- country:Israel
- region:Middle East
- style(s):Persian, World
- label:Rish Productions
- type:Solo
- gender:female
- instrumentation:vocal
- artist posted by:Fistuk Artists
Line up
- Ariel Elyaev (Accordion)
- Eldad Tzitrin (Keyboards)
- Galia Hai (Cello)
- Mark Elyahu (Kamancheh)
- Opher Koren (Guitar)
- Rita Yahan Farouz (Vocals)
- TBD (Percussion)
- TBD (Viola)
- TBD (Violin)
- TBD (Violin)
- Tzvika Alayev (Clarinet)
- Yaron Goren (Bass Gutiar)
- Yoni Dror (Wind Pipes)
Links
The audience knows her by the name of Rita, but her full name is Rita Yahan-Feruz. Eight years old only, on 1970, she emigrated from Iran to Israel, and 15 years later she became the most known singer in Israel, by far the most celebrated and successful. On 2008 she was declared as top female singer in the past 60 years, during a special countdown for Israel's 60th anniversary, 25 years after her career began; Rita proves over and over, with crowded venues and stadiums alike, with multi-platinum albums, that she is by far the biggest vocalist Israel has to offer.
Her unique voice gained worldwide attention many times. Simultaneously with the booming of her career in Israel during the 1980s, she revealed herself to European crowds. Not long after her debut album was released on 1987, an album which sold well over 125,000 copies, she released her first international release, "Breaking Those Walls", which sold over 50,000 copies. On 1990 she performed on the Eurovision competition. Although her song did not prevail (yet it was a huge hit in Israel, which is still being played many times a day), Rita's career was pushed forward full speed in Israel. During the early 1990s Rita released her version for Police' song "Roxanne". The song was a huge success on France and Belgium, selling over 140,000 copies. On 1994 the music video for "Tzipor Zara" gained the "Best Foreign Music Video" on MTV Europe.
Throughout the 1990&8242;s Rita performed thousands of times and released multi platinum albums. She became a celebrated icon, known for her powerful astounding voice and persona, and she gained much attention from the media and fans alike. Although she performed constantly on festivals and at Jewish communities worldwide, Rita had not release another international album until 2000. That year she released "Time for Peace", which was produced by Corrado Rustici, a celebrated Italian musical producer, famous for his works with artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Eric Clapton, Paul Young, Beck, Sinead O'Connor, and many more. Although the album gained international attention and was used on the 2002 winter Olympics for the fabulous performance of the Russian artistic ice skaters, Rita's attention was focused on her family and her new-born daughter. During the 2000s Rita toured Israel extensively and with her ex-husband, Rami Klienstein she released a new concert album which sold over 120,000 copies.
Moved by her passion and will to explore new ways to use her voice, Rita has explored two paths. One path was her working with various musicians, seeking new interpretations to her repertoire. Rita found herself working with classical ensembles and on acoustic versions, showing herself to her audience in new ways. Her effort led her to release her latest album "Remazim", and to tour Israel extensively, for the past three years. The album is well on his way to gain double platinum. The second path was to explore how to bring new kind of showmanship to Israeli audience. The show "One", a musical cabaret with dozens of dancers and acrobats, over 90,000 people attended the show, which was on for only one month. The idea was to create a once in a lifetime event. That is, a performance on an international scale, which will give an expression to Rita's unique appearance on stage in a fashion not seen as yet in Israel. The production, costing 20 million NIS, was a breakthrough, being a rare combination of experimental visuals and music. Decoration-sets brought from abroad, together with a team comprising dozens of dancers and acrobats.
Over the years, Rita performed with many orchestras such as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Meta and the Raanana Symphonette, and with orchestras all over the world such as the Belgrade Philharmonic.
During 2009 Rita's song "Love Has Begun" topped the adult contemporary and indie charts in the US and she was selected as most promising act for 2009. On 2010 Rita was the closing act on the Israeli booth at Shanghai world EXPO. On 2011 she performed in Istanbul Jazz festival along side Glikeriya (Greece), Aynur (Turkey) and Buyaka (Spain).
Lately Rita begun exploring her childhood music, the Persian/Iranian sound. As part of it she performed with the Israeli band "Knesiat Ha'Sechel", and released to the radio their mutual song "Dai La'Keev", which its music based on a Iranian traditional song. These days she is working on a world music oriented album, dedicated to explore the above, alongside well known Israeli music producers. The album is due to be released during 2011, the first song out of it "Shane (Comb)" was released to the Israeli radio and gained much success.
Rita's career does not start and end in the musical sphere. As a graduate of one of the most respected acting schools in Israel, she became a popular theatre actress. She performed on dozen of plays, addressing adults, as well as teens and kids. On 1989 Rita won the "Actress of The Year Award" on the Israeli cinema awards. Recently she won the San Fransisco Short Film festival award for best actress, on her role on the film "Ben Returns Home".
Throughout her career Rita sold over a million copies of her albums, she won dozen of prizes and was celebrated as the best performer and singer of Israel. True to her way she still explores her sound, her voice and more importantly, still moves audience by her sheer performance.
Rita performed many times around globe: USA, France, England, Italy, Uruguay and more. Recently, much excitement was recorded when the Israeli State Department invited Rita to perform at the closing ceremony of the Israeli pavilion in Shanghai Expo Fair in front of thousands of enthusiastic Chinese fans.