YEMEN BLUES
Tel Aviv, Israel | Established. Jan 01, 2010 | SELF
Music
Press
At times, it evokes New Orleans second-line bands, the mesmerizing and earthy sounds of West African stringed guimbri, and rocking Middle Eastern rhythms, all of which course together in a raucous party of a stage show.
With Kalahani's soulful vocals alternating between the grit of the Mississippi Delta to the falsetto of Prince-style funk, Yemen Blues was one of the breakout favorites from this year's globalFEST lineup. - NPR
The world music realm has many greats today, yet Yemen Blues clearly has the promise, the stage presence, the delivery, and cohesive originality in sound that can already match quality-wise, the greatest. Led by the utterly charismatic Ravid Kahalani, we sensed the presence of a true emerging superstar. Highest praises were earned that night by the wondrous live experience of Mr. Kahalani and his group. - World Music Central.org
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
In 2010, singer & composer Ravid Kahalani founded the rare combination of top musicians we now call Yemen Blues. From the start, Yemen Blues created an original sound that became a new break through in contemporary music.
The intense musicians hail from Tel Aviv, NYC & Uruguay, This includes the core members: Ravid Kahalani, Rony Iwryn, Itamar Doari & Shanir Blumenkranz. Each member comes from a different background and brings their own sound and arrangements to Ravid's compositions. The result of this amazing group is a powerful energy that mixes many different influences. while the vocals reminds the listener of ancient Arabic chants mixed with funk & blues.
For their first album, the group collaborated with the well-known maestro Omer Avital who served as a musical director & producer.
Dubi Lenz, the well-known Israeli journalist, was the first to listen to Yemen Blues’ music. He immediately felt the power of the project while the band was still in its exploration phase. He helped to get Yemen Blues’ first who at the influential festival and expo - Babel Med - in Marseille, France. The band received a hugely positive respond from the crowd and music industry people from all over the world and the name “Yemen Blues” began to spread out quickly. The band was named as the biggest success story of the festival by the well-known french newspaper Liberation. Since then, Yemen Blues has been called “the most exiting and unique live show you can see” by several news outlets including National Geographic, Time Out Chicago, NPR and many more.
Womex World Expo, Roskilde Festival Denmark, New York Central Park’s Summer Stage, Grand Performances Los Angeles, Millennium Park Chicago, Luminato Toronto Canada and many, many more.
Yemen Blues first album was named as The Best “world music” album of 2011 at "Le Devoir" Canada, and the Best album of 2011 by Sweden’s SvD newspaper.
February 2011 marked Yemen Blues’ first tour – The band transitioned into its new role as the hippest thing in “World Music” scene. The newfound success has seen subsequent tours all over the world - most extensively throughout Canada, USA & Europe.
The simple message behind Yemen Blues’ music is universality and basic humanitarian awareness. It is the band members’ love of music that allows this truth to shine through. The band strives to tap into this universality in all of its shows as well as in the workshops they do with children of all ages.
YEMEN BLUES - INSANIYA
In 2016 Yemen Blues presented their second album in North America INSANIYA - HUMANITY produced by the legendary producer Bill Laswell.
The visionary collaboration between Laswell and Yemen Blues focusing on hard groove, rich vocals, clarity and heavy sound, featuring one of the greatest voices of the Sahara Mariem Hassan, as well as the Yemenite star Tziyon Golan and One of the greatest rappers in France history Oxmo Puccino.
After touring the world with over of 350 live shows at the last 4 years Yemen Blues presents The new show “INSANIYA” (Humanity) based on Laswell’s sound from the upcoming album release.
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“The first notable act was Yemen Blues, who drew the biggest crowd of the evening”
(NY Daily)
http://newyorkmusicdaily.wordpress.com/tag/yemen-blues-review/
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“With Kahalani’s soulful vocals alternating between the grit of Mississippi Delta to the falsetto of Prince-style funk, Yemen blues was one of the breakout favourites from this year’s GlobalFEST lineup”
(NPR Music)
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“10 International acts to watch for in 2012”
(Paste)
http://www.pastemagazine.com/tag/yemen_blues
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“Some acts are so unique, so hard to describe, they even go so far as to invent their own language”
“Quite simply, it’s one of the most exciting bands in world music right now”
(Time Out Chicago)
Links
