music.
Yizhar Shabi has many albums and productions in which he performed for the
religious populations, as well as hundreds of performances all over Israel. In the past
he even performed together with Yair Dallal and the Philharmonic Orchestra of
Norway.
The songs that Yizhar Shabi writes are based above all on Jewish tradition and
Biblical texts, however they receive a new and interesting musical interpretation. For
example, the song, ‘Lev Tahor’ which is also the name of the album, was composed
and produced by Shabi himself to the words of Psalm chapter 51 (Thilim Nun Alef).
The uniqueness in his songs is the soul that stands above and at the foot of the
music. Every note, half a tone, and every sound were chosen carefully, and no track
is meaningless, the goal that was set has been completely achieved. The album is
made from material that make you want to listen to it over and over. Perhaps it’s for
its complexity, its sophistication, the sharpness of the tunes, the talent and the
knowledge as well as Yizhar’s professionalism. All these place the album, ‘Lev Tahor’
high in the play lists of the music industry.
The album is distributed through ‘Greentec’ , the largest Hassidic music company in
Israel.
Leave a comment
All comments are moderated before being published.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.