Gulaza

(Israel)

Gulaza by Pawel Mazur
Gulaza by Ronen Goldman

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Gulaza examines the hidden world of Yemenite women’s songs, passed for centuries from mother to daughter, replete with the sorrow, longing and dreams of lives lived on the margins of society. Gulaza’s unique concept has these songs sung for the first time by a man.

Igal Mizrahi, born in Algeria to a father of Yemenite origin and a mother of Moroccan descent, was first exposed to the Yemenite women’s repertoire through his family and went on to spend years of further research and personal meetings with old custodians of the knowledge.

Set within the ensemble’s assured and beguiling arrangements for cello, classical guitar and percussion, his voice is at once gentle and passionate, gracefully eliciting new emotion from the traditional poems and melodies steeped in the Mizrahi trails between Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Igal Gulaza Mizrachi - vocals, percussion
Leat Sabbah - cello
Yair Hashachar - Guitars, Bass, Kamale N'Goni & Voc
Shahar Katchka - African n'goni and percussion