Ofra Haza was one of the most popular singers of Israel in the 80s. Yemeni Jewish descent, she began her career playing music in Yemen and never lost that influence, even when she evolved into a pop singer and introduced electric instruments in her recordings. Ofra Haza is really one of the best examples of musical eclecticism I know.
A great songwriter and a great singer, she had a voice with a wide register and many different nuances, a voice that was able of sounding much torn as sweet. Ofra was able to make Madonna’s style disco music and finish in the second place in Eurovision Contest with absolutely dignity and elegance.
She had a remarkable international success. Her albums Shaday (1988) and Desert Wind (1989) are possibly the most commercial and disco of her career. Some time ago these recordings were reissued on CD and I think they can still be achieved, and also the essential Yemenite songs (1985).
Her biography says she was raised in a poor family in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. She was discovered by a manager when she was playing with a small theater group. She recorded her first album at 18. Because she was Jewish of Arab origin, some made her a symbol of unity in Israel. Ofra Haza left this world in a hospital in Tel Aviv on February 23, 2000, at age 43, because of pneumonia, perhaps because of AIDS.
Im Nin Alu, from the album Shaday:
Ofra forever