Aharon Amram ( he, אהרן עמרם) (born 1939) is an Israeli singer, composer, poet and researcher of

Yemenite Jewish Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ''Yehudei Teman''; ar, اليهود اليمنيون) are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the ...

origin.

Life and career

Amram was born in Sana'a, Yemen in 1939 to Romia and Shlomo Amram, a rabbi. In 1950 he immigrated to Israel as part of

Operation Magic Carpet Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II operation by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and Asian theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships ...

which was designed to bring Yemenite Jews to Israel, where he landed in the

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...

Rosh HaAyin Rosh HaAyin ( he, רֹאשׁ הָעַיִן, lit="fountainhead", , ar, روش هاعين) is a city in the Central District of Israel. To the west of Rosh HaAyin is the fortress of Antipatris and the source of the Yarkon River. To the southeas ...

. He was quickly singled out for his beautiful voice and started singing at weddings and events. With the encouragement of the Speaker of the Knesset

Yisrael Yeshayahu Yisrael Yeshayahu Sharabi (; 20 April 1908 – 20 June 1979) was an Israeli politician, minister and the fifth Speaker of the Knesset. Biography Born in Sadeh, Yemen, to a Jewish weaver by trade, he was sent to Sana'a at an early age where he s ...

he studied at the conservatory in Tel-Aviv where he was faced with the choice of focusing on either classical music or Yemenite music due to the difference in singing styles. Having chosen the latter, Amram began to record dozens of short recordings while continuing to perform. As he started getting recognition for his work, he toured in Europe in the early 1960s including a show at the Olympia in Paris and a filmed performance for the BBC in London. He was married in 1968 and had six children. Amram released many records through the 1960s and 1970s which cemented his status as a singer in Israel and within the Yemenite community and inspired many Israeli Yemenite singers such as

Achinoam Nini Achinoam Nini ( he, אחינועם ניני, Aẖinóʿam Nini; born ), also known professionally as Noa (), is an Israeli singer-songwriter, percussionist, poet, composer, and human rights activist working internationally. She is accompanied by ...

Ofra Haza Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza ( he, בת-שבע עפרה חזה; 19 November 1957 – 23 February 2000), known as Ofra Haza (), was an Israeli singer, songwriter, actress, and Grammy Award-nominated recording artist commonly known in the Western world as ...

Zohar Argov Zohar Argov ( he, זוהר ארגוב, born , Zohar Orkabi, July 16, 1955 – November 6, 1987) was an Israeli singer and a distinctive voice in the Mizrahi music scene. Argov is widely known in Israel as "The king of Mizrahi music". Biography ...

. At this time he also wrote the song "

Galbi ''Galbi'' * (), ''galbi-gui'' (), or grilled ribs, is a type of ''gui'' (grilled dish) in Korean cuisine. "''Galbi''" is the Korean word for "rib", and the dish is usually made with beef short ribs. When pork spare ribs or another meat is used ...

" which was to become a worldwide hit after being sung by

Preservation of Jewish Yemenite heritage

Amram considered Jewish Yemenite music his calling and dedicated his later years to preserving it, as well as the community's traditional religious chants and customs. He recorded all five books of the Torah along with prayers, psalms,

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

songs and other liturgical traditions on over 120 CDs.

Life and career

Preservation of Jewish Yemenite heritage

References

External links

See also