''Yemenite Songs'' ( he, שירי תימן) is a 1984 album by

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

, in which the Israeli pop star returned to her roots interpreting traditional Yemeni Jewish songs with lyrics coming from the poetry of 16th century Rabbi Shalom Shabazi. The album was recorded with both traditional and modern musical instruments; wooden and metal percussion, Yemenite tin and tambala, strings, brass and woodwind as well as drum machines and synthesizers. The songs are sung in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

with a Yemenite accent and in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

. In US, the album has been released under the title ''Fifty Gates of Wisdom (Yemenite Songs)'' having a slightly different track order.

Composition

The opening song "

Im Nin' Alu "Im Nin'alu" () (English: ''If the gates are locked'') is a Hebrew poem by 17th-century Rabbi Shalom Shabazi. It has been placed to music and sung by Israeli singer Ofra Haza and others. Haza first performed this song with the Shechunat Hatikva Wo ...

"'s a cappella intro would eventually become the starting point of Haza's international career as it was

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

by a number of European and American rap and dance acts like Eric B. & Rakim on their "Paid In Full" and M, A, R, R, S on " Pump Up the Volume" which led to Haza releasing a dance remix of her own recording in 1988 (subtitled ''Played In Full'') which became a pop chart hit in many parts of the world. Remixes of both "Im Nin' Alu" and "

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 ...

" were included on the first international album ''

Shaday ''Shaday'' is an album by Israeli singer Ofra Haza, released in 1988. ''Shaday'', recorded in both Tel Aviv and England, became Haza's international breakthrough album and includes the Hebrew-English language remix singles " Im Nin'alu" and "Galbi ...

''.

Track listing

Side A: #"

Im Nin'alu "Im Nin'alu" () (English: ''If the gates are locked'') is a Hebrew poem by 17th-century Rabbi Shalom Shabazi. It has been placed to music and sung by Israeli singer Ofra Haza and others. Haza first performed this song with the Shechunat Hatikva W ...

" (Shabazi) - 5:18 #"Yachilvi Veyachali" (Shabazi) - 3:27 #"A 'Salk" (Shabazi, Traditional) - 4:45 #"Tzur Mentati"/"Se'i Yona"/"Sapri Tama" (Ben-Amram, Shabazi, Traditional) - 5:44 Side B: #"

" (

Amram In the Book of Exodus, Amram (; ) is the husband of Jochebed and father of Aaron, Moses and Miriam. In the Bible In addition to being married to Jochebed, Amram is also described in the Bible as having been related to Jochebed prior to the ...

, Shabazi) 4:14 #"Ode Le-Eli" (Shabazi, Traditional) - 3:31 #"Lefelach Harimon" (Shabazi, Traditional) 5:08 #"Ayelet Chen" (Shabazi) - 6:30

Personnel

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...

* Benny Nagari - arranger, conductor, music producer * Lesli Lishinski, Marvin Feinshmit - bassoon * Ilan School - clarinet,

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave ...

* Eli Magen -

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

* Iki Levy -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

, congas, metal and wooden

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfi ...

* Abigail Erenheim, Benny Nagari - flute,

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the s ...

* Shlomo Shochat -

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

* Meril Grinberg, Herman Openstein -

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...

* Chaim Gispan -

(Yemenite tin & tambala) * Strings: Avraham Rosenblatt, Elchanan Bregman, Israel Berkowitch, Israela Wisser, Rima Kaminkowski, Yigal Tuneh, Yitzchak Markowetzki, Yuval Kaminkowski

Production

* Bezalel Aloni -

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

* Benny Nagari - music producer/arranger * Yoav Gera - Audio recording and mixing * Recorded at Triton Studios, Tel Aviv between August and September 1984. * Aharon Amram - artistic advisor

References

{{Authority control 1984 albums Ofra Haza albums Yemeni music